So your CMO has laid down the law, and the CFO backs her up. You have your video budget, now go–work some miracles with it.
You’re a VP of Marketing, Director of Brand, or the head of a marketing team, and you–– like everyone else–– have finite resources at your disposal to achieve your marketing objectives throughout the year. You’re only in Q1, and you’ve got a pretty full slate of video asks from various stakeholders. So you have to stretch. You have to get strategic fast. You won’t be getting any more fun money until the next fiscal year!
And let’s be real… Video content–– and we mean GOOD video content–– can be expensive. Hiring crews, covering travel, renting cameras and lights, and the other logistics needed to make it happen ain’t cheap.
So, how do you get the most out of your video budget? And the answer is: Content Planning and Value Engineering.
Translation: It isn’t “doing more with less.” It’s getting more with great planning and multi-purposing. Here’s how to get the most bang for your buck.
Content Planning is simply figuring out what to create, when to share it, and where to post it to best reach your audience and meet your goals. “What to create” is the operative idea here. Having clearly defined goals and an informed understanding of your audience(s) will allow you to prioritize ideas that align with both –– which leads to VALUE ENGINEERING. Here’s a simple way to understand that. Ask yourself, “How many uses can I get out of each minute of video we get in the can? How many regions can it speak to? How many digital channels? How many stakeholders, depending on the narratives and edits we surround this footage with?
At Fifteen4, we always collaborate with clients to see where we can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of campaigns, productions, and other projects to try and reduce costs.
Here’s an example: You have your elusive, hard-to-schedule CEO flying in for one day of filming. Let’s use the insights that we have garnered from the content planning phase to capture content that can be used across a variety of initiatives like recruiting, product launches, and corporate communications.
Here’s another: You won a Most Loved Workplace Award and want to film staff to promote the big win? Let’s capture extra content that can be used in paid ads, on social platforms like LinkedIn and Meta, and other channels to improve your employer branding.
Using content planning and value engineering to get the most out of your video budget is a great way to increase efficiency and effectiveness in your marketing while reducing costs and still creating quality work that brings your brand to the next level.