In today’s socially connected world with everyone posting videos of themselves it’s easy to think that video is something that you should do to personalise your website and brand image. It’s true, people connect with people and using video well is a very powerful way of helping convert users to clients. The fact that so much video is consumed now and that people are reading less online and watching more, makes it vital that your brand story is reflected in any video content you add to your site. But make sure that the content reflects your brand.
There are countless examples of bad video content out there – and fairly numbing that content is. For specialist travel businesses, with ‘recommended’ as one their most vital new sales channels, getting your brand image right is paramount. One of your clients recommending your services to a friend or colleague will absolutely mean that the referred potential client looks at your website. In many respects it is easy to produce a good looking website and logo and still work out of a trading estate unit or back bedroom without your clients finding out. But when you add a video to the site it turns the site into a success or failure – because the recommended user will almost certainly watch the video to find out whether you are the business for them.
Deciding on your ‘persona’ is the most important element and crafting the video is a skill. Typically using an agency to create a 3 minute video for you might costs £3,000 ++ ( and if you don’t have that money then WISTIA , our favourite Video hosting company, have tons of self help videos that mean you can turn out pretty professional videos. Help sheets like ‘Brand Voice‘ and how to put together a lighting kit for $100 mean that you can produce your own videos inexpensively and still get great results.
You’ll know your brand, your ID, your voice – make sure that your video reflects it or it won’t be worth having. In the meantime, let me share one of the best niched travel agent video intros from Cazenove & Lloyd. they aren’t a huge company, they provide extraordinary bespoke trips. There will be lots of travel operators out there that would claim the same but watch their video and see how effective they are at showcasing their expertise. It’s clear this is going to be an expensive holiday ( & I guess this suits the sales funnel for Cazenove and Lloyd by ensuring that those ‘timewasters’ don’t bother getting in touch), but if you have the budget, there is no doubt that you are in the right place. For an agent or operator out there selling high end bespoke travel – this is what you are up against. It is time to take video seriously.
