Why Creating Customer Value Matters?
I would love to say we live in a completely altruistic world where we exist only to help others. This of course is not the case and we live in a world where people continually ask” what’s in it for me?” This means any video content must provide value for your audience.
There is a simple unspoken contract between a brand video producer and their audience. It goes like this, your audience will give you their time which they value highly and you will give them video content that makes it worthwhile for them to give you their time.
“The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value.”
Charles Dudley Warner
As Charles Dudley Warner said you need to target your video content for your audience. Here are 3 ways you can provide customer value with your videos.
1) Solve A Customer Problem
Every day we have various problems we encounter, some easy to solve some more difficult. The common denominator is when we encounter these problems we head to our social networks, Google or YouTube to find a solution. Being visual creatures we often gravitate towards visual solutions. This means a short comprehensive video often sorts out our problem. To give you an example I know very little about cars and I am only interested in them getting me from “A to B”. This means when I have a minor issue with my car I need to get third party advice. I typically Google the problem and this usually provides the solution. Any brand that provides an easy to follow and effective solution becomes my new best friend. This example highlights the importance of creating brand videos that solve real life problems.
2) Educate Your Customer
Education may refer to problem solving or it may be about your audience learning more about a particular subject. Let me give an example, there is a lot of talk about eco cars and the environment. There is plenty of conflicting advice on the subject so I may want a brand to educate me on the subject. This allows me in the future to make more educated choices when considering buying a new car. I will appreciate brands that provide accurate and non-biased information on this subject. Brands need to create educational content of all types that will help build their brand reputation in the marketplace.
3) Entertain Your Customer
Like it or not every brand online is in the entertainment industry. Your audience expects you to solve their problems, educate them and now they want you to entertain them. It is really simple, if you do not entertain them your competition will. The big brands know this and they invest big budgets in quality video content that wows their audience. It is no secret that brands like John Lewis spend millions making and marketing their seasonal ads. They are looking to create a huge viral entertainment spectacle. You do not have to spend millions to create entertaining video content, just tell a great story in a creative way. Think about how your content can make an emotional connection with your audience.
How Do You Create The Best Customer Value?
“The alchemists in their search for gold discovered many other things of greater value.”
Arthur Schopenhauer
Like the alchemists of old, as a brand you search for that perfect formula to nail your video marketing. The truth is the solution is not just one formula it is the combination of extensive planning, understanding your customer, quality production, great storytelling, establishing an emotional connection with your audience and continually looking for feedback on your video marketing.
This is only the starting point to creating customer value you must be able to solve your customers problems, educate them and do all this in a way they find fun and entertaining.Your audience also needs to know that you will give them value that exceeds their time investment.