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Corporate videos are a big deal. They can help drive more traffic to your website, get you more customers, and help your brand become more relevant. Though all of these things are awesome, things all of us want, the process of creating a corporate video can be intimidating. There are a lot of things that need to be done before you can successfully release a video. Promotional video productions don’t need to be chaotic or confusing anymore because we have created a corporate videos ultimate guide to help you step by step create your dream video.

What is a Corporate Video and Why Do I Need One?

Corporate videos are simply videos that are created for a company. Their main purpose is to promote the company and contribute to their brand. Branding is a huge part of corporate videos, but we will talk about that more in detail later on. These corporate videos can be created for internal uses for the company, like instructional or announcement videos, or external uses for everyone else, things like marketing or recruiting videos.

The main reason you should invest in creating a corporate video is that it can help promote you and your company; it is one of the best ways to promote your business. Have you noticed that whenever you search anything, videos are one of the first things that pop up? Google loves videos, and it’s no wonder why. They are an easy and entertaining way to get information across to people. By not making corporate videos, you are actually hurting your company, more than you probably realize.

Hiring a Video Production Company

After you decide you want to film a corporate video, hiring a video production team is important. Promotional video productions can be quite the process. It can cost a lot of extra money and stress to do it all on your own, especially if you don’t have past experience with corporate videos. There are a handful of reasons you should consider hiring a promotional video productions team. Here are just a few of our top reasons.

First and probably most important, video production teams have experience and know what they are doing. This fact alone will save you so much money and time — two very valuable things. These companies have learned from their past mistakes, so they know how to avoid these mistakes now. They also know what looks good when it comes to motion graphics. Their experience will help make your video unique and next level when it comes to quality.

Next, these companies have sets of fresh eyes. Though this may not seem like a huge deal, it really can make or break the success of your video. You may not realize, for example, that within your script is terminology that is only understood by people in your field of work, or your products aren’t explained clearly enough to convince people to buy them. Video production teams will be able to come in with a fresh set of eyes and see the video the way others will.

Hiring a video production company comes with so many benefits that we couldn’t possibly fit them all here, so you can learn more about what video production companies can offer here and the benefits of hiring these companies here!

Stages of Production

There are three stages of production that need to take place whenever you are filming. It is important that you follow these stages to ensure the success of your video. Here is a quick break-down of the stages.

The first is pre-production. Pre-production is everything you need to do before you begin filming. From script writing to casting, pre-production is a vital step to the success of your video. Putting the time in here at the pre-production phase is how you are going to get the good results at the end. In essence, pre-production prepares for mistakes before they occur in the production stage. No one ever complained that they were too prepared for anything.

The production stage is just that — the actual production of the video. This is when all your planning starts to come to life. You actually get to see all the planning come to fruition. Shooting your video can take a couple hours to a few days, it depends on how well you planned if you and your team have video production experience, and how long and complex your video is going to be.

Post-production is the last stage in promotional video productions. This stage includes everything you do after filming. From editing the motion graphics to advertising and marketing the video (we will touch on the marketing aspect of corporate videos at the end so hang tight). Editing, like filming, can take different amounts of time. Be aware that it can take a really long time if you have a lot of edits you want to be added into your video.

Branding

See, we told you we would come back to branding. Branding is one of the most important things you can do for your company, whether you are filming corporate videos or not. First of all, branding improves recognition. Think of things like the Nike swoosh or the golden arches of McDonald’s, no matter where you are in the world, people will recognize these brands. These are examples of super successful branding campaigns. Videos that provide quality exposure to your company is becoming one of the most essential techniques to market your company’s product or name — in other words, an essential way of branding.

What branding does for your company is it creates trust. People are more likely to trust a company that has consistent and credible branding rather than a company that doesn’t know its own identity. People are more likely to hire or buy from you if they have heard or seen your company brand before. Even if it is a subconscious thing, studies show that consumers are more likely to go with your company over another random one if they recognize your brand.

