Filming Customer Referrals

Filming customer referrals title

Winning new business by Filming Customer Referrals

Filming customer referrals creates powerful marketing tools for your business or organisation.  No, it’s not a fad – it’s a fact!  We all buy from people – so there’s nothing better than hearing other people share their stories about their experience with your organisation.  All successful organisations now concentrate on perfecting their customer experience.  By filming customer referrals you can share the experience repeatedly with new and potential customers.

Tips and Tricks of filming customer referrals

Like all marketing activities, you must know the “who, what, where, when and why” answers.  Who are your customers?  What do they want or need? Where are they?  When are they looking to purchase your products/services?  Why should they choose you?

These Five W’s questions form the basic approach to journalistic storytelling.  They also constitute a formula for capturing the complete story on your customer’s experience.  Armed with these questions you have a ready-made script to start filming customer referrals.

Choosing your customers

You will already have a good collection of satisfied customers.  Some will be particularly special and exactly what you want to attract more of.  These existing customers are your best advocates in attracting new “ideal” customers.  Whilst each will have their own customer experience story, a powerful connection to new customers will be found within their answers to the Five W’s questions.

You are not looking for the best on-screen performers or most photogenic people when filming customer referrals.  What you are looking for are real people who can tell their story in a believable, natural, and engaging way.  The secret here is to get them relaxed and comfortable in front on camera.  This is one of the things we pride ourselves on here at Video Artisan.  We make the experience fun, interesting and educational for all involved.

The important extras when filming customer referrals

The interview itself obviously forms the main narrative when filming customer referrals but additional footage is needed to tell the complete story.  Referred to as ‘B-Roll’ or ‘Cutaways’, these shots are used to illustrate the customer’s story.  They help the film flow and to enable editors to cut the customers answers to deliver the most concise marketing message.

-Roll when filming customer referrals
The role of B-Roll when filming customer referrals

Quite often the interviews will have many edits within each answer.  Without B-Roll to cover these joins you would end up with jump cuts and loss of continuity.  Done correctly, the end result will be a fluid and logical.  And, most importantly, they help deliver a compelling case for new customers to engage with your business.

Case Study -Kainos Evolve

We have recently been filming customer referrals for Kainos – focussed on the successful implementation of their paperless healthcare system, Evolve.  The customer in this instance was Ashford & St Peters Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  The customer story is all about how the Evolve system, combined with Apple hardware, helps this NHS Trust to save millions of pounds and to deliver a safer and more efficient health service to their local community.

Your next step

If you are thinking about how you could start filming customer referrals, please get in touch with us today for a free consultation.  Call Video Artisan on 020 3602 3356 or email kevin@video-artisan.com now.  See our Freelance page for details on filming and editing rates.

M&IT Awards 2017

Awards Event Documentary production

Yet another Awards Event Documentary

This is the third time we’ve been commissioned to create an awards event documentary for CAT Publications.  It was very special this time though as it was their 30th Annual Awards.  That’s some achievement.  It was also another great reason to create an awards event documentary to remember it by.

This is an amazing event, attended by more than 1,300 key people from the top organisations in the meetings and events industry.  Its purpose is to celebrate and reward the very best across a wide range of categories.  This includes hotels and conference venues, agencies, airlines and banqueting providers.  Like all the best awards nights, the winners are not revealed until the awards night itself to an ever-so excited audience.

Awards Event Documentary A&O

The purpose of this Awards Event Documentary isn’t purely for prosperity though.  CAT use these films as a part of their marketing activities for the following year’s event.  In fact, the film is one of their most powerful tools in sharing the atmosphere and scale of the event.  For anyone who has not attended the awards before, this short awards event documentary will give them a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Furthermore, the film plays an important role in attracting entries in future awards.  As the only awards scheme in the events industry which is voted on by the end user, they are extremely highly valued.  The film therefore had to show the impact that winning an award has on the recipient’s business.  Likewise, the film had to impress the value of brand association for future sponsors.

