The Importance of Video for Your Brand

Laugh or cry, shock or pride, nothing beats video for emotional impact. A good video captures a singular moment, a “storyful” moment, that begs to be shared. Video can be experimental, immersive and flavorful. But is it really right for credit unions?

Video is more accessible than ever. The average Joe can record more, do it more frequently, and get more use of existing videos all without breaking the budget. When you host videos on your website – or on a hosting site like YouTube and Vimeo – you effectively have your own video channel to tell your credit union’s story! It doesn’t end there either.

When you have video assets, you can run them on a loop in your branches. When you combine that with a well-trained staff and useful collaterals, you have a complete campaign right there! You can even get super-localized with your videos, playing certain ones in certain branches based on your demographic research in that area. Heck, you can even play videos on ATMs.

Even with all these options, the question remains: Is video right for credit unions? Spoiler alert: Yup. You just have to find your storyful moment. It’s a story, scene or scenario that captures attention and embodies what it means to be a part of your credit union.

A day in history or a day in life — your storyful moment is happening now. Go capture it.

More Than Just Cat Videos

In 2008 alone, 80 percent of U.S. Internet users watched five hours of video, an average duration of 3.2 minutes per video, according to comScore. But the secret to keeping a viewer’s attention is hooking them within the first ten seconds. It helps to have a video shown in a relevant context, such as a like-minded blog. With viewers already in a receptive state of mind, your video has much more impact. When your video is part of a series, you start building anticipation for each installment.

Watching On-the-Clock

65% of online video views were streamed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, making this video primetime due to the faster Internet connections available at work, reported Nielsen Online. If this is your audience, make sure your video is safe-for-work. (You don’t want to get your viewer in trouble with the boss.) Also keep your video very short so your viewer gets the gist quickly.

Plainly Passionate

According to crowd-funding website Kickstarter, projects with video pitches are 90% more successful than those without. The reason? “Audiences respond to passion, sincerity, and an ability to execute. They want to see that in your video.” Whether it’s pitching a project or delivering a promise for your brand, audiences know when you’re true to yourself. You don’t need a high-gloss production if the storyful moment feels authentic and real. In fact, many big-budget campaigns try to look a little more plain, just to feel more homemade.

A Crowded Space

eMarketer estimates that online video advertisement spending grew 48% to $1.5 billion in 2010 and will hit $5.5 billion by 2014. About a third of online retailers offer video on their sites, according to Vovici Corp. Focus your message, your story, on your particular audience. Relevance cuts right through all that background noise.

Social Viewing

Facebook has become the third most popular video viewing destination online. Nielsen reports online video viewing on social sites was up 98% in 2009. Videos viewed on Facebook was up 1800% in 2010. Add video to your social media routine, even if it’s just a regular face-to-face update for members.

Plan Ahead

Hey, people get camera-shy sometimes. Consult with your HR and marketing team. Figure out a video policy that works for your credit union so everyone is on the same page.

5 Tips for Your Storyful Moment

If the secret to a good video is finding a storyful moment, then how the heck do you find that moment? Here are some tips to make that process a little easier.

Target an Audience

A video doesn’t have to go viral to be successful. Appeal to your audience specifically. If there is spillover appeal to the general public, that’s great, but it’s not a primary goal. Always ask yourself, “What would my audience find most interesting?”

Cut to the Chase

“For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” That’s a six-word short story by Ernest Hemingway and proof that you don’t need to pontificate to tell a big story. Keep your video focused on one moment in a larger story. Provide just enough context for it to make sense. Struggling with debt? Planning a wedding? Find that trigger and craft a moment out of it.

"Real" is Relative

Don’t sit around with a camera waiting for a candid moment to happen. It’s less important to be literally accurate than to tell a story that your audience can recognize as a part of their own life, too. That’s the difference between “realism” and “authenticity."

The Right Kind of Random

If you’re seeking laughs, you might be caught up in the recent “random” humor trend. It’s a sea captain nonchalantly fighting a giant octopus. A guy with a living beard interviewing for a job. Non sequitors still need to be relevant to your brand and story. The “man your man could smell like” appealed because he represented the brand’s masculinity, not just because the tickets are now diamonds.

Think Beyond TV

When you produce a video, you can chop it up into 30 second segments for TV ads. You can keep longer versions for your website, use still images for print campaigns and in-branch collateral, and use audio for radio ads and on-hold messages. With text, visuals, and audio all working together, you get three times the branding assets for your marketing budget. Regardless of the format, make sure your storyful moment stays intact.