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Videos are a great tool in marketing. You can effectively frame a marketing video to save production time and maximize your final product’s impact. You can get the job done in 30 minutes through these ten steps.

WHY IT MATTERS: In the early planning stages, it is easy to over-emphasize talent and downplay production and promotion aspects vital for the outcome and required efforts. 

You can frame a video well by focusing on these ten points in the first 30 minutes of your project. 

👥 Talent 

A prevalent starting point. You have identified a person with high attractiveness that you want to capture on film. A good plan is to include all required talent: 

• Speaker – executive, leader, subject matter expert. 
• Co-speakers – for panel sessions, as a complement to the main speaker 
• Host/moderator – Branded, professional, layman.

A good match and scheduling feasibility are vital for success. Most successes and failures happen here, so we tend to over-emphasize talent. 

🌏 Reach 

Define the audience you target to reach on a high level:

• Internal
• Customer-specific 
• Market-wide 

The target audience defines the right communication level and how much you can use non-public or customer-specific information. Postpone detailed persona descriptions to a later stage. 

🧩 Scope 

An exciting short film relies on three cornerstones: 

• A new angle 
• An overarching theme 
• 3-4 topics/questions to discuss 

Aim to nail at least two ✌️ if you plan to do a victory lap afterward. 

⏱️ Duration for video deliveries 

Set an initial direction of the length of the final product from one of four base durations: 

• 1-2 min news clip 
• 6-8 min interview
• 20 min panel for more than two speakers 
• 45 min for deeper dives

This information is central for camera crews and speakers to acknowledge what they sign-up for. 

🎞️ Format 

There is a tight coupling between the final format and the required scripts. You can expect experienced speakers to be familiar with 

• Keynote – scripted 
• Interview – scripted 
• Fireside chat – questions 
• Panels – questions 

This fact is also script writers’ best friend, as scripting and production of physical or digital Q cards vary with format type. 

🎥 Production 

All involved have different understandings of what it takes to deliver excellent quality, and the span of options is large:

• Smartphone or a dedicated VLOG kit 
• Single camera/sound/light set up, remotely operated. 
• Single-camera wired or lapel microphones, and external lights managed by one person 
• Multi-camera setup and dedicated picture, light, and sound crew

Your budget defines what is possible, and your judgment is vital to determine what is good enough. 

🎬 Distribution 

The planned distribution, and lag between capturing video and showtime represent four options: 

• Live, go live as it happens 
• Live-on-tape is recorded slightly ahead and appears as if it was live 
• Post-production before distribution is the only option where you make actual cuts. 
• On-demand access for registered participants or a group served with an extranet. 
• Open access to all on the internet from your site or via YouTube. 

Combine the first three with the last two for maximum reach. 

📝 Promotion 

Treat all videos you create as a movie in need of movie trailers and associated promotion jobs where you choose between: 

• own newsletter 
• own social and employee advocacy
• customer or third-party newsletter
• paid social media 
• digital advertising 

Use paid where you have to broaden the reach of your channel and aspire to reinforce the first two gradually. 

📃 Required preparations

The quality of your video productions depends on the quality of your preparations: 

• One-page logistics brief 
• Interview Questions 
• Complete talk track 
• Q cards – physical or digital 
• Graphic overlays
• Films to include 
• Props 

Video is preparation intensive; expect these 7 to show up for any video you want to create. 

🎳 Critical team roles 

Creating video is a team work with many specific competencies in play: 

• Project manager 
• Scriptwriter 
• Production team – in-house or out-sourced 
• Post-production – if needed 
• Publishing and promotion 

Expect a steep learning curve if you are new to video, and be diligent about capturing learnings between projects. 

What do I do next: Craft a template you can use for your video projects and aspire to frame future projects in 30 minutes 

Additional reading suggestions 

• Video plan: The beginners guide to successful video pre-production [BLOGPOST] – by Matt Pierce 
• [The] Ultimate guide to project management for video productions [BLOGPOST] – by Project.co
• Checklist: Determine the scope of work for a video production project [BLOGPOST] – by Jay Leonard