A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away: VCRs, cassette tapes, printed newspapers, and just three or four TV channels.
Oh, wait. That was 1980. And while those “simpler days” may seem worlds away, they were actually right here in our own galaxy.
Lightspeed ahead to the 2020s, and things have gotten a little more complicated.
Live streaming. Thousands of channels and apps. Smart home devices. iPhones and Android.
Even kids’ video game consoles have online services, and anyone with a camera phone can try for YouTube stardom.
Everywhere we turn, there is an almost overwhelming array of news and entertainment options, and with them come an almost equal number of venues for promoting products, services and organizations.
Welcome to Digital 360, the era in which video content surrounds us and dominates our cultural landscape.
Looking at social media, there’s a digital ad.
Watching a fun video sharing app, there’s a digital ad.
Clicking on a news story on your laptop, there’s a digital ad.
Savvy marketers understand — and embrace — this shift in how people receive information and form brand opinions. We embrace it not just because it is reality, but because it allows us to unleash our creativity in exciting and highly targeted new ways using a gnarly set of modern tools ranging from drones to 8K cameras to powerful editing software.
When it comes to video, “one and done” just doesn’t work anymore. Companies need multimedia in multiple channels to reach consumers in a variety of formats. And videos can deliver messages quickly as attention spans seem to be dwindling the more technology proliferates.
What Digital 360 demands is a fully encompassing video strategy that includes components such as branding, social media, low- and high-resolution content, subject-matter expert clips and training modules.
Mindy Corporon, president of the Faith Always Wins Foundation, found her charitable organization’s trademark annual event in peril last year around the onset of the pandemic shutdowns.
Faced with canceling the event, which typically includes seven consecutive days of in-person activities, Corporon instead turned to digital. She was determined to continue the significant progress the foundation had achieved in the five previous years.
Pivoting online, Corporon invested in professional social media promotional spots, had high quality animation and branding elements produced for online activities, and set an aggressive schedule for shooting and editing videos to be streamed during the SevenDays event.
She also had content built for her organization’s website and did voiceover work in the studio.
Her vision and leadership gave SevenDays a professional, buttoned-up look — avoiding many of the pitfalls of do-it-yourself virtual activities — and helped the Faith Always Wins Foundation successfully continue its mission during challenging times.
Corporon then went on to incorporate more digital elements into her overall communications strategy moving forward based on the success of this new direction.
Whether you’re a small business owner or involved in the nonprofit sector, effective communication is essential. You must build rapport with stakeholders and strategically convey your offering to the marketplace.
You can do this best by having a clear, consistent message and delivering it where people “live.” Today that means taking the message to any number of digital devices, many of which don’t stay home, but rather go with people wherever they are.
The opportunities are practically endless, with options ranging from multiple-day, on-location video shoots to in-studio, greenscreen options that can dramatically reduce the production time and cost needed to create professional digital content.
Don’t get stuck in quicksand and let opportunity pass you by. Find an experienced video partner with the ability to collaborate on both real-time developments and well thought out plans for the entire year ahead.
And don’t forget creativity. Fresh ideas and approaches are required for your company to stand out and attract the right kind of attention.
Those of us working day in and day out in this digital world love nothing more than using our 21st century tools to allow you to achieve your 21st century goals.
You don’t have to be the expert or feel intimidated by approaches that might be a bit unfamiliar. Our job is to carve out the right spot for your company’s success in the Digital 360 era and keep you up-to-speed as tactics and technology continually evolve.
Look at this as a process, not a destination, and you’ll make video work for you from every angle for years to come.
Brad Burrow is co-publisher of Thinking Bigger and the founder of Real Media, a video, VFX and design firm in Overland Park, Kan.
To learn more about Mindy Corporon’s foundation, which she co-founded following the murders of her father and teenage son in 2014, click here.
