The reasons why videos fail can vary wildly. Over the years we’ve seen great projects gain only a few hundred views, while others gain tens of thousands. Despite there being no discernible difference between them.

Well the truth is, there can be endless reasons but, for simplicity, we’ve whittled it down to the 5 we believe are most important.

Why do videos fail?

Timing

Despite the popularity of video, we still find that video sits near the bottom of the pile when it comes to marketing plans. It’s often, “Must get website. Must write copy. Must prepare sales deck… okay we’re launching in 5 days, shall we think about a video now?” That’s all well and good, but if it’s part of your strategy;

Why shouldn’t you start your video at the same time?

While at NC we have adapted to the demands of fast animation, it doesn’t mean this is the way forward. It’s actually quite the opposite. On most of our projects, once the video production is in full flow and the story has been developed, the video actually influences the campaign as a whole. It might be incorporating designs into other marketing materials, or using the language of your story to influence other written material. Whatever it is, your marketing strategy should be thought of holistically, and your video partner should be brought it at the earliest opportunity. Otherwise, your video could become a wasted opportunity.

We kick off each project with a workshop to unlock your ideas. Our clients tell us that this has influenced other areas of their marketing too, not just video, so if you’ve got a story to tell, don’t discover the gems when it’s too late!

Vision

Do you want to create something memorable, or just another video?

Presumably the answer is the former. Another draw back to rushing video projects is that creative development get left behind. If you don’t give an idea time to grow and flourish, it won’t become the groundbreaking spectacle you hoped it would be. Sure an experienced creative company can come up with something professional, that looks the part, but in a crowded market, you need to do everything you can to stand out. We recommend allowing at least 2 weeks, starting with a workshop, purely to let creative ideas develop. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day…

Clarity

One of the most common problems when developing a story is the details. You know your offering inside out, all the intricacies, all the edge cases. So the tendency can be to try and account for all of this in your video, but this doesn’t have to be the case. You need to consider;

Where does your video sit in their customer journey?

Whether you’re producing a video for a launch event, a pitch or solely to sit on YouTube, there is always an journey for them to fully engage with your offering. Regardless of the scenario, you want them to engage and take action. Always asked yourself;

Will your story excite your audience?

If they’re excited, they WILL find out more, whether that is picking up the phone, looking into the details on your site or booking a demo. Your focus should always be on what’s new, what’s different, what will make you stand out.

why video fail

Targets

As well as online, video can be produced to support presentations, bids or one-off events, but regardless of output, targets are important.

How can you define success for your video?

A good place to start is to do some research and be bold.

Maybe you’re aiming for maximum exposure for your new range of vegan snacks in the U.K, which are aimed at 18-49 year olds. Fine, so research how many vegan’s there are in the UK (542,000 according to the vegan society). I won’t dig too deep, but 14% are over 65 so let’s discount those (for target market reasons obviously!). That’s 466,120. You basically want every one of those people to know about your product. Then account for the fact that 8 out 10 18-49 years olds watch YouTube videos every month. So we’re down to 372,896. Then let’s inflate that slightly to account for non-vegan people that could still be a target. Let’s say, an additional 20%. 447,475. That’s your goal. Now you know if you’ve you get 10,000 views, that’s not good enough. It’s about 2% of your target audience…

Obviously that was done in 2 minutes, and your target might not just be views, but you get the idea… If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want your video to achieve from the outset, how will you ever know if it’s been successful?

Execution

There seems to be a misconception that you can just stick a video on YouTube and it will be an instant hit. Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that. That’s like carefully crafting the perfect lemon sherbet, then placing that in a huge jar of other lemon sherbets, placing that jar in the world’s biggest sweet shop, and expecting your ideal customer to just happen across the shop, walk in and pick your lemon sherbet over everything else on offer to them. I’m sorry to say, they won’t find it.

Just like the research that should go into setting your targets, you need to dig deep into your audience. Who are they? What do they want? Where are they? What are they watching? What time are they watching it?

Why is your story important to theirs?

This is another whole subject to explore, but there’s a mind boggling amount of statistics and research out there help. The key is targeting your content at the people you want to see it. Taking a little extra time to strategically place your video will help you reach your targets and more importantly gain far greater engagement with your audience.

Why videos fail

If you want to know why videos fail and how to avoid it give us a call.

Book a Discovery Workshop



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