Making a Company Culture Video That Boosts Sales

All things being equal, customers are inclined to buying from brands they know and trust already over something new, which evidently leaves emerging businesses at a considerable disadvantage against companies that have been around for a longer time!

Luckily, that also means these businesses can get more out of leveraging video content to boost consumer trust – and, therefore, their sales.

Now, there are many types of videos that can enhance your brand's reputation: testimonials, how-tos, explainer videos, etc. But only company stories follow a formula designed for that singular purpose. What makes company stories stand out and boost sales in the long run?

• These videos are built around your business' values.
• They introduce the concept of particular company's work culture
• They are aimed at introducing new customers to your brand.
• They intuitively bridge the way to your brand by establishing customers' emotional connection with it.

Apparently, such a wide scope of big goals makes company stories creation a challenging task.

So, in this piece, we are going to talk about how you can nail a culture video in 5 easy steps to gain trust of your potential customers and bring your brand well-deserved recognition.

Define your Values (and pick the best one!)💎

Let’s start with the basics: you can’t showcase your company's mission if you haven’t defined it already! And that might sound like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many company story videos fall short because the businesses behind them didn’t have a clear vision of their core values.  

So, once you have those concepts sorted out, pick one or two core values, and build your video around them.

I know there's probably a lot you want to tell your customers about your company, but keep in mind that your culture video shouldn't last more than 3 minutes. If you try to squeeze too much info into such a short piece, you may end up with a convoluted piece that fails to achieve what you are after.

So, start with one or two, and if you feel you have to cover more ground, you might want to consider a video series, where each culture video can focus on a single point while conveying a big core value when watched as a whole. Below, there is a perfect example of introducing the core value of the world class business that appeal to the global audience naturally.  

Be Genuine or Be Nothing 💖

Authenticity is a crucial ingredient in the recipe for consumer trust. You can only form an emotional connection with your audience by being honest and real.  Let’s not forget that people are quick to notice if something is fake… and not so quick to forgive or forget it.

So, forget about hiring the best actors or write the most fictionalized script to create an amazing company story. In fact, that can be detrimental to your video’s success. The goal is quite clear:

• interview your real employees
• interview them in their actual workplace
• let them speak with their own words
• make most of sharing their real experiences.

Not only will your audience appreciate this, but also your workforce! Seeing how their opinion is taken into account can greatly deepen employees' engagement, maintain their motivation and make them feel like a valued and included part of the team.

Strive to Entertain Your Audience😍

You might be thinking that your company's working routine doesn't sound much fun – who could possibly be interested in it?

Well, first off, a culture video isn’t necessarily focused on your day-to-day activities (although they can be!). There are plenty of company stories centered on a firm’s event, an intern’s point of view, a veteran employee’s anniversary as well as company-related topics.

Secondly, there are many ways to turn your company culture into an entertaining subject. There are plenty of examples when video production companies create engaging explainer videos on multiple products and services just by leveraging various audiovisual and narrative tools.

The best strategy is to strive for the right tone for your target audience by including:

• good-quality storytelling
• striking visuals
• compelling music
• dynamic montage.

These components assist in creating a piece that your customers can enjoy and relate to. Below, there is an example of an explainer video incorporating the above-mentioned principles.

Brace Yourself for the Shooting Day!🔔🕑

Your company story video will most likely be live-action that takes place inside the workplace (at least partially). So, you need to bear in mind that the filming may interfere with your daily activities. That's why it's crucial to map out a production plan beforehand and prevent any unwanted surprises on the shooting day.

As a general good practice, pick that day wisely. Don't choose the most hectic day of the week and inform your workforce well in advance about when and where the filming will take place so that they can organize their week around it.

When selecting the location, go with a spot that isn’t usually crowded – in other words, avoid having a filming crew in the middle of the office (your employees will thank you for it).

It’s also vital to keep the acoustics in mind. If possible, pick an isolated room far from the sound of the crowd and the streets. In case there isn’t one available, you can resort to modifying another room’s acoustics with a few tricks down your sleeves, like adding acoustic panels, mattresses, and heavy fabrics.

Ultimately, removing noise🔊🔈🔉 is one of the most challenging tasks for sound editors that can sometimes be impossible.

Guide Your Employees Towards an Awesome Interview🎥

As said earlier, your employees should speak in their own words, without a pre-made script but this doesn't mean you should play the interviews entirely by ear.

It's always beneficial to plan the questions beforehand and send them to the interviewees. By doing so, you will have a well-thought-out video, and your staff will be able to prepare their answers.

That said, “prepare” is not equal to “memorize." Employees should be encouraged to speak as they please, otherwise, the interviews may sound stiff or fake.

It's also important to consider that these aren't professional actors who are used to being filmed. Sure, some people are natural on camera, but many others feel vulnerable and anxious in front of it. The interviewer's mission is to make everybody feel comfortable, which is definitely daunting – but not impossible.

The interviewer can ease the tension by:

• Being friendly and collaborative rather than authoritative that may feel intimidating
• Socializing with the interviewee before the camera is on, and then start with a few basic questions (Where are you from? When did you start working here?).

With taking this approach, employees can get used to the camera before answering the more complex questions about the company.

Make Culture Videos Part of Your Social Strategy🚩🏁

Once the video production is said and done, there comes the time of distribution the company story.

This type of video goes excellent in the "About Us" section of your website, but can also fit well with your social media strategy (doubly so if you have produced a video series). The other resources that are well-accommodated for these types of videos are corporate channels on social accounts and popular video sharing platforms.

Adding culture videos to your social strategy can work like a charm to create an engaged audience and make them feel part of your company. It’s also essential to promote your video. The simple steps to achieve it is to:

• Announce your video's launch beforehand
• Make a countdown
• Bundle it with the company news in an email.

It will help your company story get noticed, reach out a wider audience and make a culture video a distinguished point of interaction with your brand.

Another useful practice is to analyze the video’s performance. The most popular social networks allow you to check how many people clicked on your video, how much of it they have watched, and how your audience looked, among other helpful metrics. This will help see videos' strengths and weaknesses at a glance and tweak your strategy accordingly for bringing it in accordance with sales and marketing goals.

At the stage of further strategic planning, it is of utmost importance you harness the technological opportunities for bringing both creativity and work routine under the one umbrella. One of the ways to do it and build culture video production efficiently is to promote the idea of time tracking for:

• optimizing the process
• simplifying the time calculating procedures
• creating the time estimates
• adequate video budgeting
• forecasting the duration of creation at all project stages
• building the production in the project workflows.      

The Key Takeaways🔑

The culture video is a powerful and affordable instrument that can help you win customers’ trust and increase sales. But just presenting your brand as reliable and ethic can only do so much.

Every image and every number the business claims on their company story should be backed up with facts. Otherwise, companies run into risk of making customers feel fooled by the pinky promises and widening the gap between the video and the fact-checked reality.

Nothing can beat being authentic, sincere, accountable. That’s the core to start creating a successful company culture video!

About the Author

Victor Blasco is an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video production company Yum Yum Videos.