Common Video Mistakes That Hurt Your Brand’s Reputation

Corporate videos can be a great tool with which to market your services and products and enhance the reputation of your brand. However the flipside can also be the case. Making a mistake with your promotional video can be costly and actually do your brand’s reputation a lot more harm than good. 

While some mistakes may be specific to your particular company or industry, there are a number of common video mistakes that are made by marketers across many different fields. 

The good news is those mistakes are so common that they can be easily avoided just by following a few simple tips. 

No story, no video

One of the most common mistakes in video marketing is failing to include an actual story within a promotional video. Storytelling is integral to the process of communication and has been since the dawn of human history. 

Using stories in marketing videos help the viewer to remember your brand and may even result in them making an emotional connection to it. Some brands, such as Nike, have used the art of storytelling in their marketing videos so effectively that they are able to dominate the industry that they are in.

Stories need a beginning, as well as a middle section, and an ending. The beginning should present the problems your customers are likely to face in order to grab their attention. 

The middle part of the story is demonstrating that that problem can be solved by the products or services offered by your brand. 

The end of the story should be your best USP to ensure the viewer will remember your brand and want to find about more about it. 

Lack of preparation

One of the biggest single mistakes in regards to video marketing is brands that make a video just for the sake of doing so. A video that is produced without the brand having a wider marketing strategy and distribution plan is almost guaranteed to fail.

Videos need to be just one aspect of a much bigger branding and marketing strategy,

It is crucial to understand precisely why the video is being made, the audience it is being aimed at, and what you are hoping to achieve after completing the video. 

This mistake can thus be avoided by being aware of the reasons why the video is being made and who you want to see it. This should also include the platforms on which you are intending to post and share the video. 

Trying to do too much

Many marketing videos fail because they are trying to achieve too much in such a short space of time. The best marketing videos for brands are those that have a singular focus. 

Including an overabundance of different messages within a single video can make it overly complicated and end up just confusing your audience as to precisely what it is you are trying to say. 

In some cases it may be unavoidable to have two messages within a video, but it should never include more than that. The result will be a video that is shorter and more digestible, as well as being more entertaining for the viewer. 

Think about the message you want your target audience to hear and narrow it down to one or two vital points. You cannot solve every problem with just the one video, so if there are many different messages you want to put out, you may want to make multiple videos. This will not only make these messages simpler for the viewer to consume, but will also have a healthy impact on the SEO of your brand’s website. 

Avoiding common mistakes will ensure that the marketing videos you produce do the job you want them to do and cement your reputation as a quality brand.