Production process

The narrative for this awards event documentary was pretty much set in stone.  Shooting was therefore straight forward, with three camera crews recording the general atmosphere shots.  We also had two fixed cameras covering the main presentations.  The main host was TV’s Eamonn Holmes – and along with various guest speakers, provided the main structure to the edit.  In addition, winners were pulled backstage after their presentation to be interviewed by another camera team to captures their elation.  Whilst this was an extremely quick turn round it also gave us the opportunity to ask them their views on the event in general.

The backstage interviews, along with the winner’s stage presentation, were also cut into individual short clips.  These were then sold to the winners post-event for them to use within their own marketing to promote their success.  This enabled CAT to recoup some of their investment in the creating the documentary. (see example here)

Editing the main Awards Event Documentary was made easier by the excellent neon drumming performance by Spark!  They were spectacular on the night and provided us with a dramatic up-beat soundtrack to cut to.

Video Artisan and CAT Publications

This is just one event we work on for CAT Publications each year.  Other events include their series of masterclasses for the events industry – and also the ever-popular Agency Challenge events at which we provide video team-building challenges for the delegates.  There’s another one of these coming up in July.

More information

If you are organising an awards event, or any other corporate event that really would benefit from being made into a short documentary, then give us a call.  You might be surprised at how a little investment in a video film could take your event to the next level.  Call Kevin on 020 3602 3356 or email kevin@video-artisan.com

A Guide to using a company film within your Marketing Mix

company film
How can a company film fit into your Marketing Mix?

In recent months there’s been a noticeable increase in the number of companies seeking quotes for a company film to use within their marketing mix. These have been extremely varied – and reflect the many ways in which video can play a key role in a wide range of marketing activities.

Most successful businesses do not reply on just one marketing method but rather spread their resources over a number of activities – what is referred to as a ‘marketing mix’.  This mix will be different from business to business – and it’s very rare to find two businesses using exactly the same marketing mix of ingredients in the same proportions.

What can go into a Marketing Mix?

There are many different and distinct marketing activities (the marketing mix ingredients).  Not all lend themselves to film production but many of them do.  This article will examine some of the common marketing activities in which a company film can feature – or become the main vessel for delivering your marketing message.

Content Marketing

Content Marketing is all about educating your target market about a specific subject and, at the same time, linking the subject to your business/brand and the services/products you offer.  Presenting your business as a reliable source of information will build trust in your brand and influence your audience without using hard-sell sales techniques.

Example: An estate agent might commission a company film about a specific town or location which informs the viewer about local resources and features – to be of interest to anyone thinking of buying or renting a property in that area. Sharing information on local schools, shopping, transport and other community facilities would demonstrate the estate agent’s local knowledgeable and understanding of the needs of the community – and develop their reputation as a trusted source of information. See another example below of a Content Marketing film produced for Air Products.

Undercover Marketing

Undercover Marketing is about creating “teaser” content about forthcoming products and services to generate buzz and market interest.   A bit like a movie trailer, the aim is to give your audience a privileged insight into what’s coming up.  Not only will it help develop interest in your product/service, it can also help you to refine products/services and your final sales pitch prior to launch through customer feedback.

Example:  An event organiser might commission an event documentary highlighting its success through the eyes of attendees and exhibitors.  The aim would be to attract interest amongst attendees and also exhibitors in future events – without actually presenting any firm propositions.  See teaser film edited for Cash from your Camcorder.   

Product Placement

This is very similar to Content Marketing, but the marketing message is delivered more subtly through the placement of your product or service within the content.   Also referred to as Brand Integration, the content can often purely be a lifestyle piece which is geared towards your target market and the connection to your brand made through use of your products or services within it.  By exclusively hosting or promoting the content through a dedicated online video channel you can develop a community of potential customers and create a valuable root to market.

Example:  An outdoor clothing manufacturer might commission a travelogue documentary to an interesting and challenging destination – with the participants all wearing their apparel.  This could also be created as a collaborative piece with other organisations such as airlines, destination tourist boards and other non-competitive sponsors.  This collaborative approach is also known as Alliance Marketing or Affinity Marketing.

