Eight months into work from home, video communications are more important than ever. With everyone now well-versed in virtual meetings and high-quality webcams and lighting, how do you stand out? Up-level your video communications game. We spoke with one of our video partners, Aaron Horton at Fluency Films, about new video and animation tools businesses can leverage to take their video to the next level today. Learn about these tools and more by watching this video:

Full Video Transcript

Jason Poos: I’m Jason Poos, Vice President with RH Strategic. Today, we’re going to talk to you about some new ways that you can use video to improve your company’s communications and stand out from the competition. Joining me today is Aaron Horton with Fluency Films, one of our video production partners.

Prior to COVID, everyone knew video was one of the most dynamic and engaging forms of communication available to marketers, but not everyone was using it. Since the pandemic, we’ve been forced to adapt. Now everything from staffing meetings to product launches to congressional testimonies are taking place online using streaming or pre-recorded video.

But if you’re starting to feel video fatigue, here are three ways to improve your company’s video communications game.

Aaron Horton: First is taking a Zoom or Teams call and just enhancing it by using existing b-roll, stock photos, titles, lower thirds, things like that. It just ups the production value and makes it much more engaging to the viewer.

Another example is creating an animation. There are some great online animation tools that allow us to easily take Zoom calls or Teams calls and use the voice of the people who are talking and animate them. So, for example, I could animate myself and Jason having a meeting in a coffee shop or put myself in a hospital setting or a classroom setting. This really opens up endless opportunities for the use of imagination.

The last thing we’re doing is using motion graphics and 3D. One of the challenges for companies who are releasing new products and services during this time is that they don’t want to do any in-person filming. Fortunately, motion graphics can tell any story in a compelling way. Oftentimes, companies have 3D renders or CAD models of their products that they can send us, and then we can animate. It’s a great way to avoid shooting live but still get really high-quality messaging across.

JP: For high-stakes events like a virtual keynote, a pitch to an investor, or an interview with a top-tier media outlet, that requires a little higher level of video production, and you want to make sure that the video production matches the importance of the event.

AH: So, what we’ve done is created a pre-packaged studio kit that we send out to our clients that take your regular web video that looks like this and changes it to something like this. We act as mobile directors and producers during the shoot, and we even have control over the devices that we send out. The video is recorded native to the device, so it actually records on the camera so that we don’t have to worry about connectivity issues, bad internet, things that often plague web video recordings.

These are great for internal communications, KOL content, interviews, testimonials, as well as training, and it’s 100% remote.

JP: The loss of in-person events has had a significant impact on traditional sales and marketing activities. With virtual events, marketers have been able to recreate a lot of those experiences and often enhance that through the creative use of video and technology. One of the biggest benefits has been the ability to scale those experiences out to completely new audiences and markets — those that might not have had a chance to attend those events in person.

AH: Just in the last six months, there have been so many online resources that have been developed to meet really specific customer needs that have come out of this pandemic. The first and most obvious is online conferences and trade shows. There are solutions that allow you to have a virtual lobby, keynote speakers, breakout rooms.

Live auctions — that’s another one that’s been greatly affected by the pandemic. Now there are specific solutions that allow you to create viewing rooms and parties, live bidding experiences, raise the paddle, as well as calls to action.

Another thing we’re seeing a lot of is live event broadcasts. Now, to the viewer, these appear live, but they’re actually all pre-recorded, and they’re great for product rollouts, as well as internal communications.

JP: If you haven’t already attended a virtual event or been part of putting one on, chances are you will be soon. As video becomes a core component of how communicators get their message out, the expectations for creativity and quality will only increase. Businesses that are able to best leverage and adapt to the strategies that we discussed today are the ones that are going to forge ahead successfully. Thanks for watching.

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RH Strategic is a Seattle and D.C.-based communications firm with a nationwide presence and additional global reach via membership in the Worldcom Public Relations Group. We provide strategic public relations for innovators in the technology, government and healthcare markets.