Company Branding Through Video Content – How to Make Your Story Personal and Build a Bond with the Audience?

“A picture is worth a thousand words”, and a video is thereby worth even more. That makes video content one of the best tools for conveying a message, because in today’s world of excess content, it best captures the attention and conveys the message quickly and effectively.

This is how Zeljko Crnjakovic, the founder of the Solutium agency from Subotica, explains for eKapija the advantage of the video medium.

He points out that we are witnesses to an increasingly “dynamic” lifestyle, which entails the desire for a quick and simple consuming of content, which the video medium enables.

– This is, of course, nothing new and has been true for the past 10 years, but today this type of content is even more important, because we are used to video in all its forms. Platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn prefer video, where the audience, both the younger audience and the older one, has accepted it as an inevitable source of knowledge and information – Crnjakovic points out.

Why choose video for communication with the audience?

When asked why companies should choose this form of communication with the audience, our interviewee says that “using video content, they can present themselves in various ways, tell different stories which are adapted to what they want to say and the target group to whom that message is directed.”

– At the same time, they place that message within the format which the audience wants and in the places where their audience, in fact, spends most of their time. This doesn’t mean that companies should exclusively use video content, but that they need to have this type of content in their regular “arsenal” if they want to remain relevant and “visible” to their audience.

The time of investing in one expensive video clip, one TV ad, one corporate video which sits on the frontpage of a website has passed. In the time of the hyperproduction of content and a reduced attention span, it should be in companies’ interest to think of a way of producing continuous content and building a bond with their audience.

He also says that trends change and that video content formats, the focus on the topics, the manner of narration also change relative to where the audience consumes the content. It’s all a matter of what the goal of any given video is, what the message is and for whom it is made.

– What’s good is that, often, one video production can be adapted (or recycled) in various formats, if the biggest reach needs to be achieved and if one needs to “cover all the options.” That doesn’t mean that companies should produce something that runs counter to their image, brand, or the way they want to be perceived. But, with a little creativity, trends can be followed, video content which aligns with the company’s values, and which is presented through various categories, for example, entertainment, inspirational, documentary, or educational, can be created – clarifies Zeljko Crnjakovic.
Video in branding – a formula against facelessness

Employer branding is more important than ever. There is a whole range of various approaches to companies’ using video content where more standard approaches can be: a corporate video about the company itself, a video about the employment process, a video about the experiences and opinions of the employees, a video about company values, employees’ stories and many others.

– There are also more creative solutions, but each of them should focus on one primary message which gives an answer to what the audience wants to learn. Video content is ideal, because the viewers can see you through the prism of human experiences and stories, and not as a faceless brand. They can connect with the actors and perhaps see themselves in such an environment if that suits them – our interviewee points out.
What makes for a quality video?

When responsible companies choose the content with which they will present themselves to their clients and users, quality is imperative. However, as Crnjakovic says, there are several questions when it comes to this topic. Is it a high-quality production video? Is it a video that has gone viral?

– In fact, a quality video is the one that gives value to the audience it is meant for. The one which tells the true story, in a true way, and for which the viewer for whom that video is meant can say has been useful. In my opinion, that is a quality video. In order to make that, it is necessary to understand one’s own audience, to understand the message you want to send them and to then do it in an interesting way – eKapija’s interviewee notes.

He adds that, in order to make a quality video, it is necessary to connect with the viewer and activate an emotion, of course, depending on the message.

The advice is to avoid “sheer” self-promotion, direct sale and praises.

– With a good story, it can be conveyed unconsciously – says Zeljko Crnjakovic.

He adds that there’s the question of quality in the production itself:

– Everybody can create a video and sometimes that is what is wanted by the audience, a video made with a mobile phone, precisely in order to see that it is real and that you have made it. Sometimes a video needs to be done professionally. In both cases, paying attention just to sound quality and the use of light can be the determining factor when it comes to the end result.

Video to remain a story-telling tool

As our interviewee says, we can already see that video content is becoming increasingly easy to produce. The tools and equipment are becoming increasingly available, and the production of videos with the help of AI tools, with which we will be able create videos without any filming or cameras, is not far either.

– However, whatever we use, video is a tool we use to tell stories. Creativity and innovation, in that sense, will always come from ourselves or somebody who can help us with that. Companies are already aware of the importance of video content, it’s just that the production process is often frightening. However, with the right partner, video production can be an easy and guided process, in which everybody can focus on what they know best. For companies, it’s what they do and what they want to convey, and somebody else can take care of the creativity and production quality – concludes Zeljko Crnjakovic.

Aleksandra Kekic