Seasonal & Event Marketing

An obvious one really, this includes any marketing activity that takes advantage of the key seasonal milestones or their pending arrival (Christmas/Summer/Easter/New Year…).  In addition, this includes any marketing activity which is triggered by other date-specific events – such as the passing of a decade or century – or dates and events specific to the industry or market you are promoting to.  For instance, this could include milestones of the invention of technology such as the Internet. The benefit of this type of marketing activity is that your target audience will already have the event in mind – enabling your marketing activity to gain additional traction.

Example: A kitchenware manufacturer might commission an infomercial with a chef giving their top tips for saving time and creating the perfect Christmas dinner – showcasing the latest cookware and accessories.  Again, this could be co-sponsored by a food supplier or other non-competitive companies.  

Relationship, Evangelism & Viral Marketing

Customers do not always want to feel like you are trying to sell them something, so many businesses try to invest in future sales with marketing activities which set out to create a relationship with customers.  Remember, a large part of the aim of marketing is making potential customers aware of your existence – and any future business is easier once a relationship has been established.

Once the relationship is established you are far more likely to move into the areas of evangelism and viral marketing whereby your customers will start to spread your brand messages for you.

Example: A marque car dealership commissions a company film about the top ten used-car investments – sharing information on the best cars to purchase for investment purposes, how to store and look after them and include some customer stories about cars they’ve owned and sold.  This could be broken down into price categories – enabling the dealer to develop targeted databases for their future sales from subscribers to the video content.  It could also be updated on a regular or annual basis – creating a sense of anticipation amongst their target audience.  See below film sponsored by Supadance on a very special dance festival – viewed more than 100,000 times!    

Newsletter Marketing

Whilst Newsletter Marketing is more appropriate to businesses with a mature database of customers, it’s a marketing method which can be useful to both B2B and B2C marketers. A newsletter with various sections and news stories can be a great way to give customers greater detail about products or services than can be covered in an advert or flyer – enabling the customer to pick and choose what they read into from well-structured layout.  This can include multiple sections – including company news, product information, competitions, diary events, special offers, new appointments and any other section that one might find in a mainstream publication. Using digital flip-book creation tools and distribution platforms, these newsletters can now include rich media content – including video.

Example: A manufacturer of plumbing products could produce a newsletter monthly or quarterly, with clearly defined sections for professional plumbers and DIY users – plus additional sections on corporate news about the business.  The video content could include a general foreword-type introduction by its editor highlighting this issue’s contents.  Additional video content could contain how-to type content providing visual demonstrations of the company’s products in use – with beginner and advanced levels for the range of readership.  The newsletter could also include 3rd party content from plumbing product manufacturers.    

Tradeshow & Exhibition Marketing

Using a company film as part of your tradeshow marketing is probably one of the longest established forms of video marketing.  Whilst many businesses these days purely trade off internet pages, there are many who cannot replace that face-to-face customer experience.  In fact, there are many products that customers simply would not invest in without actually seeing and testing the product out first hand.  A video can play an important part in tradeshow marketing in ensuring the company’s stand is visually attractive and helps to pre-qualify stand visitors by showing relevant and eye-catching content.  Indeed, with the advances in video projection and large screen technology, video could be used to create almost all visual design aspects of an exhibition stand design.

marketing-mix-exhibition-stand

Example: A firm of architects designs a tradeshow stand which includes a floor to ceiling video wall as its backdrop – showcasing the many large residential and commercial developments it has designed around the world.  The video will be created using animated photography of their developments, architect drawings and combined with archive footage from the locations to demonstrate the breadth of their experience and innovations in design.

Complete your Marketing Mix with a company film

Of course, many companies are just looking for a straightforward company film or promotional video to fulfill the transactional marketing element of their marketing mix. Any why not?  Adding video to your website will dramatically improve your search engine visibility (YouTube is now the second most popular search engine!).  Not only will video help with your search engine visibility, it will also help you improve your bounce and click-through rates.

I’ve also intentionally not given Social Media Marketing its own heading in this article.  The reason for this is that it will be a core means of delivering the marketing mix methods above.  In fact, all of the above activities can be solely delivered or promoted through Social Media channels.  And as we all know through our own use of Social Media, video content very much floats to the top of platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  Without video it’s just not going to shine – and much less likely to be shared.

