From bloopers to brand awesomeness…make this the year of your Cinderella story!
Once upon a time, I moved to a new city and decided that the best way to meet new people in that new city was to join a recreational league. I reached out to the handful of acquaintances I knew. We formed a team of misfits with self-proclaimed athletic ability, and we decided on sand volleyball (conveniently hosted by a local Irish bar). On opening day, we marched out onto the court with baseless confidence and expected to crush our opponents. Instead, we flopped — bad. I learned a hard lesson that day. A group of athletic players doesn’t make a winning team.
No doubt, your organization is filled with creative geniuses, problem solvers, strategists, number crunchers, business mavericks and the like. But unless each player knows how to work as a well-practiced team, things don’t get accomplished as well (or fast) as they can. In today’s blog, we’re talking about how to maximize your partnership with a video marketing agency by forming an all-star internal team. This is the best way to ensure a successful and productive partnership that effectively helps you reach your marketing or communications goals and maximizes ROI.
Step 1: Pick the Best Players for Your Team
Don’t just pick Tyler because he’s your buddy. You want this team to be elite; the best people for the job. The smaller and more specialized the team, the easier it will be to manage and align with specific goals. If you have a CEO that would prefer final say, keep their involvement to just that — the last sign-off. Don’t involve them in ideation unless they specifically request.
Step 2: Assign and Explain Player Roles
Who is a part of the creative development? Who is responsible for budgeting and timing? Who will act as the liaison between the internal team and the video marketing agency? Who has the final say on details like the script or storyboard? Define and assign these roles ahead of time to avoid confusion when the project heats up. Ask that every player sticks to their assigned role and avoid stepping into someone else’s role. When your video marketing agency enters the picture, clarity about responsibilities will make managing everyone much easier.
The two most important roles:
1. The ‘Final Say’ Person
The ultimate decision maker is one of the most important roles on your team. This person will make the final call on all project details, including the ones nobody agrees on. Why do you need a ‘final say’ person? To avoid lasting debates or arguments that could derail the scope of the project.
2. The Team Liaison
Communication is the cornerstone of a successful partnership. Without it — you can expect a lot of fumbles, overturns, and general sloppiness. The team liaison is responsible for clearly communicating expectations to the video marketing partner and relaying any information from the video team back to his/her internal team. The accuracy and consistency of this “flow” if communication is vital to keeping your project on task, time, and budget.
Step 3: Define a Singular Mission
The most successful video campaigns (be it for marketing or internal communications) are deliberate and calculated. Once you form your all-star team, establish a standard process for video development that starts with an initial meeting to determine the purpose of the video you’re about to produce. Start by answering these questions:
Who is the audience?
Where do they spend time online?
What’s important to them?
What do you want them to know or do after watching the video?
If you attempt to leverage your video for too many things, the messaging gets convoluted, and viewers aren’t clear about what they’re supposed to do with all the information they just received.
Pro tip: each time your team can’t decide on a project detail, the decision maker should refer to this singular mission. In most cases, it will help decide the right course of action.
The bottom line is this: the quality of your internal team is just as important as your video partner’s team. If the partnership you form is one-sided, it cannot reach its full potential, which may alter the way you and senior-level management views and prioritizes the relationship. This doesn’t help you or us. Put these steps into practice and your next video marketing partnership will run more like pro league and less like a recreational team.Still don’t have your fill? Check out these articles to continue your team development strategy:
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