‘Simplify your message’ is one of those marketing maxims that almost everyone is aware of, and yet it’s something we all stray from every now and again, especially when we’re looking for maximum impact.
It can seem counter-intuitive. You’re commissioning a marketing agency to create a video letting people know about your new service, so why not use this opportunity to also tell customers about a couple of other services and products as well?
Losing sight of the key message is easily done. We’ve been dealing with this very issue when trying to storyboard a project that became a combination of all three ideas we presented to our client. What happened almost immediately, was the project became muddled and confused. So we backtracked and corrected ourselves.
By trying to deliver different messages, that would appeal to different target audiences, there was no clarity and no appeal.
This is especially true if your output is meant for social media. Your viewer will likely be watching your video content on their mobile phone and possibly on their commute, so your message needs to be clear enough for them to ingest and understand, and have the best chance of being remembered later on, where they can actually action it.
In fact, regardless of who watches – or where – your content will be one of hundreds and thousands of pieces of information flashing in front of that person’s eyes, so they need to quickly understand what you’re saying.
It should be a single message. It should be a simple message.
We have created promotional videos for a chemical engineering software company, which included some heavy and technical industry terminology (it was like learning an entirely new language!). This was entirely appropriate for the target audience and the key message remained simple:
“Our software does exactly what the industry standard software does, but at a fraction of the cost.”
The message was then supported by showing the software has the required functionality, that it was developed by industry experts, and that it was indeed, much cheaper.
The message was simple. The execution was great. The video campaign was a success.
Finding your video’s key message is it’s own topic altogether, but you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you want to say going in, and a good video marketing agency will be able to help finesse it. But once you have it, don’t lose sight of it.
