Most companies create a video case study because they want their customers to say great things that help them sell their product or service to other potential customers. With only minimal planning the best you’re going to achieve is a showreel of customers saying nice things about you. This isn’t bad but it isn’t great — and you want to be great, right?

Start by choosing your angle and then stick with it.

We recently did a video case study for a large catering company with the aim of winning them more business. But, instead of shouting about how good its food is, (which was the obvious choice), our client realised it would be more effective to get to the heart of the real challenge facing prospective customers — the transition of its people over to the new service provider. So, they took an HR angle and used the video to reassure potential customers of the support available to them when they signed on the dotted line.

Choose a technical partner you can rely on.

It’s difficult to find the right partner to work with when it’s the first time you’ve commissioned a video case study. My advice is to ask to see plenty of examples of work the prospective partner has done for other clients, and judge for yourself how clearly they’ve got the point across. Look at the production values and make sure you’re happy with what you see.

Get the right interviewees for your video.

I know it’s debatable but having a natural, unscripted conversation with interviewees can lead to a more genuine video case study. Choosing confident, bold, positive people can make great footage, but making sure you’re speaking to the right people in the right positions is equally important. When it comes down to it, try unscripted first and then offer a script if the interviewee is really nervous.

Build a strong and complete storyboard.

It’s often a difficult place to start but a storyboard is essential for your technical team and your own sanity! It physically maps out the messages of your video and makes sure your story flows well and hangs together. If you’re holding unscripted interviews you may feel that they can be difficult to fit into a structured plan; knowing what you’d like to come out of each interview will help sculpt both your interview questions and your storyboard.

Location, location… locations?

How many locations you film at depends on your budget, the availability of your interviewees, and how necessary it is that you show several locations. If you’re filming at one place make sure you get the most out of it — record footage at a variety of places, inside and outside. Remember you don’t necessarily have to film at multiple locations to get all the footage you need — if you want people to watch your video, you don’t want it to be much longer than three minutes anyway — so if you film at lots of locations, you’ll end up with wasted footage (and potentially a bigger bill with the amount of time it takes to edit!).

If you’d like to know more about how video case studies can help you uncover and nurture opportunities then give us a call.

Thought leadership — done properly — has the power to do more than ‘just’ win you business. Here are our top five reasons to give it all you’ve got.

1. It makes you the voice that’s heard.
   When you provide consistent, high-quality content that’s relevant to your audience, they’ll recognise it and they’ll listen to what you have to say. At the most basic level, people want an easy life and, if you’re serving as a useful resource, why would they look any further?
   
2. It keeps you close to your audience.
   Being a thought leader involves giving value to your audience and this draws positive attention to what you’re doing. It’s a simple chain reaction: value gets attention, attention prompts response and — bingo! — you’ve got interaction, so you can find out what they really think.
   
3. It helps you start the right conversations.
   Good thought leadership is the ideal resource to support your interactions with potential customers. When you’ve got a point you want to support you can reach into your thought leadership portfolio and pull out something to back up what you’re saying.
   
4. It builds your reputation.
   Part of working to position yourself as a thought leader is putting in the effort to share all the positives about you with your audience. This means that any hiccups of negativity are less likely to hurt you.
   
5. It helps your SEO.
   Good thought leadership output fits very neatly into Google’s new algorithms that recognise quality content. Produce and share things useful to your audience and watch your rankings rise.