Contact us

I hope this article gives you a much clearer idea of how a company film can fit into your marketing mix – and the inspiration of how you can start to take advantage of it.  If you’d like to talk your ideas through with someone who can add greater depth to your ideas, please give Video Artisan a call on +44 (0) 20 3602 3356 or email kevin@video-artisan.com

Commissioning a Product Launch Video

Product Launch Video title
A quick guide to the benefits of creating a product launch video

If you’ve got something to say… say it with video! This is especially true when it comes to launching new products. As video gains more and more traction as the preferred means of absorbing information over the internet, a product launch video has become the favourite communication tool for many manufacturers and marketing professionals. And it’s not just ideal for manufacturers – but also services industries, hospitality-based businesses and all manner of professional service providers. If your offering is all shiny and new then you’ll want to show it off in the best possible way.

What’s so great about a product launch video?

The overriding benefit of product launch video is that it can communicate your message, your brand identity and the key selling points of your product or service in a few minutes or less. Your client’s attention span is becoming shorter and shorter, and with so much information available to them online they are always looking for the shortest possible way to make their purchasing decisions. They say a picture can tell a thousand words, well video has at least 25 pictures every second!

A product launch video has many more advantages though. Another significant one is that video now plays a major part in search engine optimisation. If your website doesn’t include video content then it is going to rank lower than one that does. There are also some very neat tools on platforms such as YouTube that will help your product launch video to get seen – and by the right people. These include the addition of audience-pulling metadata, product and customer-focussed tags, geographical information, subtitling and embedded links. Video has become a whole lot cleverer these days, making it the perfect platform for spreading news about your new products and services.

Tom Pellereau
Tom Pellereau – a big advocate of the product launch video

Sharing and syndicating video content has also become very popular. Social media platforms have responded to this and offer various ways to help distribute a product launch video and facilitate onward sharing by users with similar likes and interests. Whilst YouTube and Vimeo are brilliant places to start sharing your content, the likes of Facebook offer additional free and paid-for promotional tools to get your video out to those who are likely to want to see it.

Apart from your own use of your product launch video, your distributors and resellers will also appreciate the benefits of this powerful promotional aid. They too will be able to share the video via their website and through their social media platforms – ensuring your product launch video reaches the furthest corners of the market. And it doesn’t have to be limited to online delivery as Blu-ray and DVD distribution, or large-screen playback at events or exhibitions, are still great ways of getting your message out.

Planning and costing your product launch video

When you launch a new product you have a very small window of opportunity to spread the news – whilst it’s still news! The time it takes to create a product launch video can be extremely short but it is better to plan this into your initial marketing activity and leave plenty of time for your video production company to come up with the best possible creative ideas on how to get your story told.

Every video production company prefers their clients to come to them with clearly defined aim and an approximate budget for achieving it. This way the video production company can limit or expand their ideas in order to provide a treatment which ticks all of your boxes. There is no useful answer a video production company can give to the question, “how much will a product launch video cost?”. Without knowing what’s involved they simply will not know the answer. So, as soon as you’ve think that a product launch video might be right for you, get in touch so you can talk through your aims and objectives in detail.

If you’re in that place now, please give us a call on 020 3602 3356.

Notes: Read the story behind the Nipper Clipper product launch video here.

Filming exhibition stand interviews at #BVE14

Filming exhibition stand interviews
The story behind Video Artisan filming exhibition stand interviews at BVE

I’ve been super-mad-busy in the past week following my adventures filming exhibition stand interviews at BVE at Excel in London on 25th Feb. This morning I finished editing the last of 11 short films that have now been uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo – and the viewing figures have started to go ballistic!

Whilst it’s not unusual for a video production company to be involved in filming exhibition stand interviews, this particular project was self-generated, self-presented and funded through me selling the service to my old industry contacts who were exhibiting at the event. Essentially, they pay me a modest fee (cough) and I shoot a quick interview with them at the event and then share the film through my various online channels and connections.

