Fashion is all about visuals, so it makes sense that to market it, a visual-centric approach is used. Video allows fashion brands to show their products in more than just a few poses in favourable lighting – models can be shown wearing the clothes for the occasions or activities they were intended for, and the video can be used to give a quick display of the brand’s signature style so that the audience can get a good idea of what to expect before they begin shopping.

Video marketing also better allows brands to showcase the lifestyle and positive attributes that they want their audience to associate with their products. Most fashion brands will want to showcase those wearing their clothes as confident, happy and impressive, but some may also choose to use video marketing to highlight other issues that are important to their business model, such as sustainability or being socially-conscious.

Solid branding

It may seem easy to stay on brand when you’re displaying the products that make up your business, but the branding in your video still needs to be consistent with your brand marketing as a whole when it comes to the tone, graphics, visual style and ethos. This consistency will make you memorable and, eventually, your audience will know that a video is coming from your brand before your logo even appears anywhere on screen.

Professional and visually appealing

All videos need to look professional in order to pique your audience’s interest, anything less will seem amateurish and could cause people to question the quality of your brand as a whole. Fashion videos especially need to make use of sharp images, bold colours and clean graphics to maintain the image presented by the products themselves. Enlisting the expertise of professional video production and editing services will help to achieve this.

Aspirational

Like sports videos, fashion videos should present a sense of aspiration – your audience should want to experience a piece of the life demonstrated by the models on screen. This doesn’t have to mean attending extravagant parties or being the centre of attention – it can be as simple as enjoying the small things in life or having a strong feeling of self-confidence or empowerment that starts by investing in your brand.

Creativity

Video marketing allows you to get creative in ways that most other forms of marketing aren’t capable of pulling off. You may choose to put more of a narrative into your fashion videos to evoke the lifestyle your clothes represent, you might want to show the people behind your brand who make it a success, or you can use the video as an opportunity to show how your brand has evolved over the years. Whichever direction you choose, getting creative and thinking outside the box will make you memorable in a crowded marketplace.

Brevity

Whilst video allows you to spread your wings when it comes to your marketing, you still need to keep your content succinct for your audience to stay interested. Whatever type of fashion video you’re creating, only show as much as you need to. Don’t overindulge and try and get every one of your products onto the screen.

Even if you are making more of a narrative-driven piece that showcases the wider values of your brand, think about how long your audience will want to watch for, especially if the video will appear in social media feeds where content is usually brief.

Going beyond the products

If you have causes that are important to you, your video marketing campaign may be the perfect opportunity to share them with your audience. If it’s important to you that all your products are made sustainably, include it in your video. If you’re making strides to ensure that your business is socially-conscious or you’re pushing for change in the industry as a whole, show the audience how you’re making it happen. 

This demonstrates the ways your brand has a wider interest beyond just selling your products and will develop trust with your audience.

That concludes our brief guide to fashion video marketing. Just remember – fashion and video go hand in hand because of their strong emphasis on visuals and their incredible potential for creativity, so embrace that when planning your video marketing campaign.

If you are interested to see an example of how a fashion video can look, you can take a look at the video we created for Flannels of their summer party.

If you need some help with your fashion video marketing, feel free to get in touch and see how we can help.

Figuring out what kind of video is best for your business starts with knowing what the available options are, so here are a few of the main types of video production, and how they can be used as part of an effective video marketing campaign.

This is a type of video production that focuses on promoting a business’s products and services, with the intention of increasing sales of those products and raising awareness of the business’s place within the market. Promotional videos usually present a problem and a solution (with the latter being the brand’s product or service) with a call to action of investing in the brand.

While this is the general purpose of a promotional video, the form of the video can vary quite drastically. Examples might include talking heads and testimonials touting the effectiveness of the product, product demonstrations, announcement videos or even unboxing videos that evoke the excitement of opening and using the product for the first time.