Branding doesn’t need to be hard. If you aren’t sure how to create a brand or how to maintain and include your brand into your content, hiring a digital marketing agency could be a very good idea. These companies will be able to work with and help improve the brand you already have, show you how to incorporate your pre-existent brand more frequently, and help you brand your company from the start. They will be able to help you no matter what stage your brand is at. Contact us here at Fusion 360 Agency if you need help with brand development, we would love to help you!

Promoting Afterwards

Let’s say you have finally finished your video. You’ve gone through hiring your video production company, included your brand in your film and finished almost all three stages of the video productions. Now it is time to work on promoting your film. This can come in a lot of different forms and no matter how you decide to do it, it is crucial that you make time and effort to promote your video.

Without promoting your video, it won’t bring in the traffic you worked so hard for. You will have spent all this time and money for virtually no reason as no one will ever see it. Hiring a marketing agency at this point is a good idea. Marketing or advertising agencies are experts in getting your content out to the world; they will know the best way to get you the most views. Hiring these marketing companies won’t end up being as expensive as you may think at first, especially because you can get a lot of business and traffic because of the video promotion.

Overall, corporate videos boost brand recognition and traffic to your site or business. In today’s society, it is critical for you as a company to create these corporate videos. There are a lot of steps you can take to help make the process easier, and if you need any more help or have any questions about this guide, contact us here at Fusion 360 today.

Did you know that 50 percent of online searches are voice searches? If this doesn’t make you believe voice search is a huge deal, we don’t know what will. If you are new to voice search, click here to learn more about what it is. There are a lot of ways to optimize your voice search, but how can you make sure your business is being represented when the location is brought into the equation?

Google has released a number of algorithm updates throughout the years. Though they all play a super important role in search results, the update called Pigeon is crucial to the location aspect of it. Pigeon was released in late 2014 and helped to make local businesses rank higher on Google. This offered local listings the opportunity to get more clicks and business than ever before.

Some of the most common types of voice searches are things like “dentist near me” or “grocery store near me.” People don’t want to look up restaurants and be sent two hours away when there is one just down the street. There are a lot of things you can do as a company to help bump up your ranking on Google and other search engines, especially when the location is in the equation. One of the best ways to do so is to hire voice search optimization agencies. These agencies can make sure your business is available on different platforms and search engines (Google, Bing, Yelp, etc.)

The majority of voice and normal searches are on Google these days. In fact, Google searches make up 64 percent of all search engine searches. Making your website available on Google is important, but it should also be available on all the other search engines for potential customers that use those. You want to make sure your message is reaching as many people as possible. Voice search optimization companies can help you figure out how to do this if you aren’t quite sure.

Voice search optimization agencies are companies that optimize content for a living. They are simply experts at doing this kind of thing. Coming up with keywords that will get you the most results is another thing they can do. Keywords are crucial for companies to use if they are wanting to get traffic of any kind to their site or business. Often times, these companies will encourage and help you take advantage of the popular “near me” search feature. Including these types of words will help your ranking to get higher on Google.

There are a lot of different things you can do to help optimize your website and voice search in relation to location. If you feel like your company could use some help or you aren’t quite sure how to go about some of the tips we gave above, voice search optimization companies are here to help. Contact us here at Fusion 360 Agency if you have any questions.

Video production is a big part of advertising agencies. There are so many ways to successfully advertise your company or business today and one of the best ways to do so is by creating videos. Good advertising agencies have the tools and abilities to create quality videos that will promote your product or service successfully, and there are actually quite a few steps in creating successful videos. Let’s touch on the five main ones: Development, Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production, and Marketing.

Development

The first thing you and your video production team need to do is to develop ideas for your shoot. Some of the things you will want to discuss and have decided by the end of this step are who you want in the video, who your audience is, what your budget is, and what your end goals are. In this step, it crucial for you as a client to speak up and get your ideas across to the video production team.