My Interview Theme – BVE for the Videographer

BVE is predominantly a broadcast event but it also encapsulates an element of professional videography. Whilst there’s a lot of video content already created by the guys at TVBay who are there every year filming exhibition stand interviews the emphasis of these is really on the broadcast audience. My idea was to create content squarely aimed at the professional videographer.

JVC interview
Interviewing BVE exhibitor who had something for the videographer

This is one of the very few occasions where I’ve tapped into and profited from my past life as the IOV’s (Institute of Videography) Executive Administrator. Having spent 17-years in that role I’d obviously built up a long list of contacts amongst the manufacturers and dealers – so why not? I’ve also maintained a reasonably high profile in this part of the industry too through writing articles and reviews for various publications – as well as gathering a reasonable following for this blog and my social media channels.

The IOV’s executive committee also agreed to help me by sharing the content through their IOV News Stream channel on their website – which in turn gave them some video content to share via their IOVTV channel too. I’d like to think therefore that everyone was a winner!

The IOV also got an additional bonus as the guys at TVBay asked me to gather a panel of videographers together on the second day of BVE for a live chat show presentation from their Broadcast Show studio on the exhibition floor. Within that session, amongst other interesting stuff, my panel members shared their views on the value of being a member of the IOV. The program is 30-minutes long, but it’s time well spent if you are interested in hearing how other people do things in videography. Please note, you’ll have to turn the volume up to hear it properly (unless they’ve corrected it now!!!)

The challenges of filming exhibition stand interviews

Filming exhibition stand interviews is never easy as you don’t have time nor space for niceties such as lighting or crowd control. The H&S guys are pretty strict on that sort of thing at exhibitions. The interviewees, whilst obviously interested in me ending up with something that works for them, are really there to deal with the many customers that have come to see their new wares. Whilst booking a timeslot helps you to manage your time, in the real-world environment of a show these times can slip as events take over and you have to grab your opportunities as they arise. I say this as not all the interviews are as technically perfect as I’d like but, given the conditions and time allowed, the content should soon outweigh any shortcomings in picture quality and composition. I might be underselling them a little here but please don’t expect to see anything near to the usual end results of our other corporate work.

If you missed the individual releases of the interviews, here’s a list along with a brief intro of the contents. They can also be seen on my Vimeo and YouTube channels and are presently featured on IOVTV.

AKM Music – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Anthony McTiffen from AKM Music about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 – and gives an insight into their range of copyright free and royalty free music aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

DVC (David Vincent Clarke) – WATCH NOW!
An interview with David Clarke from DVC about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of purpose-built nonlinear editing systems aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

Genelec – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Andy Bensley from Source Distribution about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the introduction of the Genelec 8010 studio audio monitor. This short film gives an insight into the main features and benefits of this compact and cost-effective studio monitor which is designed specifically for smaller and mobile edit suite environments.

Holdan – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Richard Payne from Holdan about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into the vast range of products from Holdan, including new camcorders from Panasonic and Blackmagic Design – as well as accessories and production tools aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

JVC Professional – WATCH NOW!
An interview with John Kelly from JVC Professional about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the launch of their new 800 series camcorders covering their many features and specifications. John also gives an outline of the range of camcorders JVC have that are aimed at the professional video producer and videographer.

Portaprompt – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Jim Keating from Portaprompt about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of tele-prompting and presenter cueing systems aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

Production Gear – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Simon Beer from Production Gear about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of new products that were shown at BVE – concentrating on the DJI Phantom UAV, its accessories and the regulations facing UAV use in the UK.

RØDE – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Alex Theakston from Source Distribution about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the introduction of the RØDE VideoMic Go. This short film gives an insight into the main features and benefits of this compact and cost-effective microphone designed specifically for DSLR shooters.

Sachtler – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Nino Leitner of Nino Film e.U based in Austria who is a Brand Ambassador for Sachtler. Nino talks about his relationship with Sachtler and reveals what features and qualities he looks for in a tripod.

Sony – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Álvaro Ortiz from Sony about their range of camcorders, monitors and audio products aimed specifically at the professional videographer.

Thear Technology – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Rod Thear of Thear Technology about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of servicing and repair services offered by Thear Technology and explains their ethos and values in providing for the professional video producer and videographer.