Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

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Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

x < Overview

Whether you are responsible for internal communications, sales, marketing, training or human resources, you’re likely to be faced with the challenge of increasing the volume of video content in your .

It may be that you are starting out with video, looking for a way to scale fast or undertaking a complete transformation. Either way, this document will help you create a strategy that puts video at the heart of the organization.

Why is Aframe uniquely placed to help?

Aframe’s collaborative video platform and deep expertise in the broadcast sector has helped like KPMG, Telus International, ATP World Tennis and UNICEF quickly expand their video operations. ‘Key Considerations For A Successful Video Strategy’ has been produced with non-broadcast in mind.

Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

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x < The Video Challenge

Video pervades every aspect of our daily lives so, on the face of it, shifting a higher mix of content to video and scaling up video operations is a natural evolution and shouldn’t be too daunting. With the appropriate budgets, a strong vision and a commitment from everyone involved, there should be no barriers to launching a successful video strategy.

But it’s not quite that simple. Video is difficult.

Video is a complex medium to work with both creatively and technically. Unlike almost all other communication techniques, video cannot be instantly and easily deployed.

With huge file sizes, numerous formats and choice of technology, who will look after the technological challenges like access, storage, distribution and security?

Then there’s the problem of scale. How do you build out your entire video operation and increase the cadence of content? Do you have the right skillsets on your team or partners that can successfully handle a massive surge in video production, editing, review and broadcast? What other factors do you need to consider whilst maintaining equity? How do you marry the results from individual ways of working from different locations and numerous filmic styles?

Controlling the entire process whilst providing a healthy return can be a challenge, even for the most hardened TV executives.

3 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

The Key Considerations

Infrastructure Strategic Decisions a. Technology a. Objectives b. Security b. Target Audience c. People c. Budgeting 01 02 06 Planning a. Types of Video Review Video b. Insource / Outsource a. KPIs & Analytics c. Rationale & Briefing b. Review Strategy 05 03 Broadcast Production a. Distribution 04 a. Content Strategy b. Promoting Content b. Workflows c. Quality & Brand Control

1a. Objectives Having a strong vision for the business makes putting together a video strategy much quicker and simpler. It helps to understand the role that video will play and define the key milestones along the way to help drive the program, reduce costly mistakes and make the outcomes more predictable.

1b. Target Audience What departments in your organization produce or use video today and which departments will produce video in future? Video productions can be expensive so it pays to start as you mean to go on and decide whether your video strategy will be de-centralized or managed centrally for economies of scale. Once your key teams have been identified, you’ll be more easily able to define each target audience, regional scope and personas.

4 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

1c. Budgeting Budgeting for video can be an eyebrow-raising experience for the uninitiated CFO or budget holder. Not only is the equipment expensive to purchase and hire, there is a long list of other technical requirements that are required for the smooth and efficient running of high tempo video operations.

Estimate total budget per production and map this to your content calendar to get an overall budget for the year ahead. Don’t forget to include distribution and promotional costs. By linking it to your business plan and objectives, the cost of the video strategy can be properly assessed for return on investment.

Try to meet with as many potential partners to discuss typical costs asking for worst-case scenarios. Better to over budget on your outsourced projects than cut corners.

2a. Technology Work with your IT team to examine the potential impact of a large increase in video output. They have the power to ensure your operations don’t suffer from too many technical challenges in the early stages. These are the main areas to consider:

• Storage – one of your most immediate concerns as professional video formats are filmed at such a high resolution that storage per minute ratio is possibly higher than it’s ever been. Video storage should cover not only the ability to scale in capacity, but should also offer accessibility for everyone on the project.

• Review & Approval – document a preferred method of distributing content and gathering all stakeholders’ opinions. How will you reach people on the move and in different time zones?

• Search – when lots of video is produced it can quickly become overwhelming without a resolute method of file naming.

• Transcode – this is the process of changing the file format of a video file into something more useful for the method of broadcast, without a degradation of quality.

• Network – if you plan to reply on cloud solutions, strong connectivity will be required to ensure successful upload and download of content.

• Equipment – IT will be all too familiar with the issues surrounding any CapEx on hardware and the subsequent support required, so ensure you have explored all angles. Is there anything that could be expensed operationally?

