QMiS USA
Transformational Media
QMiS USA creates media that transforms your audience through the elevation of your brand.
Great Tips for Producing Quality Media for Success!
Video communication is the ‘tool of the times’. Use it to convey important corporate information to your employees, or just a fun video to break up the day. You don’t have to know everything about video production. Trust us and our experience to take care of the details of the production process.
Define the Purpose of Your Video
Let’s start with the basics: Why are you making this video? This is the most important piece of information we need to know before we start filming.
A. Who is your target audience? Are they people who already know about your brand or is this the introduction?
B. What is your call to action? Intending to drive sign-ups vs. generating brand awareness can affect the creative direction of the video.
C. Where will this video live? A video for a landing page might be very different from one on social media.
D. What is your creative vision for the video, if you have one? If not, that’s ok. That’s what pre-production is for.
Know Your Tone
Strong emotions elicit strong reactions. But, no one knows your audience better than you do, so picking the right way to convey that emotion is key.
For example, let’s say you want viewers to come away from your promo video with a feeling of trust. If your audience is a start-up community, you might want to go for a friendly and personal tone where viewers hear from real employees. If your audience is more corporate, you might want to stick with a more formal tone while leaning on facts and company history.
It is also helpful to provide us with examples of videos that you like. We will walk you through the process of finding the right tone, but being explicit eliminates any room for misunderstanding.
Share Your Vision Early in the Process
We’ll sit down together (or have a video chat) for an exploratory meeting in which you’ll go over the details of your project.
This is when you’ll hear a more in-depth creative vision from us and have the opportunity to course-correct and provide your own brand standards including design elements like font and colors.
Besides the creative, you’ll also share key performance indicators so that everyone can be aligned on the ultimate goals of the project early on.
At this stage, the most important thing is to be open to new ideas while also being honest about your expectations and who you are as a brand.
Define the Scope of Your Project
What do you expect to get from your production company? What deliverables do you need.
You have unlimited possibilities when creating your video. Just make sure you identify how high you want to fly before taking off.
Much of the scope will depend on the next tip.
Know Your Budget
When setting a budget, keep in mind the ‘triple constraint theory’ which is a project management theory that says, while it’s ideal to balance quality, speed, and cost, any change to one of these elements will affect the other two. So, for example, if the deadline is coming up fast, you won’t be able to maintain a high quality without spending more money. On the other hand, if you’ve got a shoestring budget, it’s harder to make something high quality, especially under time constraints.
So the saying goes: fast, cheap, and good - pick two. Set your priorities before finalizing your budget.
Set a Production Timeline
We will set the production schedule by working backward from the date you need the video delivered. We all have a lot on our plate, so nailing down shoot dates and delivery timelines in advance is key. Be sure to also include dates for your team to respond to feedback.
This gives everyone clear expectations from the start. The schedule might change along the way, but at least you’ll have something to aim for.
Be Open to New Ideas
You’re working with a production company for a reason. Although fresh eyes might mean some initial work translating details about your product or brand, your brand can benefit greatly from an outsider’s opinion. This might be the perfect opportunity to shake things up, pivot your strategy, or fill in knowledge gaps.
Avoid ideas that are “stale” and “safe,” The audience is your first priority. Be prepared to make “unique and engaging videos.”
Communication is Key
You’ll be asked for feedback at various stages of production. As a client, the best thing you can do is be responsive.
So, even if you need time to gather approvals from the appropriate people, keep the lines of communication open and try to give hard dates to your own team for feedback when possible.