Brand videos are a great way to showcase a brand and what is important to them. Brand videos are more than just demonstrating what a business does, they also show their ethos, their values, how they do business, and the overall feel of the brand. Effective videos of other types, such as promotional and educational videos, should also feature strong branding but in a brand video, this is put at the forefront.

This kind of video can be a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how the business is run, footage of the work the brand does outside of their normal business such as charity and outreach programs, or even a ‘highlight reel’ type video showcasing the brand’s most significant achievements. It can even just be a ‘brand feel’ video which is not overly promotional but gives a sense of your brand identity and narrative through stunning visuals.

Related article: How to Create Effective Branded Video Content

Educational videos are a great way for a brand to showcase their knowledge and expertise. The most common type of educational video is the ‘how-to’ style of video, but all educational videos have the aim of instructing the audience how to perform a certain skill, understand a concept, or even how to properly use one of the brand’s products.

As well as the skill that the audience learns, the educational video helps to develop trust with the brand and establish them as experts in their field, making the audience more likely to return to them for advice or instruction in the future.

Many educational videos would also fall under the category of informational videos, but the main distinction is that informational videos use facts to raise awareness rather than necessarily to instruct. In terms of video marketing, this could take the form of a video that gives the audience information about the industry the brand works in, the challenges facing it, or even a wider issue that the brand is invested in tackling.

These kinds of videos can be funny, exciting, or inspiring, but are ultimately made to entertain. All videos need a high level of engagement and interest in order to captivate an audience, but entertainment videos are even more reliant on these aspects to make an impression. Without a specific product to sell or instruction to give, entertainment videos depend on being striking and memorable enough that the brand is evoked just for being responsible for it.

Entertainment videos allow significant creative freedom as they don’t have the constraints as many of the other types of video production. Comedy shorts, music videos and travel videos are all types of entertainment video, and the main advantage of this form is that, with no specific ‘selling’ involved, a larger audience is more likely to engage with it, rather than just the brand’s key demographic.

Most people are familiar with cinematic documentaries or the episodic series that keep us hooked to our TVs and become the next ‘water cooler’ topic on social media, but documentaries have a place within video marketing too. Documentaries work on the premise of finding a compelling narrative in real situations. In other words, they show the story behind a brand’s process, employees, or the journey of a new venture.

However, a documentary film needs more than just a recording of events to be effective. It needs to create sympathy with the people involved or for the goal that is being worked towards to get the audience to invest. This could mean clearly laying out what’s at stake or showing the ‘characters’ lives in a broader context, rather than just solely as employees of the brand.

The possibilities are near endless when it comes to a video marketing campaign because there are so many different types of video production. Each type has its own benefits and a demographic that it will best appeal to, and when choosing which route to go down, the deciding factor should be how you want your brand to be remembered as a result of the video. 

Is getting your product seen by as many people as possible the main goal, or is it to raise awareness of your brand as a whole? Whatever your goal is, there will be a type of video for you. If you want some help figuring it out, feel free to get in touch and see how we can help with our filming and editing services.

Video marketing is incredibly effective, and one of the best ways to market a new product is to shoot a promotional video showcasing it. Here are our tips on how to shoot a product video that will have your merchandise flying off the shelves.

To know how to shoot a product video, you first need to know why it’s different from other types of film. A product video has, no surprise, the product at the centre of it. There can still be a narrative, but the aim is for your audience to see and understand your product. The purpose is to advertise and inform, with the audience’s excitement or emotional connection used to drive sales.

A product video should serve the following purposes:

Introduce your product to the market

Product videos aren’t exclusively for new products, they can also be used to put the spotlight on an existing product, but the purpose is the same – you are introducing (or re-introducing) the product to your target market to raise awareness.

Showcase your product’s features

A product video is a perfect way to let the audience understand what your product actually does and to show it in action, as well as how it could improve their lives.