Pre-Production

The next step for video production teams within advertising agencies is the pre-production stuff. This step includes anything and everything that needs to be done before filming to ensure success. Things like script writing, auditions, hiring and preparing a crew, making schedules, buying equipment, selecting wardrobes and more. This is a very important step as it includes a lot of things that are crucial to the video’s success.

Production

This step may seem pretty straightforward. The production step is simply that- the production; the step when all the preparation proves to be worth it. Directors and producers work together to film all the shots and scenes needed for the video. Obviously, depending on the video, the production step may take different amounts of time from a few hours to a few days. It is still important at this stage, as it is at all stages, to make sure you are communicating with the director and producer to make sure your video is going the way you want it to.

Post-Production

Again, this step may seem pretty obvious. Post-production at advertising agencies is when editors go into the footage and edit it. They add visual effects and music. edit out mistakes and adjust color. At this stage, video production teams also generate publicity content (depending on your video.) Like the other steps, post-production can be pretty quick or it can take a lot of time, depending on your personal situation.

Marketing

This last step of video production in advertising agencies is very important. You have spent a lot of time and money producing a quality video, you want to make sure people see it, right? At this point, we shift our focus as creators from video production to advertising. We work to make sure your desired audience gets the chance to watch your video.

Before even talking about the steps included in hiring a marketing agency, you should understand why you should hire a marketing agency. Marketing agencies are experts and dedicated to advertising for your company. They come up with campaigns, know where to allocate your money, and know how to get the most traffic to your business. They are the best way to get the word out there when it comes to your business or company, and they also take away all the stress of trying to figure it out on your own.

Again, they are experts at what they do. They know how to do it, and they know how to do it well. Marketing agencies can help companies of any size grow and expand; once you have decided that hiring a marketing agency is a good idea, you’ll want to follow a few steps. Following these steps will help you to get the best marketing company for you and your company.

Do Your Research

Researching marketing and advertising agencies is the first thing you should do after deciding to hire one. There is so much you can learn about a company just from some simple online research. One of the best ways to do research is to ask around. Ask companies you respect which marketing agencies they use or ask what advertising agencies companies that are thriving use.

Successful research will help you hire a marketing agency that you are going to want to work with. This research will save you from getting tied down on contracts you weren’t aware of and will help steer you away from companies that don’t live up to their promises. Careful research is the very best way to make sure you get what you want.

Case Studies

Marketing agencies can make all the promises in the world, but you can’t really believe them until you see the proof. As humans, we are all creatures of habit. You can assume that if a marketing agency doesn’t have great reviews, they aren’t likely to change just for you. Looking at their past work in case studies is a great way to compare their claims to their actual work. You can also check and see if the work they are doing and have completed in the past is what you are wanting.

You want to hire a marketing agency that does exactly what they claim they will. After sorting through all of your options, you should be able to shrink down that list to a few agencies. Make sure they not only live up up to what they say they will do, but also that they measure up to your personal expectations.

Know What Services They Offer

Different marketing agencies offer a variety of different services, so you need to be sure the agency you decide to hire actually offers the specific service you want. Some services different marketing agencies offer include things like brand development, SEO, measurements and analytics, and some companies include things like website development and video production services. The more services the company offers, the more they will be able to market your company over multiple platforms. Make sure that you aren’t paying for services that you don’t actually want.

Like the Marketing Team

An important aspect of hiring a successful marketing team is to make sure you get along with the crew. If you and the marketing agency are disagreeing on everything or simply just don’t get along, you aren’t going to get much work done. Even if you do get work done, you aren’t going to get the quality of work that you want. It’ll also be a waste of money using your time to fight or not get along rather than coming up with good ideas. Making sure you get along with any marketing agency is crucial before signing any kind of contract, which leads us to the next step.