• Sharing – video is a collaborative process, but sending video content to other people is more difficult than you might imagine due to high file sizes. Having a tested method of sharing high quality content with lots of geographically dispersed people will save you a big headache down the line.

• Distribution – how you plan to broadcast your finished content, which be might online, via social media, an internal system like the corporate intranet or a mix. Ensure the finished content can be successfully transmitted this way.

5 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

2b. Security Your content could be commercially valuable and potentially contain sensitive material – what plans are in place to protect assets and recover them in the event of a disaster?

Depending on the value of your media, security should be applied at every stage of the content lifecycle: from production through to distribution and archive.

This should also include the recovery of content in the event of a disaster. However you store and back-up video content, it’s worth running through some realistic scenarios of what happens if any part of the process fails. Recovering media in a timely fashion and ensuring all media can be retrieved will be time well spent – especially if disaster does strike!

2c. People It can be easy to think that existing creatives and technical staff can turn their hands to video. Although it’s unlikely their skills will cover camera, lighting, audio, direction, production, editing through to the technical challenges of storing, moving, reviewing, transcoding and delivering video content.

A stronger mix of external staff may be required in the early days to support your existing team while they transition.

Video demands a wider range of experts than other creative mediums so when it comes to hiring, be realistic on the breadth of skills each person can offer.

Plan for the project to deliver early wins quickly. Not only will the team grow in confidence from seeing their hard work showcased on the ‘big screen’, the rest of the organization will see the fruits of their labors – and spend!

3a. Types of Video Video can be used for many types of internal and external communication - from short, high production value advertising to internally produced, long format courses for remote training. Understanding the depth and breadth, quality and quantity of video that your organization is likely to produce in future will also help you create a more encompassing strategy that informs your decisions. x

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6 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

3b. Insource or Outsource Most organizations usually have a mix of low quantity, high value content from specialist video producers and in- house produced material. Some companies are scaling their video operation fast and can see the cost benefits of bringing some production, or parts of the workflow in-house. Ultimately the % split of content production comes down to a tradeoff between cost and quality of video production against internal resource, capability and capacity. Each production may require a different team and equipment based on the specific brief.

3c. Rationale and Briefing The need or desire to quickly accelerate video output in the corporate enterprise must always be supported by a strong reason, or projects will suffer from scope creep and lack any quantifiable return on investment. Whether video is designed to increase sales, improve internal communications or delivering training, each project should have a clear and measurable goal in mind and a standard briefing document is recommended.

4a. Content Strategy Conduct an audit of existing and future video requirements to bridge the gap in your content portfolio. Marry this with your production requirements and potential deadlines. Next decide who will produce each piece of content, how long it will take and how much it will cost. Once you have created a production calendar, validate this with the rest of the business to ensure appropriate creative and technical resources are available.

4b. Workflows Video is extremely demanding of resource. Without careful planning, strict deadlines, accurate budgets and slick organization, plans can quickly fall apart.

It’s worth spending time working on your production workflow processes from the outset to ensure that everyone understands their role and the order in which actions will happen. Don’t forget that your workflow may have to change for each different type of video production. Having the people and technical resource that can be flexible is an essential component of successful video workflows.

The inclusion of third party suppliers does make the process easier, as they take the burden of the majority work and will come ready equipped with their own workflows. Using multiple suppliers can present new logistical challenges though, as each provider will want to collaborate in slightly different ways. To combat potential confusion, it’s worth having a blanket workflow in mind for all third party suppliers, which may include a preference for the technology used for video collaboration.

7 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

4c. Quality & Brand Control Unlike written or 2D visual content, it’s not as easy to amend or improve the final draft of a video. Poor lighting, low quality audio or shoddy camera work can only ever be marginally improved in post-production (though it is astonishing what good editing and visual effects can do of course).

So it’s worth doing some research into the minimum level of quality the team is aiming for.

One of the key factors to consider is the resolution of your finished content. Your production collaborators will be able to advise on the look and feel of your content, which will be dependent on where it is to be broadcast, corporate branding and the style your creative team wishes to attain.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to necessarily be spending vast sums on high-end filming equipment. The cost of professional video equipment has fallen dramatically in recent years and a decent setup can be available very cost effectively.

Regardless of your organization’s plans to scale their video output, it’s important from the outset that a set of brand guidelines for video are set. Video brand guidelines ensure consistency of your brand, regardless of the type of video produced and will also help communicate the brand more effectively. It will also offer restraints within which the video communication has to adhere to.