Showcase your brand

Product videos are also a great way to showcase your brand and its ethics. While this isn’t usually the primary purpose, the best product videos will also give an honest representation of your brand, especially if you are a new business or are taking it in a new direction.

Before you can shoot a product video, you have to learn how the entire process works. The creation of any video has three major stages – pre-production, production, and post-production.

The pre-production stage starts with your planning and research and also includes writing the script and drawing up storyboards and shot lists. There are lots of questions you need to ask yourself at this stage, such as the purpose for your video, what your goals are, who your target market is and how you will distribute the video. A good way to get started is by creating your video brief and you can get inspired by reading our blog on how to write one.

The production stage is the shoot itself when all the planning and preparation come to life. There are a host of logistical considerations when it comes to organising the shoot, such as securing locations and actors, but a properly prepared-for production can be as simple as following a shot list and storyboard within an allotted time frame.

Post-production comes after the shoot has finished and is where the video comes together. In post-production, the raw footage is edited and cut into the finished film. In this stage, the sound will be mixed, colours corrected, music added, as well as any special effects and graphics. Post-production can be a lengthy process that takes much longer than the shoot itself.

 A clear, simple format

Your audience shouldn’t be confused or overwhelmed by the information in your video. Too much story, too many product features and excessive visual effects will make the video convoluted and turn potential customers away. The product is the star – show it off!

 Informative

Your video should give your audience all the information they need about your product – what it does, how it can benefit people, why it’s better than your competitors, as well as where it is available and how much it costs.

Instructive

If your product is easy to use, then this can be demonstrated in your video, the simplicity may be a selling point for your customers and this way they will also get an idea of how often and where they will use the product.

Reviews

If you have lots of positive feedback by customers or people who have already tried your product, consider including these in the video. These could just be star ratings that flash up on the screen or testimonials that appear in text or delivered by a client or customer in a vignette.

Professional appearance

A professional-looking video is key if you don’t want to get lost in the crowd. Sharp, high-quality visuals and sound make an impression, whereas amateurish camerawork and bad acting will see your video go viral for all the wrong reasons.

Hopefully, this has given you some idea of how to shoot a product video. The process is a long one, but high-quality video marketing is one of the best ways to grab the attention of your target audience.

It is usually best to enlist the help of a professional filmmaking and editing service for your promotional videos if you want to hit all the above criteria. 

You can still be the creative force behind your vision, but with the guidance of experienced filmmakers who know how to shoot a product video and will take care of all of the technical and logistical responsibilities.

If you are interested, you can find out more about our video production and editing services.

Your brand identity should be at the forefront of any video marketing strategy. Having a great idea for a video or series of videos isn’t that useful if it doesn’t gel with your brand in a clear way. You also need to identify what your message is, as this will help to define the story, among other things. Any ideas you come up with should be scrutinised ‒ ask yourself honestly if they represent your brand’s ethos.

When setting your goals, the first question you should ask yourself is why you are starting this campaign in the first place. Is it to attract a new audience, launch a new product, or are you rebranding your business? From this, you can set specific goals such as an increase in web traffic, increased sales on a particular product line, new customer sign-ups, or even video shares and view numbers. Some of these goals will need to be measured using analytics, but more on that later.

The story you want to tell is more than just the plot of the video, it is the essence of the piece and what you want your audience to take away from it. Perhaps you want to showcase the hardworking people behind your brand that make your business succeed, or how your product or service can change people’s lives. Whatever the story you want to tell is, your script should come from there.

You may have grand ideas in mind, but these might not be feasible with the financial backing you have available. Setting your budget is a crucial part of your video marketing strategy, but a small budget doesn’t mean you can’t make something great, especially with the right team. Your budget doesn’t just cover the production costs, however. You need to factor in any money that you will need to spend on distribution as well. You can have one overall budget and then split this between the different elements of your video marketing strategy.