Read Before Signing

Marketing agencies are going to need you to sign some sort of agreement or contract for multiple reasons. They need to make sure you are willing to work with them for a set amount of time, they need permission to use your companies name and trademarks and a lot of other little things that they need legal permission for. These contracts shouldn’t scare you though, it is just simply a part of hiring a marketing agency. You should, however, be extra careful about reading all the terms and conditions of the contract to make sure you know what you are signing.

Reach Out

The final step in hiring a marketing agency is to reach out to them. Once you have narrowed the race down and found an advertising company you are interested in, you can contact them. Shoot them an email and express your interest in their services. You can and should also include in this email any worries you have about working with them. This way, you and the marketing agency can work out some problems you think you will face before you even start working with them. You can also discuss which types of marketing tactics will be the best for your specific content.

Overall, advertising agencies are here to help promote your company. They want to work and get along with you. They want you and your company to be successful. Looking for these companies doesn’t need to be stressful. By making sure you are doing your research, reading case studies, knowing what services are offered, getting along with the marketing team, reading before signing, and reaching out, you are bound to find a marketing agency you can be successful with. Contact Fusion 360 Agency today with any questions you have about marketing agencies and strategies.

Unexpected things happen on set.

People forget lines, things break, locations don’t end up working, you run low on money and more. Though professionals know how to improvise in these situations, why not try to eliminate the risk of these things happening in the first place? Here are our six tips production companies use to avoid chaos and the need for improvisation on set.

Get Insurance

Like we said, accidents happen. Whether it is your fault or not, things happen. Making sure you are prepared for these accidents is crucial for avoiding chaos on set. Before you start filming make sure you are insured. Insure the location you are filming at (if applicable) and insure the things you are using to film. Props and equipment can break and can be very expensive. Save yourself the stress and money by getting important things insured.

PA

Production assistants are people that are on set and simply there to help out—they are extremely beneficial to production companies. Need an extra body to go hold a sheet up over a window? Call your production assistant. Need someone to run and buy some duct tape? Assign your production assistant. Need help maintaining order on set? Production assistants can be helpful in any situation.

Scout Out Location

Something a lot of production companies do that is super helpful to ensure the production process goes smoothly is to go out and scout your filming location ahead of time. Even if you have a perfect location in your mind, going to the spot can help you see things you didn’t think about. You may not realize that the location is smaller than you thought or that you can’t use stage lights at that certain location. Taking the time to perform a walk-through before the actual filming day will help exceedingly.

Pad Your Budget

A thing a lot of production companies sometimes do wrong is not giving themselves extra leeway when it comes to money. You may have a set amount of money you can use for your film, and that is fine. Good production companies will plan on not using all of the money available. They will set aside some of it to use in case of an emergency. This way you won’t end up spending more than you have.

Set Hierarchy

There is a set hierarchy that needs to stay intact for production sets to go smoothly. The specific hierarchy can vary based on what positions are filled at different production companies. Typically though, producers are at the top of the hierarchy followed by directors, cinematographers, lighting crew, and then PAs. As we said, it can vary from company to company, but whatever the hierarchy is, it is crucial that you respect and adhere to it. Here is some more information on different roles on production teams.

Safety

We think it is important as a production company to make sure everyone on set is on the same page when it comes to safety procedures. Having a meeting before filming even takes place is a great way to make sure everyone is aware of what to do if an accident does happen. Not only will it help to reduce the amount of chaos there may be on set, but it will also help to make sure everyone is as safe as possible. Here are a few tips for maintaining safety on set.

Overall, if individuals involved in the production of any kind of video take the time to proactively prepare before the filming day, there will be a lot fewer improvisations and stress when it all comes done to it.

Film production requires continued innovation and advancement to meet the daily expectations of the audience. It needs artists and filmmakers to tap into their imaginative minds and produce content that the audience appreciates. Foley sound effects are one of these creations that named after Jack Foley, the artist who first started the practice of recording certain sounds that appear in a video or film away from the actual set.

