A promo video for your business

For any wedding or event planner marketing is always one of the biggest financial outlays. Most planners don’t have a shop front as they work virtually from home, so therefore the chance of foot traffic is non existent. This leaves you with a problem. How do you get the attention of your audience? Of course there are all the obvious answers to this question, such as building a website, advertising in bridal magazines, attending bridal expos etc, but as you don’t have a physical product to show people it can be very hard to try and get across the service you offer. This is where a promo video comes in.

Immediately, I can sense you taking a sharp breath at the thought of how much that is going to set you back out of your non existent marketing budget. But it really isn’t that bad. As a wedding planner I would say that a promo video is one of the best ways to showcase what you do. Short of taking a prospective client to a wedding with you, which we all know you can’t do, how else can you allow the bride and groom into your world of creative organised chaos?

So let me try and dispell the myth that promo videos are only for large, well established companies and let you try it through my own experience. Today I went into the studio to complete the final filming of the promo video for the Academy.  As we offer our courses by Distance and E Learning I am in a similar position to a wedding or event planner. Although I do have a product, my clients don’t see the product until they have enrolled. What I wanted to achieve with my promo video was to give my clients a sense of what we do at the Academy, and allow them to see how professional we are, which in turn will give them the confidence to enrol in one of our courses.

So how does it all work? Well first you need to find yourself a good production company. I tend to find working on recommendation goes a long way, so try chatting to some of your wedding photographers and videographers. They should be able to give you some good leads. I used ITV Production and the fabulous Sergio for my little award winner.

Once you have found your production company you will be invited to go in and talk about your vision, what you want to achieve and your time frame. Together you will create a storyboard that will have between 8 – 12 individual boards, that when joined together become the story behind your video. A word to the wise, never allow your video to go over 90 seconds. It might not sound very long but believe you me if you can’t get your message across in this time you will have lost your audience. When I conducted some research for my promo video on other course providers I nearly fell asleep whilst watching them. They dragged on and on and I found myself flicking through to the end. Keep it short, sweet and concise.

Try and avoid using too many still images. Instead maybe use some footage from one of your weddings. The next time you do a wedding why not get one of your friends to join you as your assistant, and get them to film you in action. Keep it real. Nobody wants to watch image after image of some random bride walking up the aisle, throwing her bouquet etc. What they want to see is you and what you can do – how you are going to help them bring their wedding alive. You could include some footage of you on a consultation with a bride, taking them to meet suppliers and maybe finish the video with a 6 second interview with one of your former brides. Take the time to think it through.

What ever you decide to include within your video make sure you write yourself a script. You will need to do a certain amount of voice over and there is nothing worse than being tongue tied once the camera starts rolling. Know in advance what you want to say and the points you want to make. Then rehearse, rehearse, rhearse!

Finally comes the fun part. The bit where you get to go into the studio and film your intro and ending. Make sure you dress appropriately and give some thought to the outfit you want to wear. You only have one chance to make a first impression so project the right image to your audience. Be sure to wear plenty of makeup as well, you don’t want to look pale and pasty. And above all else remember to have some fun. I know I said this won’t break the bank, but you still don’t want to have to do a remake any time soon.

Stay tuned for our new promo video. It should be ready in about 10 days and we will post a link on this blog for you all to go and see and no doubt critique.