Downfalls of DIY Video Marketing

by Joe Monzo | Jan 26, 2023 | General

While there is a mix of DIY and professionally-produced video online, most videos are user-generated – and for good reason. It can be easy to think about the positives of DIY, such as affordability, accessibility, and authenticity for smaller organizations. When it comes down to it, both DIY and professional video have their positive and negative factors, but DIY videos can be more effective for informal situations. 

At the same time, it’s crucial to weigh the pros and cons of DIY video production. Which route you should choose comes down to your intentions and experience with producing and distributing videos.

DIY Video Production Tends to Lack Strategy

Many organizations want to create videos, but they often feel lost as to where they should start. If you don’t know exactly how to produce a high-engagement video that resonates with your audience, then your attempts to DIY your video marketing will be a huge waste of time.

When discussing a video marketing strategy, you should know your target audience, the message behind your video, and exactly which shots you’ll need to accomplish the finished product. You’ll also need to know exactly where and how this video will become a part of your marketing funnel. If all of that is foreign to you, then I highly recommend talking to your video strategist partner.

Production Quality Often Suffers

A marketing video doesn’t need to be the same caliber as a Hollywood film, but there are still a lot of baseline standards for producing effective video content. You could have the most expensive equipment like cameras, lights, and microphones, but if you don’t know how to set them up properly and use them, the quality of the finished product will only be as good as your skill.

Rookie mistakes like filming with a window behind the subject,obnoxious distractions and poor audio quality are enough to turn away an audience member before they get through the video. If your target audience isn’t making it to the end of the video, they almost certainly are not following through to the next step of your marketing funnel.

DIY Is Sometimes Appropriate, but Sometimes It’s Not

Think about where and how you will use video. Will your videos be embedded on the home page of your beautifully-designed website? Will it be the first impression of your brand? Or will it be distributed to existing customers? While an informal DIY video might be fine to communicate with current clients or post on social media, it certainly will disturb your otherwise pristine first impression on your website.

Brand Development Matters

While we never like to say that we judge a book by its cover, prospects will subconsciously judge your brand based on discrepancies between professional brand assets and DIY ones. If you can show your audience that you value investing in them through professional videos, they’ll be more likely to work with you.

First impressions matter. Prospects might lose trust in you if they see you tried at first to make a good impression with your website but gave up halfway through the process to DIY your video. 

Time Is Money

Time is so valuable, and you cannot get time back. When you invest money, you do so with the intention of making it back. We can’t invest time that way, which is why DIY video production is so risky. It takes an enormous amount of time to learn how to use a camera properly and to understand the right setup for producing high-quality footage and audio. 

Many DIY video producers also underestimate the amount of time it takes to edit until you get to your polished end product. Further, time is wasted if there’s no effective marketing strategy for the distribution of the video. 

Save Yourself the Trouble – It’s Worth It

While I completely understand the draw of DIY video production – and I affirm its value in less formal situations – I recommend professional production for the majority of the time. When an organization has little to no experience with video production and marketing, it will almost certainly fight an uphill battle and come out on the losing side of video marketing.

If you choose the DIY route, understanding the cons will help you avoid common mistakes. Plan out your videos in detail, have a good strategy, invest in learning about video production and distribution, and avoid video faux-pas that cause a loss of viewership.

If you’re interested in professional video production for your next campaign, contact Monzo Media Productions.

I Lost a Cast Member… Now What?

by Joe Monzo | Jan 20, 2023 | General

You’ve created a storyboard, gathered all your equipment, and secured your interviewees…Then on film day, a person is missing. Yes, it happens, and I hear about it often. A cast member might suddenly have a change of plans, get into an accident on the way to the location, or simply forget to show up. Suddenly, you have a choice to make: Do you go about film day without them, or do you reschedule them?

As an experienced videographer, I know Murphy’s Law well. If something can go wrong, it will, so you better have a backup plan. Let’s discuss what you can do if you’ve just lost a cast member.

What Was Their Role?

While the issue of losing a cast member typically falls on the talent side, it could be anyone. You might now be missing someone who was supposed to be featured in b-roll, or maybe you lost a key testimonial. Deciding how to move forward without a cast member will depend on the importance of their role in your video production. Ideally, your backup plan should include different strategies for filming in case any kind of cast member is lost.

Your decision at this moment is crucial because production delays are costly. If you can move on smoothly without that missing cast member, it is most likely in your best interest.

What Are Your Options?

Once you’ve determined how vital that cast member is to production, you can consider your options. Some video productions have more flexibility than others because of budget and time constraints, but the quality might suffer if you leave a cast member out. 

In a perfect world, the best option would be to reschedule so that everyone can participate, especially if the person missing is extremely important to the video’s message. While it’s unfortunate to need to reschedule, you also don’t want to create a situation in which you don’t have enough footage to tell the story you need to tell.

If you do have it in your budget and timeline to reschedule, then you could choose to move around the filming schedule for that day. It might be possible to shoot that scene or interview at a different time when the cast member can be present. You’ll be able to film the rest of the video on that day or shoot scenes in a different order.

If that cast member is now completely out of the question, consider switching them out with someone else. This option can be difficult if the problem arises late in the game and you haven’t planned for anyone else. It might also be impossible if their value is irreplaceable.

Finally, you could choose to film without the cast member. If they were one of your interviewees, for example, then you might need to rely on the footage of your other interviews for the video.

Avoid the Worst-Case Scenario Next Time

Planning for the worst-case scenario from the start is the best way to avoid this problem altogether. When casting for your video, you should consider selecting more people than you need for b-roll, interviews, and other key footage in the case that one of them cannot attend film day.

This strategy is especially important for key interviews, which play a huge role in building the narrative in your video and connecting with your target audience. Knowing that losing an interviewee is a possibility, you should build a roster of interviewees larger than you’ll likely need to create the video. In the case that you have five solid interviews to use, you’d have the luxury of picking your best three in the editing phase. If one of them cannot make it, then you’d also have the luxury of relying on the other interviewees without risking a loss in quality. 

If the cast member was meant to be in b-roll, it might be easier to continue filming without them, as it would be less obvious to the viewers that someone is missing. On the other hand, if the cast member is the single most important person in the video, you’ll need to bite the bullet and reschedule.

In conclusion: Hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Be willing to adjust as needed because being flexible is the name of the game when it comes to video production. 
If you need more help making decisions when it comes to casting for your video, contact Monzo Media Productions.