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 3^rd 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.

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