Just like setting your budget, your initial ideas may be a little out of your reach when it comes to the logistics of filming content. If you have a particular scene in mind, do you actually know how best to set it up or shoot it? This is why it’s usually best to hire a professional videographer, who has first-hand experience in turning visions into achievable productions. A lot of logistical concerns come down to budget, but the best videographers will have creative solutions to make difficult ideas possible.

One of the easiest ways to go over budget is to run over schedule, so an essential part of your video marketing strategy is creating a timeline, from initial ideas through to distribution. You also need to keep everyone informed of this timeline. The timeline should include detailed plans for pre-production, the shoot itself, post-production and distribution. You can also track the results of your campaign far more easily if you know when to expect them.

Your video marketing journey isn’t over once you have the final cut. Your video marketing strategy needs to include a distribution plan ‒ after all, there’s no point filming content if no one will see it. Where do you want your video to be published? Different social media platforms and video hosting sites have different audiences, as well as varying technical requirements for the uploaded videos. You need to research the platforms your target audience is using and start there. You may also consider options such as paid search and appearing on third party sites.

One last point to consider when formulating your video marketing strategy is analytics. You need to know where your video hit the mark and where it fell short. Google Analytics is a good way of measuring the audience engagement with your content in clear numbers and percentages, but comments and feedback are also invaluable tools when analysing the effectiveness of your campaign. When you come to your next video marketing campaign, all this data will be available to you to capitalise on the most effective parts and rectify any mistakes.

Hopefully these pointers have been useful in creating a more comprehensive video marketing strategy. Just remember that, to create the most effective video, it is best to enlist the help of professionals who can not only shoot your film for you but can help to plan it too.

If you have any questions at all, or you are looking for someone to film or edit your video content, you’re always welcome to get in touch.

The first thing you’ll want to do when preparing your script is to write a video brief. A video brief outlines what you want your video to achieve, as well as addressing points such as the key message, budget and timeline. The video brief will help you focus so that you don’t end up overreaching, meaning you create a story that hits all of your key objectives whilst capturing the spirit of your brand.

All forms of marketing and video need to have the target audience in mind. This might be your existing client base, or you may be trying to break into a new market. In both scenarios, the best way to address your target audience is to put yourself in their shoes, asking yourself, ‘what would appeal to them?’. Knowing who you’re trying to reach will help to determine not only the tone of the piece but also the length, visual style and pathos.

Film script writers often fall into the trap of going heavy on the dialogue for the purpose of exposition, but this is possible for videos as well. Too much dialogue, especially in a short piece, takes something away from the medium. If you’re worried that your audience might not ‘get’ something without spelling it out for them, you may need to go back and revisit the action so that you can let the visuals and sound speak for themselves.

A script is more than just dialogue, it’s the whole story. The directions in your script should mean that whoever reads it can visualise the whole video. Try not to get too technical in the early drafts of your script – close-ups and tracking shots can be addressed in detail when you get to the storyboard stage – but you can still write your directions cinematically. Describing a character’s facial expressions infers the use of a closeup, where a description of a landscape suggests a wide or tracking shot.

Once you have a script you’re happy with, you may be a little reluctant to let anyone else get their hands on it, but collaboration is invaluable. Having colleagues you can trust to give unbiased feedback can really boost your script. The second pair of eyes will be able to see errors or problems with the script that you may have missed – they may even be able to offer a good suggestion or two for improvements.

Revisions are an essential part of the writing process. If you’ve passed your script by some colleagues, you’re sure to have some notes to consider. In the process of making these changes, you might spark some new ideas of your own. As well as correcting mistakes and integrating some new ideas, one of the key reasons for editing is trimming the fat from your script; ask yourself where cuts can be made, and if all the scenes are really necessary. A lean script is good, but it’s better to have to cut down a script than flesh one out.

