We as humans are visual creatures. We like to consume visually appealing things, whether they are photos or videos. In recent years our attention span has further decreased, placing us below a goldfish. Videos, therefore, become even more important to keep visitors engaged. These reasons are meant as a wake-up call to luxury brands. We advise you to start working on your video marketing if you aren’t already. To help you get started, we give you some relevant information about video and tips you can use to conquer your audiences.

Around 2018, it was hard to ignore the need to implement video in your digital strategy. 2 years later and you can say it is impossible. 

Some marketing pros have picked up on this evolution and are increasing their investments in videos since August 2019. Others haven’t. This is disadvantageous because video offers many advantages

Something that also makes our hearts beat faster, is the fact that video can be used in every stage of your marketing funnel. Need proof? In the awareness stage, you can implement brand videos, product demos, and behind the scenes. The consideration stage is perfect for tutorials, social proof, vlogs, explainer videos and more. Moving up to purchasing and webinars, advice videos, FAQ’s, and demos are ideal content. Finally, to increase loyalty, use videos to thank customers and reassure them they made the right decision. 

Where to start

As is the case with everything new, you might have cold feet. That’s understandable. One of the first questions to pop up is about which topics a brand should cover. To answer this question, we will use Gary Vaynerchuk as an example. When he was still in the wine business, Gary was a pioneer in terms of video. In 2006, he started making reviews and analyses about the wines he sold. Today Gary has a huge multi-million-dollar business with his communication agency and media hub. 

The idea was and still is to create content around your brand and your products. The only side note here is to diversify your content in terms of subjects it covers.

Real estate case

Take real estate as an example. If you are a broker, there are several types of videos you can make to attract visitors. A very relevant example is market updates. How is the market doing currently? Has COVID-19 impacted the industry? How do you see it evolving? Are there trends surfacing, like luxury customers still being interested in buying, e.g. secondary residentials? How is your business evolving? Ryan Serhant is a great example of this. He recently made a video about how you, as a broker, should go about working in a volatile market. 

You can also make a video about you. Who are you? How did you become a broker? Has it always been your dream/passion? How long are you in the business? In which city are you active? As you may have noticed from these questions, storytelling is vital. You are essentially trying to create a bond with your viewers. The goal is to give people the feeling of knowing you after finishing the video. Aside from this, it is equally important to inspire people and let people dream away in your video. Even if a certain property is not in their price range, you engage again with people. And maybe later, they will find interest in a more affordable house or apartment. 

Gastronomy case

Another interesting case is gastronomy. As a luxury chef, you know your business like nobody else. This enables you to make great video content. Tell your consumers about the restaurant. Give them a small tour inside your gastronomical heaven on earth; show the kitchen, the wine bar, the interior,…Schlosshotel Fiss did this on the YouTube channel of WBP Stars with a video giving a tour in the restaurant with the manager of the hotel. Next, make videos about your dishes. They don’t have to be super long, just enough to stimulate the senses of your audiences.

When discussing your creations, it is a good idea to discuss the wine that pairs well with one or more dishes. Third, let your audiences testify. Your business is awesome, show it! Happy customers are ideal for creating trust between new visitors and you as a brand. Today, unfortunately, we see too many statical websites and social media pages. Certainly, we face hard times during the COVID-19 crisis, but we also know that the businesses who use this a time to rethink and re-engage with their audiences will come out as first and winning out of this crisis. 

4 key points

Now that you have some inspiration on what to talk about let’s discuss some important factors to take into account. Budget is a determining factor in everything. Video is no exception. Knowing how much you can spend dictates if you can hire someone to shoot the videos for you or if you will have to free up some of your time. 

Luxury communication_Le_Loft_Epicurien_Shooting_video_with_your_iPhoneIn the case of the latter, it will also influence the amount of material you can afford and the quality. Fortunately enough, having a limited budget is no longer a big issue. Why? Because the most affordable camera is already in your pocket. Smartphones have become so advanced, there is a group of filmmakers that create with only their smartphone and some accessories. Going on Amazon, we discovered several sets with prices ranging between $ 100 to $ 170. Especially for iPhone, there are a lot of sets available.

Switching it up

It is also a good idea to make your videos short enough so people stay engaged. Depending on how interesting the content is, most videos are between 30 seconds and 1 minute. There are always exceptions such as with the gastronomical dishes or with the market updates in real estate. On a related note, it is important to apply subtitles to your video. Believe us, we know the time and effort it takes to do this. We also know that 500.000 people in Belgium have hearing problems and that 85% of people watch Facebook videos muted. Make it a bit harder on yourself but so much easier for them.

But when deciding to spend budget on marketing budget in video marketing, think about the longevity video has. It spreads more quickly across platforms and remains longer ‘in the air’ by this social effect. Nothing against the pint ad business, but we all know that the lifetime of a print ad is limited to 1 day or 1 week with some small exceptions. Hence any good marketeer calculates the cost/impression rather than to have a look at the absolute cost. 

Different formats

Luxury communication_Le_Loft_Epicurien_Mobile_videoWe advise making two types of videos: everyday low-cost videos that keep your brand beat ongoing whilst investing in some so-called ‘tent pole’ videos. These are videos that require more budget but will create a great long-lasting circular effect on your brand equity. Lessons we have learned at one of the biggest media production companies: No, it is not Walt Disney or Netflix but Red Bull Media House, the dedicated media company of the world-famous energy drink.

Last, choose the right platform for your content. If you have a wide audience of different ages, Facebook is the way to go. In the case of younger audiences or if you have a visual product like food, we advise going all-in on Instagram. If you are not sure, look at your graphs on your socials. We will go deeper into the right channel mix in our next blog articles.

Tips going forward

As always, we end our blog post with some tips and tricks we think will help you. The first tip is about regular posting. Making a habit out of posting your videos regularly is important. To help you, we suggest using a content calendar. Look at the number of channels you have and try and update them weekly. In the beginning, we suggest creating one piece of content per channel and uploading them once every two weeks. Later, when you are used to this, try every week. When you are used to that, try multiple times in one week. Also, write holidays and special days like Mother’s day in your calendar. This helps you to find inspiration for creating content. 

On a related note, try to shoot multiple videos at once. This is not always easy but will save you time long term. You can do this by shooting video on the weekends, sacrificing some spare time. The alternative might seem beneficial but you aren’t always able to shoot every week, hence making content in advance can save you some trouble.

Finally, you will have to do some practicing before you are comfortable talking to a camera. Even the more extraverted people can suddenly freeze when confronted with it or start to behave and talk differently than they normally would. A tip we find useful is to set up a camera somewhere in your house you visit daily. Your office is an ideal location. You then start to daily talk to it. At first, this is strange and feels unnatural. But, as time slowly progresses, this will become a habit and feel less forced. The eventual end goal is to see the camera as your friend and that your talking to it reflects this. 

If you found the info useful, leave a like, comment and/or share it with your network. We are always open to constructive feedback to help improve our content. This way we can offer our followers the most value.