These guidelines should be based on the organization’s standard guidance to cover logo usage, color fonts, and language. Video brand guidance should also cover advice on tone, lighting, sound, resolution and filming style. Check out Boston University’s very detailed Video Branding and Standards for inspiration.

An additional method of ensuring tight brand control is during the review and approval process. This is the method of sharing content with the organization’s stakeholders to ensure it meets with their expectations and standards. Stakeholders may include Marketing, Communications, PR, Compliance, Legal and Human Resources – depending on the level of sign off required in your organization of course.

The review and approval process may take place during the different stages of the video production process or even over several rounds of review. Ensuring you have a flexible and scalable solution that can handle geographically dispersed content and reviewers is vital.

5a. Distribution In certain cases your organization may need to sell content – either direct or via a distribution network. It is common for marketing and sales enablement teams to create promotional materials and screeners to support the process. All too often, these teams are at the end of a sequential workflow and do not have access to materials until very late. Building these teams and their requirements into your strategy from the outset will help this group become more productive.

8 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

5b. Promoting Content One of the most challenging aspects of video is ensuring that your audience sees it. Weeks, possibly months of planning can go to waste if your finished production isn’t viewed, so ensuring you have a strong plan to broadcast the finished piece should be a part of your approach.

There are now several tools the corporate enterprise can employ to distribute or broadcast their video. Content Delivery Networks or CDNs are cloud based software that allow you to show video on a website. Imagine YouTube for your corporate video, but with more control over who sees what; more security over the content and outside threats; and less pressure on internal systems and network infrastructure. Good CDN examples are Brightcove, Ooyala and Kaltura.

You may wish to embed video directly into your own website or intranet, which is where a video hosting provider may offer a better and more cost efficient service. Wistia is a good example of offering this service in a simple yet very cost effective online service.

6a. KPIs and Analytics Decide what metrics you’ll use to measure the effectiveness of your strategy and individual projects, communicating widely with timely reporting so stakeholders adjust their programs and refine over time. Conducting a regular audit and maintaining good records will be key delivering to meeting, or ideally, exceeding the organization’s expectations.

6b. Review Everybody’s a critic and because video is so accessible as a medium, you’ll have no shortage of viewer feedback. Qualitative research is a useful gauge of whether your content is hitting the mark and it’s a useful way of gathering feedback that can be used to improve over time.

Your Takeaway Tip

Creating maximum return on investment with video is a finely tuned blend of strategy, content, people, processes and technology. Be agile, be ready and most importantly be prepared for change. You don’t need an incredibly detailed plan, but if you’ve taken into consideration all of the key points in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to maximize video ROI. Best of luck!

You may also like our additional materials in this Strategy Series:

• A Buyer’s Guide to Online Media Collaboration Platforms >>

• Why Online Media Collaboration Tools are Unsuitable for Enterprise Use >>

9 Key Considerations for a Successful Video Strategy

About Aframe

Aframe is the cloud video collaboration platform and one central location where teams can instantly view, access and work with high resolution media. Aframe drives business efficiencies and dramatically increases the usage and value of media assets. Headquartered in London with operations in Boston, New York and Los Angeles, Aframe is trusted by broadcast, media and corporate organizations worldwide.

Central Video Platform Asset Monetization Aframe is a cloud collaboration platform that Commercial teams can create online catalogs, sales provides one central location for global teams and kits and screeners to improve professionalism international partners to access and manage high and customer service. The central cloud platform resolution video. Trusted by the world’s largest overcomes the commercial and technical organizations, Aframe is the only solution to challenges of securely managing and distributing combine fast UDP upload, transcoding, metadata assets to improve partner communications, support, video player, dynamic search, online streamline the sales process, broaden sales reach review and approval, and analytics. and ultimately increase revenue.

Media Management & Collaboration Production Aframe’s central platform helps marketing, promos Aframe reduces the complexity of managing and reversioning groups take control of their media across all types of production. Cloud- assets and manage them more effectively. With powered workflows means everyone, wherever less time spent wrestling with technical issues, they are based, has instant access to the content teams can be more productive and make more they need from one central place. By reducing use of assets. the barriers of production, teams can focus on creating the highest quality content and complete

productions in record time.

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