If you are looking for a way to engage with clients, create a video. Videos as marketing and educational tools enhance your credibility and build trust to strengthen your brand. Most clients will find it easier to watch you perform a skin treatment or massage than read about it in a brochure or other marketing piece, although they too have their place in your marketing mix. With video, you can talk directly to your audiences as you showcase your expertise and explain the various services you provide.
Nowadays it is easy to create a video and share it on your website and social media channels. However, there is more to “point and film” to create a powerful video that attracts users to your spa or massage practice.
Steps before the camera rolls
Before you begin shooting, consider the following:
Establish your goal: Be clear about what you hope to achieve with your video. Your goals will drive the visual content of the piece. You may be in a highly competitive marketplace and your goal is to differentiate your spa or massage practice from the competition. Or you may want to introduce a new treatment to clients and prospects.
Identify your voice and personality: Your video should support your brand. It should convey the personality of your spa or massage practice.
Know your audience: Think about what motivates and matters to your audience. Tailor the style, tone, visuals, and script to appeal to clients and prospects Speak to your audience not at them.
Set a budget: If you plan to bring in outside help, decide how much you can spend on filming and scripting.
Outline the story: Develop the messages you want to convey. What you want your audience to know should guide the outline
Storyboard: The storyboard is a sequence of drawings or pictures of each scene of the video to help plan the shots. The storyboard should include direction and dialogue for each scene.
Producing the video
High quality: Audiences expect high quality video from the brands they support. Ideally you should not use your webcam or mobile device to create the video. However, budget is an issue, at least use quality editing software to produce a professional looking piece.
Length: Try to keep videos around two minutes for longer one and not less 30 seconds for shorter pieces. (Some tutorials may take as much as 5 minutes).
Sound quality: Poor sound – narration and background music - will lose viewers faster than mediocre visual quality. Built in microphones in cameras can pick up unnecessary background noise in your video. If you can, invest in a microphone that captures the sound and eliminates distracting background noise.
Lighting: Natural light is the best and most cost-effective option. Natural light should evenly light the face and not cause unwanted shadows. You can get excellent lighting with the camera in front of the window and the light bouncing off on the face. If not, there are plenty of LED lights and ring lights available.
Ring lighting is a multi-purpose lighting tool used to get uniform light from the cameras. Ring lights optimize artificial light and make it as close to sunlight as possible to eliminate shadows and conceal flaws through the circular light, resulting in perfect diffusion and equal light spread on the subject. In this way, ring lighting gives your subjects a crystal clear and natural look.[1]
Tripod: Use one for the stability of the shots.
Host your videos on YouTube, Vimeo or another one of the many video sharing sites. Also include the URL links from your videos to your website to build traffic and promote your videos in your other social media channels to gain likes and shares.
[1] “Ring Light – Everything You Need to Know,” NFI, Accessed October 1, 2022. https://www.nfi.edu/ring-light/