Tuesday, 10 January 2012 12:44

Video Production for Web-Marketing Non-Profits

Written by Jai Suh

As one of Seattle’s premiere video production companies, CMA gives back to the community by helping non-profit organizations integrate video into their marketing strategies and campaigns. These four instructional videos were featured in my November 16, 2011 presentation to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). My presentation was titled, “Shooting Video for the Web: Secrets from a Pro.”

1. The first video opens with a brief introduction and overview of online video marketing and the importance of good storytelling. It’s important to make a video that is engaging, informative, and relevant, something that people will want to watch and hopefully share with others.

2. In the second video, I introduce Animoto.com, an inexpensive and easy tool for creating video slideshows for the Internet. A user doesn’t even need a video camera. Just upload photos and Animoto produces a slick and effective video montage specific to your needs. I suggest that you then gather email addresses and invite people to join you on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to share your Internet marketing video as widely as possible.

3. You can also shoot your own lo-fi video message rather inexpensively. In video three, I offer important how-to’s, including technical tips and what information to share. I talk about the benefits of YouTube, the Internet’s second-leading search engine, as well as additional tips about social media, engagement, and simplicity.

4. In video four, I focus on professional video production for marketing purposes. At CMA, we know that a good story is essential to engaging and inspiring an audience. I describe our video shoot for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, where we produced five individual family stories, an organization overview video, a volunteer recruiting video, and a new family check-in video all in one day. The secret is maximizing production costs through efficient pre-production and planning.

In closing, I share an example of CMA’s marketing work with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. This five-minute Pacific Northwest Ballet Summer Course video has garnered 120,000+ YouTube views and counting. Perhaps the most successful aspect of this viral response is the comment section, where emotional dialogue and heartfelt testimonials are often shared. These social media interactions resonate directly through PNB’s target market, creating a valuable buzz and positioning PNB as a leader in the online ballet community.

At CMA, we bring superior talent, equipment, and experience to each video project in order to deliver a first-class product to our clients. The best video comes down to quality storytelling and we strive to tell your unique tale with maximum effectiveness and widespread success.

Please share your experiences with video production or Internet video marketing. “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to get more video and web-marketing tips and advice. Post comments and questions below, or on Facebook, and you’ll hear from us soon. Thank you.