Foley artists generate a lot of the sound you hear daily in movies, TV shows, and commercials. What is interesting about the sound that these artists create is that they are produced from a combination of objects you would not expect. What they do is play a specific clip on a projected monitor and reproduce unique sounds any way possible. Now, film production companies may not have Foley artists on hand but they do understand the significance of their contributions.

A film that lacks quality sound really makes the entire viewing experience entirely different; the proper sound is needed, especially in bigger film productions. Compared to prerecorded sound effects on a computer, Foley sound effects create more authenticity, variety and enhance the overall production. Enhancing the sounds in a movie improves the realism of the movie, which in turn draws the audience in.

Some commonly used Foley effects that you might hear in any given film production include wood cracking in a fire, the wind blowing through sails, body hits (breaking bones, etc.), and horses trotting. These effects are achieved using creative prop ideas like plungers, wallets, duct tape, bags of baking soda, sand, springs, and much, much more.

When these sounds are used in the background of a scene, they simulate real noise in such a way that viewers can connect on an emotional level. Compared to current films, old historical movies appear and feel lifeless because they were screened without sound or poor sound quality. In today’s world, the work of Foley artists is critical as they are used in just about any scene; whether it be dramatic, comedic or action-packed, sound effects created by Foley artists are used in just about any video scenario.

Sound effects are essential for production companies because they empower artists to record unique and realistic sounds for films. Although the typical viewer may not understand the significance of a Foley artist’s role, they notice and appreciate the indefinable realism and professionalism in the film which sets it apart from others.

Whether you want a professional Foley artist or not, our production company can create just about any video you need for your business. If you have any inquiries, feel free to contact us.

We all know that the mobile market is growing more quickly with each day. In fact, 95% of Americans own a cell phone of some sort. With such a huge margin of our society owning mobile devices, it seems like everyone is in a rush to optimize for mobile markets. The only question is how exactly is that done?

In 2015 Google put out an update that made their search engine more mobile friendly. This allowed the top search results to be websites that are properly formatted for smartphones. With this being said, one of the easiest ways to optimize your company is to make sure your website has mobile-friendly formatting.

You need to make sure your photos and videos are available for online services. Sometimes you’ll need to adjust certain things to make sure your videos can be played on smartphones and your pictures can show up clearly. Hiring a digital marketing agency for this kind of thing can take a lot of unnecessary stress off of you.

You will also want to make sure your website is compatible with mobile devices. For example, on a desktop website, you can get away with using small buttons because the cursor is small and specific. However, on a mobile device, your finger is your cursor. In this case, small buttons may not work as well when larger fingers are trying to click them. Keeping things like this in mind can be kind of tricky, and any digital marketing agency will be willing to help you out.

Formatting is a huge thing when switching from desktop to mobile markets. You need to make sure your text is still visible for people to read on mobile devices just as much as it for them to read on desktops.

Another thing to keep in mind when trying to optimize for the mobile market is that larger purchases are usually made on desktops. For example, computers or plane tickets. However, on mobile devices, people typically search for small purchases or cheaper services. With the help of a digital marketing agency, you can optimize both your desktop and mobile websites to promote what is being searched for the most. Ultimately this will optimize your company as a whole.

Overall, optimizing for the mobile market can be kind of tricky. There is a lot to think about, and these tips are just a few of many. If you are ready to work on optimizing your company or website on the mobile market, consider contacting a digital marketing agency today as they are experts in this field.

Branding is one of the most important things you can do for your company. Marketing companies spend a lot of time working with their clients to come up with the best branding ideas they can. Have you ever wondered why these marketing companies spend so much time brainstorming and improving other company’s brands? Or how about why exactly consistent branding, in general, is so important? Here are our three top reasons why creating a consistent brand is so important.

Dependable

One of the biggest things consistent branding does for your company is it makes it more dependable. If you are constantly changing the way you brand or present your company, people are going to have a hard time trusting you in general. If you can’t stay consistent with something like your branding, how are people going to trust that you will be constant with the work or services you are going to be providing to them? Sticking with your brand is crucial, and if you really feel like you need to re-brand, hiring marketing companies are the best way to ensure you don’t lose too many people’s trust.

