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The Video Reformation: A Manifesto

A Manifesto
by Storyboard Media

On this day, January 9th, 2019, as our company turns five years old…

WE ARE REDEFINING THE WORD VIDEO.

Video is a practice, not a deliverable. It is not merely the result of writing, shooting, and editing footage into a compressed digital file. Video is a continuous cycle of strategizing, planning, creating, producing, distributing, promoting, analyzing, and applying what you’ve learned to the next iteration.

When it comes to business, video is no longer a novelty, but a necessity. And because it will be an integral part of our business, we must aim for our video to be effective. Effective video helps us achieve our desired future state. Effective video helps our prospects and customers achieve their desired future states. Effective video allows us to learn about our viewers as much as they learn about us.

So in order to practice effective video for business, we will follow the rules below as if our jobs depend on it.

Because, ultimately, they do.

I. WE WILL FIRST DEFINE OUR PURPOSE.
Above all else, our video content must be carefully designed to serve a singular purpose. The purpose of each video may be informed by company goals, business unit goals, or personal goals – but the purpose will always be clearly stated before any video is produced.

II. WE WILL INTEGRATE OUR VIDEO.
Our video must integrate with our marketing, sales, and customer success technology so that our revenue teams can leverage the data we uncover in a way that serves our purpose. Furthermore, our video will not function outside of our other strategic endeavors, and it will not live in isolation from our other content. It will complement and amplify our company culture, our brand voice, and our existing/future content – including our other videos.

III. WE WILL BE SPECIFIC.
We will make our video’s purpose specific rather than making “one video to rule them all.” Our video will have a clearly defined objective, audience, and call to action. Because if we try to do everything, we will do nothing; if we try to speak to everyone, we speak to no one; if we ask our viewer to do everything, they will do nothing.

IV. WE WILL ENABLE AND COMPEL OUR VIEWER TO TAKE ACTION.
Every video we make must prompt our viewer to take an action; giving them nothing to do is a waste of our time and theirs. A clear line can be drawn from our video’s purpose to this specific action. The opportunity to capture our viewers’ attention and drive action is the unfair advantage of video – and we will seize that opportunity.

V. WE WILL MEASURE (AND LEARN FROM) EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE MEASURED.
In an effort to always improve, we will learn what we can from our video performance and the viewers’ behavior. The better we measure, the more we can learn. We will resist the urge to favor vanity metrics like view count and play rate in exchange for results and company wins.

VI. WE WILL ENSURE OUR OBJECTIVES ARE ATTAINABLE.
Despite what may be lofty ambitions, we will not allow a perceived deficit of resources affect our ability to practice video. This means establishing attainable objectives and setting realistic expectations. When we establish our budgets, timelines, and metrics of success, we will not see these constraints as obstacles, but as opportunities to make better decisions and better video.

VII. WE WILL SEE VIDEO AS AN INVESTMENT, NOT AN EXPENSE.
Video often costs money. And when a business spends money, the expectation will be that there is a return on that investment. We will treat video the same. We will set out to create video that has a positive, measurable return for our business. As the most engaging and measurable content out there, video can and should make the company money.

In conclusion…

WE WILL BE STRATEGIC.

With love,
Storyboard Media | Video Strategies for Marketing, Sales & Customer Success Teams