5 Video Concept Mistakes
Creating video concepts can be challenging. You want a unique idea—something that speaks to your brand and goals but is also something the audience hasn’t seen before. Unfortunately, there’s a lot that could go wrong during the conceptualization process.
The wrong video concept could make your video ad campaign miss the mark. During your next video brainstorming session, make sure you’re not making one of these five common mistakes.
1. Forgetting the target audience: This is arguably the biggest mistake a brand can make. If your video isn’t geared toward the target audience, no one will watch it! Some people get caught up in creating video concepts they’d like to watch rather than what the consumer wants to watch. It’s also all too easy to get carried away with flashy visual effects, forgetting the consumers’ wants and needs in the process.
2. Creating concepts that are too complex: When you start planning the brand’s first video ad campaign, you’ll no doubt have a lot to say. This leads novice producers to attempt to cram too many messages into a single video. Viewers will quickly become overwhelmed if your video contains the company’s mission, the story of how it was founded, philanthropic endeavors, a product demo and an educational portion. Video ads are supposed to be short and sweet, not long and complicated.
3. Creating concepts that are too vague: Some brands swing toward the other extreme—not providing enough detail. They get carried away with showing B-roll of company headquarters, production facilities or a product in action. While this might look cool on a landing page, a string of random footage in a video ad won’t make any sense to consumers. The reason for watching has to be immediately clear, otherwise your target audience won’t watch at all.
4. Telling instead of showing: Another big concept mistake is when someone stands in front of the camera and goes on and on about a product. It’s good to show you’re passionate about what the brand does, but consumers would much rather let the product speak for itself. A surprising number of businesses fail to tap into the full potential of a visual medium, creating script-heavy content that’s anything but visual!
5. Making concepts that don’t fit the platform: The place where a video is published matters as much as the video content itself. Unfortunately, all too many brands forget to tailor a video to a specific platform. If you post your video everywhere, the message stays the same, but how consumers receive it differs among platforms. If you have one platform as your main target, make sure you’re tailoring the concept and format to that channel, first and foremost.
Video production is harder than it looks. Brands that don’t hire a creative partner might fall into the trap of making rookie mistakes that waste both time and money. If you’re thinking about how to launch a video ad campaign in-house, remember that high-quality videos are worth the price!
Every successful video ad campaign starts with a production company like Spin Creative. Our staff specializes in producing effective, high-quality videos for companies just like yours. Say hello!
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Spin Creative is a video production company and creative agency helping marketers create winning video and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate targeted audiences. Spin is headquartered in Seattle with offices in San Francisco and London, serving brands around the globe.
