Video Production Companies Johannesburg: A Story (Part 1)
As a leading video production company in Johannesburg we have been in the video production trenches for over three decades. Over that time we have filmed hundreds of companies and met thousands of interesting individuals. One of the first lessons you learn on your content journey is that no two companies, regardless of industry or service, are the same. Which is a fascinating insight, especially when you plan to produce content for similar purposes. For example: Two specialised manufacturers may produce the same items, but have completely different value-adds as a part of their marketing function. Having studied a BCOM in Communication and Marketing, I was always taught that businesses approach their operations and structure like my textbooks presented. Boy, were they wrong about that.
Industrial does not need Digital
Over the years we have worked with a plethora of different businesses and industries. Over time you pick up certain trends within certain industries, an example is specialised industrial or manufacturing businesses who tend to keep things simple when it comes to promotion. This is because the way clients are typically acquired is through specific networking events or conferences. Which is understandable, as their service and value-add is often complex to explain and complicated to present. Furthermore, for many of these businesses there are only a handful of potential companies that require their services within the market. Despite these trends, I have lost count how many times I have seen a business of this nature completely dominate a niche market with a little bit of content strategy. Experienced video production companies in Johannesburg thoroughly understand the importance of staying competitive, especially in a saturated market like Johannesburg where you need to reinvent yourself to stay at the top.
One of the big issues with a lack of marketing is how the company is represented. A lack of marketing material results in inconsistent branding, which ultimately drains the company’s professionalism. Imagine you are a specialised manufacturer in need of a niche material produced by only a handful of businesses. They all arrive on your premises to pitch their services, with one PowerPoint presentation after another. Finally the last potential service provider arrives with a series of high-end marketing videos that simply blow your team’s expectations out of the water. On presentation alone, they have already won the war. That is because despite the practicality of their proposed solutions, the optics of their presentation is in such stark contrast that their entire perceived value is dropped. That is a scary thought, but an important one nonetheless. No matter what you do, there are always competitors you are being compared with, so keep your eyes on the industry standard and identify where you can elevate it for yourself.
The importance of continuity
A couple years back we connected with a training company that was in dire need of content assistance. They had a strong track record of personalised service delivery, with many of their clients on retainer for years. They were really good at what they did, but in the last year of operations their training content had lost its professional edge. In the previous year they had made contact with a new potential content producer for their training content. They were to produce a series of training videos covering a niche form of training. The only issue was, the training videos were not consistent at all. The company branding was constantly misrepresented in the videos. The training videos would completely change in pace and editing style from video-to-video. Furthermore, the publishing schedule was not being met, this resulted in irregular access to the training, which started affect the amount of training that was being consumed. Furthermore, their clients were complaining that the lack of consistency in the training made the modules feel unprofessional and forced. This lack of continuity was starting to affect their overall production value as a service. They needed to make a change and fast.
After a run down of their content problems, we developed a new content strategy to align their production value under the same governance and ‘look and feel’. This process started with a full content audit, whereby we took stock of their available content and resources. This allowed us to compile a list of potentially reusable content. From there we created content templates, which included video templates. As part of the template work we also standardised all of the additional transitional content throughout the training videos.This covers the intros, outros, video transitions and call-to-actions. Once this was finalised we produced a comprehensive content governance document that clearly stated the roles, responsibilities and processes involved in the updating and creation of training content. This ensured that the team could maintain a consistent look and feel throughout every piece of training content that they produced or updated. It also meant that by the end of this project, not only did we fix the clients continuity issues but we enabled them to never get stuck in this position again.
As a video production company from Johannesburg, we have spent over three decades marketing ourselves in a highly competitive business market, which has made us content strategy experts. An expertise that we pass on to each and every one of our clients. When it comes to the production of digital content, the ‘job’ does not stop when the video is produced, rather when it published and promoted. So yes, continuity matters every step of the way.
As a leading video production company in Johannesburg we have tons more stories to tell, make sure you check back for part 2 coming soon. Looking to tell your own stories? Get in touch with our team today!
We are a full-service Web development and Content Production Agency in Gauteng specialising in Video Production, Animation, eLearning Content Development, Learning Management Systems, and Content Production. Contact us for a quote. | Info@soundidea.co.za | www.soundidea.co.za | +27 82 491 5824 |