Why Marketing Videos are Too Long

Here's a racing certainty:

"Almost every corporate video ever made is too long. Discuss."

These days, every marketer is talking about producing corporate videos that are only 5 minutes long, compared with the 8-10 minute standard of the Nineties. Some marketers are getting serious about 3-4 minute videos.

At Rossiter & Co we've been busy pioneering the 2 MINUTE VIDEO for our customers.

Why are we doing this?

There are sound practical reasons for making your video as brief as possible. We'll look at this, and also look at practical ways to achieve it.

Corporate videos are often played at major account presentations, where time is tight and often restricted to 45-60 minutes.

You need every minute of that time to present your proposition and pick up on questions.

So the shorter your video - which is essential for reminding clients of who and what you are - the better for all.

Another case in point is Women.

Recent data points to women as prizing Brevity in business communications. Women prefer short and to-the-point communications. I happen to think they're right.

These two reasons alone are reason enough to consider lopping off a minute from your current video.

But how is a video made shorter?

It starts with the script. Try following these guidelines and you'll see those fat-building seconds get whittled away into a Noughties style slimline ready-for-action corporate video.

> Set a word limit: 100 words is roughly a runtime minute. So if you want a 3 minute video then set an absolute script limit of 300 words, and stick to it.

> Focus on what you deliver: Take a look at your last video. The odds are that whole sections will be devoted to describing "how you do things". The customer doesn't want to know this. They're only interested in what you deliver. And what you deliver can usually be said much more quickly than lengthy descriptions of your internal processes. If it isn't delivered then it ain't in!

> Don't get hijacked: Various people in the organisation will want to see their department in the video. "Oh ... we have to have this ... we have to have that in" is what you hear. Often they get their way as part of an exercise in diplomacy and tact by you. Which leaves your video dead in the water. So be firm. Insist on Delivery Points only, ie, if what they want to include can't be expressed as succinct what-we-deliver messages, then they can't be in the video. Then help them to script their ideas as brief delivery points. Just don't get hijacked.

So to sum up:

> Time is precious.

> Keep to a word limit

> Focus on what you deliver

> Don't get hijacked.

That's it.