One of the best ways to ensure you’ve got a great script for your video is to enlist the help of a professional filmmaker, as they will have a wealth of experience in the area. Experience teaches you what works and what doesn’t in a film script, as well as whether the criteria identified in the video brief are being met. Even if you don’t want to hand over your project completely to a professional, they may be able to work with you in a collaborative or consulting capacity just to help keep you on the right track to realising your vision.

Hopefully, you’re a little better informed as to how to write a script for a video that will ensure your vision becomes a reality. The script is the heart of any good film and provides the structure necessary to keep your target audience engaged in the narrative.

If you need help writing your script or are looking for assistance with creating your video, get in touch and see how we can help.

Poor, inconsistent or out-of-sync audio is especially jarring for an audience and can ruin their immersion in the film. Having good-quality audio begins on set, with the proper recording of sound using professional equipment, not just an in-built mic, but audio needs a little attention in the edit suite too. Mixing your sound levels properly so that the audio is consistent is essential for a smooth viewing, and so that you don’t end up with a cacophony of overlapped sounds or volume spikes.

You may have a great piece of music that you can’t wait to put to the film but trying to fit it in at any cost will be detrimental; the story should come first and the music should complement it. This may mean that you can’t use the entire piece of music, or it may have to be broken up and fade in and out at certain moments. No matter how good the soundtrack is, it will lose all its effect if it doesn’t work with the visuals on screen. When the soundtrack and visuals are properly matched, however, it’s a thing of beauty.

Everyone will have seen a film or video in their life that just dragged, and you found yourself checking how long was left. Everyone has also probably seen a film that went by at a mile a minute, preventing you from really taking anything in. Regulating the pace is a key editing skill and that doesn’t just mean fast forwards and slow-mos. Lots of quick cuts back-to-back create urgency and a sense of excitement but often doesn’t give the audience a chance to fully engage with any of those frames. Long, uninterrupted shots can help to build tension, but if they go on too long, they become boring. All films should have a change in tempo, but this should be dictated by the story.

Flash frames are incredibly jarring, making the audience think ‘did I just see that?’ or ‘What did I just see?’. Flash frames have, on occasion, been used for creative purposes, such as in The Exorcist or Fight Club, but usually, they are a result of an editing mistake or recording equipment error. Make sure to watch your video back frame-by-frame to check none of these flash frames has been accidentally spliced into your sequence.

Similar to (most) flash frames, incomplete transitions are usually the result of an editing mistake. Incomplete transitions occur when your transition is longer than one of the clips it is transitioning between, leaving the viewer momentarily looking at a blank screen. To fix this, you will have to extend the clips so that they are longer than the transition or replace the transition effect altogether.

Misuse of jump cuts is a common video editing mistake. One of the most famous jump cuts of all time is from the beginning of 2001: A Space Odyssey, when early man throws a bone into the air, and suddenly it turns into a similarly shaped space station, far into the future. Jump cuts have to be used carefully to have any positive effect otherwise, they will be jarring. Each shot should link to the next in some way, not just because you don’t have another way to transition between two scenes.

You might get a fantastic shot, scene or set that looks and sounds incredible but, just like the point about music earlier, you shouldn’t try and shoehorn it in. One of the most common video editing mistakes is trying to include shots that don’t fit with the overall narrative. Not only do these shots make your video flabbier, but they can also disturb the viewer immersion and lose your message.

Too many overlays or graphics just looks messy. If you’ve spent a lot of time planning your story and getting great shots, don’t detract from it by overloading them with graphics. Like special effects and many other similar techniques, if they’re not necessary – leave them out. Any graphics you do use should be in keeping with the tone of your film, not just in their design but also in how they appear on-screen, whether it be a slow fade in or on a frame of its own. Have faith in what you’ve achieved on set and use graphics sparingly to complement the piece.

Editing your video is a long, but very rewarding process where you can see all your hard work finally taking shape. Make note of these common video editing mistakes and you should have a much more enjoyable time cutting together your masterpiece.

If you need help editing your video or need help with any part of your video production process, get in touch with us and see how we can help.