How To Use Marketing Videos on Your MSP Website

Effectively communicating and relaying information to visitors to your website is easier with marketing videos.  Communicate your services, company culture, company values and anything else you think is important to your prospective and established customers via video. To the uninformed and unprepared mind, marketing videos may seem like a lot of work, but with some information and planning, your MSP website can start reaping the benefits of adding marketing videos to your website.

Why Your Website Should Feature Marketing Videos

We already talked about this in one of our previous blogs (embed link here), so, to cut a long story short, marketing videos should be used for the following reasons: 

• Get your message out quicker
• Reach more people 
• Increase conversion rate
• A video is worth even more than a picture

For more details on these reasons check out our blog ‘Why Your MSP Website Should Be Using Marketing Videos’.

Now that you know why you should be using marketing videos on your website, we can move on to the “how”.

How To Create A Marketing Video

There are necessary steps that you need to take to create a marketing video. We’ll cover the basics of each of the steps that you need to take, but just know that there are a lot of fine details that are going to vary depending on your experience and capabilities.

Write Your Script(s)

Before you begin any recording you should write your script and outline the topics you wish to cover in the videos. Write out exactly what you're going to say for each and every video that you plan to produce. A video that is recorded on the spot can come out disjointed and unprofessional. 

Keep the following tips in mind when writing your scripts:

• Plan Your Topic(s) - Before you even start writing, you need to decide what you are writing about. What services do you want to create videos for? What general topics (such as ‘about your company’ and ‘welcome to your website’) do you wish to cover? We suggest planning out multiple videos at once that you can shoot in the same day to make the setup and/or studio time you need worth it.
• Pick Your Words/Phrasing Carefully - You want what you are saying to sound natural. That means that it shouldn’t be too casual… but it also shouldn’t be too formal. Find a proper balance between the two.
• Time Yourself - When reading your script over, try timing how long each one is. You probably don’t want a talking head video that is less than 30 seconds. However, it’s also not usually ideal to have one 5+ minutes. These videos should be relatively short (a few minutes each).
• Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect - Practice, practice, practice! Don’t waste valuable recording time on the day you shoot these videos fumbling over your words because you didn’t take the time to learn what you should be saying.
• Enunciation, Speed, and Voice Inflections - Once you have the content more or less down, take the time to ensure that your words are easy to understand, are said at a reasonable pace, and don’t sound too robotic. You can do a practice recording using your phone to determine what areas you need to work on.

Remember a script should be finalized as making changes to the script during the filming isn’t ideal, and cost you time and money.

Location, Location, Location

Your next step is to pick a location to shoot the video. For the best results, the video should be shot in a professional studio. A local studio can be rented out for a period of time and most studios come equipped with all the necessary equipment needed for filming. However, if renting studio time is outside your budget, you can find a well-lit location in your office that could make a decent backdrop for your video, and set up shop there.

Gather The Necessary Equipment

If you have decided to shoot outside a studio, you will need to acquire various types of equipment, including:

• Video camera
• Microphone/boom mic
• Camera support stabilization (e.g., a tripod)
• Lighting
• Color and calibration tools
• A teleprompter or cue cards
• Green screen (optional)
• Video editing software

Please note that some of the equipment listed above is optional, but recommended if you want to create a quality video.

Wardrobe

Any video you make will be a representation of your company. It will showcase your company's standard and culture so you need to carefully consider and coordinate what the wardrobe for the video will be. Depending on the culture you want to portray, you may decide to wear your best suit/dress clothes or simply a company shirt with khaki pants, either way this decision shouldn’t be made lightly and be carefully considered. 

Note, do be careful to ensure that appearances are neat and clean, clothes should be worn neatly and free of wrinkles and hair should be styled. Makeup, if it is used, should be light.

Filming 

After following these steps you should be prepared for the actual filming of the video. When filming check to make sure that you have filmed all the scenes that you need to, lest you forget, and have to reshoot scenes, which will cost you.  

Here’s a little tip, keep some of the blooper reel to use to showcase some of your company culture.

Editing 

Now it’s time to edit your videos! There are tons of video editing software out there, simply choose the one best for you! Be sure to watch the finished video a couple of times to ensure that it came out the way you planned. And don’t be nervous to get some fresh eyes on it before you post it!

Post It!

Once your videos are finalized and rendered, you need to get them posted! They should be added to:

• Your YouTube Channel
• Your website on relevant pages
• Landing pages (as needed)
• Shared out through other social media accounts

Promote It!

Simply publishing your videos is only half the work, you should be promoting them! In addition to posting them on your website and social media accounts, you can announce them via email and/or direct mail pieces too.

More Work Than Your Willing? 

If Marketing Videos seem like more work than you are willing or able to do, don’t! Let us do all of the work for you! Through our MSP Marketing Videos Service, we handle everything from start to finish, the service will include a video that is:

• An average of one minute in length
• Designed to invoke viewer response
• Centered around popular MSP services
• Branded to your company colors and logo
• Posted to your Ultimate MSP Website
• And bundled with a mini campaign kit to promote it

Check out some example videos here, and reach out to us at 888-546-4384 to get started with your own!