Content alone is not successful

The success of a film develops in the planning phase.

Today I would like to write about the appreciation of our work and what we actually sell. (Spoiler alert: It is not only the purely technical implementation of advertising and film productions).

It happens again and again that we receive inquiries from SMEs that are very successful in their field, sometimes even market leaders in a very specialized field. These companies have grown almost by themselves because they have developed a product that is so ingenious that it sells itself over a long period of time.

The company grows, and suddenly it has 200 – 500 employees at two production sites. But the competition never sleeps. In the meantime, there are new market companions. Sometimes young start ups who can react even more flexibly and quickly to the customer and who can produce more cost-effectively and faster through leapfrogging, especially in IT.

Or they are large corporations that bring a similar solution to the market with sufficient financial substance and at the same time have a marketing department that has grown over the years with a lot of experience in the market.

Now, at the latest, the “hidden champion”, the SME, must also think about marketing and advertising. The own company is no longer found. The competition may still have the worse product, but it has a sophisticated, well-functioning marketing strategy.

At this moment, inquiries often come in: “We need film and video. We need to be present on the net and on social media channels (the competitor is, after all)”. It is requested directly from us, as it is now clear that video content performs over 70% better than photos and text (google study). The company does not have an agency. The few brochures were always made in-house and the website was created once and still works quite well. Now they want a product film, an image film and funny clips that go viral.

This is where we say, “Just a moment, please – take a breath.”

As much as you want to start producing video content right now – and believe me, some companies are suddenly in a big hurry because they are losing large parts of their market presence to the competition every day – you should have a strategy in this situation before you start. Without a strategy you will burn time and money and the efficiency of your content will be close to zero.

Alfred Hitchcock said “The film is made in the planning phase.” – Today I say: “The success of a film comes in the planning phase.”

We create competition analyses, define personas and target groups, optimize channels and websites, develop online video strategies and much more. We then use these to develop a moving image concept and the actual film ideas that will define the communication for the next one or two years and lead to success.

And here’s the odd thing. We make an offer for just this service: development of a strategy and a concept based on experience and years of know-how, and the answer we get is: “That’s all very nice, but then we spent money on NOTHING. I want to buy a video.”

NOTHING? So this is the value to which our work, our heart and soul, our life time, which we have devoted entirely to building up this massive know-how, is attached.

NOTHING. So this is the name given to a tangible document that decides how a company will continue to exist and remain visible on the market. A well-founded strategy that draws on experience gained from well over 2,000 implemented and successful productions and campaigns.

NOTHING …that is interesting.

I know that especially in the creative industry today, more than ever, it is about trust. With all of the new fancy terms used in marketing and specialized service providers, which often promise a lot, a grown skepticism and a certain Babylonian confusion is understandable.

We meet our customers with transparency in everything we do and are always available to answer questions. If something is not understandable, we use examples to explain what exactly we do and why. Here is an example of why a strategy is so important:

When I build a house, an architect makes a plan. A structural engineer helps. Of course, I can also just go ahead and buy some stones and cement myself, and then build the house according to a rough sketch on a beer mat.

But then it is certain that I will waste a lot of material, time and budget until everything works the way it should. Not to mention the long-term damage.

The same applies to companies. Every company starts with a vision and a business plan is created based upon this vision. The better this “roadmap” is worked out, the better it is possible to react to the unforeseen, because the direction and the goal are clearly defined.

Today, we live in a digital business world in which processes are becoming faster and faster and people are tempted to stop investing so much in planning. Maybe that’s why it’s happening that more and more often, for marketing activities on the net, something is simply filmed by the boss’s son with his mobile phone or private drone and then posted. “It’s social media, and the quality is quite acceptable…” And it doesn’t cost anything.

What many don’t consider is that a video communicates more than just the obvious content. On other levels, the quality and style of a video also reflects the quality perception and overall image of your company.

In addition, about 48 hours of video material are uploaded to YouTube every second worldwide. Conversely, this means that a video that is simply “just” uploaded will be lost in the background noise of the masses. Metadata, descriptions, keywords and appropriate placement are, among many other things, the first essential measures to ensure that your video reaches your target group.

With all this we at kambeckfilm deal with the topic in a relaxed way. Because on the other hand we have so many customers who have understood how important a well-founded strategy is. For example, we were able to increase the downloads for an international software company with our videos on YouTube by 300%.

On the YouTube channel of an international corporation, our production achieved the most clicks among more than 600 other videos.

A tutorial campaign of one of our customers, which is now running in its second season, generated over 120,000 clicks in a short time.

A film that was actually only desired for internal purposes was designed by us to work for external customers as well. The company-wide internal success of the video is now also reflected in the external presentation.

We are proud of this, it drives us to become even better, to give good advice, to plan well-founded and to produce on a high quality level.

We make film. Successful.

MK -`ღ´-