INTRODUCTION
It was a truly amazing journey. I’ve been in the video and multimedia production business since 1981 and in my 30+ years in the business I’ve seen some absolutely incredible leaps in the industry. To look at video from a historical perspective, it took just 22 years for Sony, Matsushita, film production Toshiba and JVC to introduce helical scan recording before I made the leap into the professional video industry. This is the method that has been used for recording on VCRs ever since. It took almost all of the next 22 years to bring these spiral scan recorders into homes.
Most American homes did not have VCRs
When I started video production in 1981, consumer video recording was still in its infancy. Most American homes did not have VCRs. VHS was still battling Betamax (what’s that?!) for supremacy in the home video format wars. Tape (huh?) was the staple of industrial and commercial video production, and 2-inch quad machines (what??) were what the “real” broadcast studios used for their best editing and studio work at the best broadcast-quality pictures cost back then more than most households (and now these were surpassed in quality by today’s consumer camcorders.) The CD-ROM had not yet arrived, and internet usage was years away and streaming to websites was scarce the proverbial “construct” of someone’s imagination. DVD? HDTV? You are joking!
But despite the incredible advances in technology over the decades, much has remained the same. The need to engage and retain audience interest, tell a story, and achieve one’s goals was, and still is, critical to effective communication.
And as technological advances have put affordable, high-quality video and multimedia into the hands of the novice, the need to use them “right” has remained. Just because you have a brush doesn’t mean you’re a Rembrandt!
Let’s take a look at some of the mistakes still being made in corporate video and multimedia in the workplace:
The 8 mistakes guaranteed to make your corporate video or multimedia project DOOM:
MISTAKES 1. DON’T BEFORE IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE (OR CONSTANTLY KEEPING IT IN MIND)
This is the very first rule in creating communications programs, but it’s amazing how often it’s broken. This rule certainly applies not only to video or multimedia programs. In all forms of audiovisual communication, it is essential to develop a precise definition of the target group – and to remember it.
Proper product placement
Market research firms and departments spend billions of dollars annually determining who is receiving a message so that proper product placement, advertising, and promotions can be performed. And it’s money well spent.
Still, we often see companies approaching their video and/or multimedia projects with a “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach. They use a shotgun when a rifle is called for. They try to target multiple audiences in hopes that the program will serve multiple purposes. Remember, if you’re trying to address everyone, don’t address anyone.
While the same base program can sometimes be used for different audiences, it is recommended that different variations or versions be developed for these different audiences. It’s easy to re-edit or re-tell parts of a production. For reasons of efficiency, however, this must be planned from the start of the project.
So remember to plan the project with your audience in mind. Find out about their expertise or experience with the topic. This avoids the problem of shooting too low (e.g. wasting their time showing them something or telling them what they know) or too high (losing them because you assume they don’t have one yet). have achieved level of expertise).
MISTAKE 2. FAILURE TO DETERMINE YOUR GOAL IN ADVANCE
This goes hand in hand with the first point. Not only do you need to know who you’re talking to, you also need to know what you want them to do or feel after the program is delivered.
If possible, the goal should be quantifiable. Certainly it is easier to measure results in the field of training. As any good training expert knows, pre-workout and post-workout evaluation tests can quantify the results of a training program.
Similarly, for sales and marketing or communications, detailed tests and statistics on project awareness and attitudes can be collected before and after the presentation of the entire program package. But those are probably not the results you really want – the real goal is to drive sales.
sales or communication
As with training, it is desirable to measure the effectiveness of the sales or communications program in meeting established goals.
However, there is a problem. Measuring the specific impact of film production the video or multimedia program is difficult because the production is typically not used in isolation. Instead, it is usually part of a package of other material that comes with the video or multimedia program.
Ideally, we would like to emulate large consumer companies, where extensive market research provides a detailed analysis of specific advertising and promotional techniques. For example, you can isolate the impact of individual components of an overall brand marketing strategy. However, this requires extensive historical background and a very large sample size to isolate variables and establish causal relationships.
However, this is more problematic in the business-to-business world
B-to-B companies rarely have the historical data to statistically isolate cause-effect relationships of individual marketing components. In addition, when launching new products or services, we often see the merging of these packages of video, booth, collateral and advertising in trade publications. This makes historical comparisons largely irrelevant.
