Corporate video is often seen as an expensive resource – something that should be reserved for important marketing campaigns, or for serious training objectives. Thus, the received wisdom goes, production values must be high, the editing perfect and the content filmed over many takes: a perfect, glossy representation of the company’s brand. If it’s worth doing, so the line goes, then it is worth doing well. However, it’s a mistake to assume that doing video ‘well’ has to mean a time-consuming or expensive process. Indeed, in some cases, the opposite is true.
Part of the reason that communication professionals use video – both externally and internally – is to present things in a more memorable manner. That is a highly desirable, but very rare quality to find in any kind of corporate communications, and the makers of most corporate videos usually manage to erase any trace of authenticity from the finished product.
This is a waste of the medium’s potential. In situations where authenticity is critical, video can be a perfect solution, but not if the content is strangled by the caution and consensus of a large team. When a leader is allowed to express themselves and their vision in a natural manner, video can be the next best thing to a personal appearance, with a quality of immediacy that cannot be replicated in written communications. At times of change or stress within the company, this is exactly what is required to provide a reassuring or clarifying message to staff and stakeholders – but the effect is lost if a team spends two days producing a highly-edited piece of polished video.
This is why it is time to stop thinking about video solely as an asset that must be lovingly produced and planned in advance – that attitude is a hangover from the days when the only way to make a video was with cameras, dollies, lights, make-up and all the rest. Nowadays, everybody makes videos, with their phones, their tablets and their laptops. There’s no reason why business leaders shouldn’t do the same when, with the right guidelines and distribution platform, such content can be a highly effective addition to the corporate communications arsenal.
With the right technology for capture, distribution and management, and some proper training for executives on the best ways to present to themselves, short, unedited videos can be a highly effective, personalised and secure way for business leaders to communicate change to stakeholders both outside and inside the organisation. There’s no suggestion that video should replace email, social media, or any of the many other communications tools that enterprises use – but, when something is worth saying, it’s worth saying personally.
When the message simply must be heard and understood, being able to add a face to a voice can make all the difference. There will always be a place for the glossy corporate film, but a video that is direct, personal, conversational and, above all authentic is a perfect choice for times when stakeholders need to be informed of major changes in a hurry. That means getting used to recording video in one take, on any device, and with minimal editing – not something which comes easily to the majority of business leaders, but something which can transform the efficacy of corporate communications.
By Steve Eveleigh, Director of Marketing at Mhub
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