What is a Well-Designed Video??

This quote from Industrial Designer Karim Rashid brings home a wonderful point about creating a Marketing Video for your company: Your Marketing Assets should be designed to be used by people. Well, yes, of course, and here comes the “but.”

But we have to take at least one more step back and figure out which people are THE people. Who is your audience. THIS is the thing that most marketers get wrong.

Most Brand Videos that I see are made (Designed) to be watched by the wrong audience. The video script talks about your company, your excellent products and/or services and go on to tell the viewer that your company has lots of trucks or your product comes in 10 colors. This all makes you very proud. Yes, you think, that is exactly who we are and what we do!

BUT… if this is a MARKETING video, a video that was ostensibly Designed to connect your prospect with your company, then you’ve just wasted a bunch of time and money because you’re telling the wrong story. You’ve just told YOUR story, but you should be telling your PROSPECTS story. You’ve told your marketing story Inside Out.

People, well, people that are, you know, human, are self-interested and care about your company only in as much as you can solve a problem that they have.

Good Design, defined here as stuff that does its intended job really well, is fascinating. I notice it all the time. For example, the good design of a Bottle Opener. A Bottle Opener that has excellent balance, feel and performance. Or the good design of  the Method Dish Soap bottle. It’s sooo easy to use and feels completely natural in your hand, even when it’s wet and soapy. These things do their intended job really well.

A Well-Designed Marketing Video is a video that takes the viewer (your Prospect) through their journey. It makes THEM (not you) the hero of the story, with you as the expert guide. It takes them from frustration to success.

So, if you’re gearing up to make a Marketing Video, make sure that it’s Designed to be inspiring to the right audience; your Prospect.

– Mark