So, you need to make a video, but you don’t know where to start.

You would be surprised at how many small business owners face this dilemma: they are told repeatedly that they need to add video to their marketing plans, but have no idea where to start.

They come to me and say, “I need you to make a video for me.”

“What kind of video would you like me to make?” I respond.

“You know, a video, for my webpage.”

And the conversation continues like this.

For any client that faces this problem, I have two suggestions: understand your message, and understand your audience. If you don’t have these two vital components of the production process figured out, you aren’t ready to make your video.

The Message.

What do you want to say? Why do you want to say it? What is it you hope to accomplish? These are all questions you should ask yourself when establishing the message of your video. You would not believe the number of people that begin the production process without doing this. If you skip this step, you are setting yourself up for disaster. It’s like a big budget movie that goes into production without a finished script. What is usually the result? The movie is terrible, does a belly flop and loses millions for its studio. Yet this same scenario happens over and over. Why? Because people are lazy. Don’t be lazy. Figure out your message.

The Audience

Okay, you’ve figured out your message. Good for you!

Now, back to work!

Figuring out your message is only half the battle. The next half if figuring out who you want to communicate your message to. If you don’t have an audience for your message, what’s the point of going through the process?

If you think about it in simple terms, the identity of your audience is sitting in front of you. Look at your current customers. Who are they? How old are they? Where do they live? What do they like to do? Why did they become your customer in the first place? Understanding the details of your current customers base will give you a good understanding of the audience you need to target. It may even lead you to discover that you need to target an audience with traits that differ from your current client base.

Where your message is the “precious cargo” of your video, your audience determines the vehicle in which that cargo should be delivered. For example, if you want to market your product or service to females over the age of 70 who have recently entered into retirement, you don’t want to create a video filled with 20 somethings spouting cultural references that only Gen Z would understand. Similarly, if you are marketing your product or service to 20 something males that love to play video games, you wouldn’t create a video filled 70 year olds riding bicycles through the park while humming along to their favorite soft rock tunes from the 1970s. How you deliver your message to your chosen audience will determine whether or not your message is received or ignored.

My advice for dealing with the audience dilemma is to do a YouTube search for videos made by others with similar businesses that are targeting similar audiences. Look at what is working and isn’t working. Make notes about what you like and don’t like in these videos. I can not over emphasize how much this will help you down the line, especially if you’ve never created a video before. I’m not saying you should outright copy a video created by a competitor. Use it as inspiration when creating your own.

I did it! Now what?

If you feel like you’ve got a handle on your message and the audience you want to communicate to, the next step is to start planning the details of your video. This planning phase comprises the first part of the video production process, pre-production. In my next post, I’ll guide you step by step through the pre-production phase, which I would argue is the most important, yet most overlooked, phase of the entire video production process.