Marketing

Having a consistent brand will help make your company or product more marketable. When your brand is consistent and trustworthy, people are going to automatically associate your name with good things. If your brand is changing constantly, customers won’t even have the chance to make these mental associations simply because they don’t recognize or remember who you are. Overall, having a consistent brand with help with your marketing and make it a lot easier on you.

Trust

The last reasons consistent branding is so important is because it builds so much trust between customers and your company. People are naturally going to trust companies and stores they know of. If you see a Target and another store that sells the exact same things as Target but is called something else, which one are you going to choose? Most people would choose Target simply because they have heard of it and know it. The same can be said of your company. Recognition builds trust and trust leads to business.

Having a consistent brand is so important in today’s market because it’s one of the only ways to help make your company or business memorable. Consistent brands help with dependability, marketing, and overall trust. Marketing companies are created specifically to help out in these situations. They know how to help brand your company to help make it consistent. Contact us today here at Fusion 360 if you have any questions about marketing companies or branding.

Google changes their algorithm pretty often, so it can be kind of hard to stay on top of all the updates. Especially if you are trying to create content that you want to optimize. Digital marketing companies have no choice but to stay on top of all of these updates. There are eight main algorithm updates Google has gone through, and to make it even easier, they are all pretty simple names- Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Mobile, RankBrain, Possum, and Fred.

Panda

Panda was first released in early 2011. The basic idea of Panda was to assign certain scores to different web pages. These scores would then determine where each web page would rank on the search engine. Panda was more of a filter than anything at the beginning, but it is now totally integrated into the algorithm Google uses.

Penguin

Penguin is kind of similar to Panda in it’s ranking. However, Penguin down-ranks websites that use links or keywords that seem manipulative or spamming. Its main goal is to catch people trying to cheat the system when it comes to algorithm ranking. Digital marketing companies are responsible for coming up with ranking techniques that help companies but don’t cheat the system- a tricky job!

Hummingbird

The next big update was Hummingbird which launched in the summer of 2013. Hummingbird wasn’t as minor as Panda and Penguin, in fact, it changed the way search engines work to this day. Hummingbird made it so you could search questions and websites with answers would pop up, even if the title of the webpage didn’t have the same words as the questions. This update was a huge game changer for Google.

Pigeon

Pigeon was released in late 2014. This update worked to include a location in the search results. This helped to increase the rankings of local listings. This update also affected the search results in Google Maps.

Mobile

The mobile updated was released in 2015 and was designed to help make top ranking results be mobile-friendly. This made it so people on smartphones could also use Google to find answers.

RankBrain

RankBrain is pretty similar to Hummingbird as it is actually a part of that update. RankBrain helps to understand the meaning of questions typed into Google rather than the physical words written. It helps to get the most accurate results possible.

Possum

The Possum update was just an addition to Pigeon. It helped to make search results closer to your physical location. For example, when you search “Doctor’s Offices Near Me” instead of just showing results in your city, it shows doctor’s offices within a few miles of your current location.

Fred

Fred is the last Google algorithm update. This update helps filter out the websites that violate Google’s rules and guidelines. This update mostly affected blogs that generated really low-quality content to get ad revenue and that don’t have digital marketing companies to help them.

A huge responsibility of digital marketing companies is to understand and work with the Google algorithms updates. To learn more about SEO and specifically Google Analytics, click here. If you are interested in hiring digital marketing companies for help, contact us here at Fusion 360 Agency.

Sources:

https://searchengineland.com/8-major-google-algorithm-updates-explained-282627

If you work for any major video production company, you’re already familiar with the most basic video equipment tools. However, all video production companies have to start somewhere. And all video editors and enthusiasts have to learn about the industry at a basic level first. There are certain pieces of equipment that all video production companies use, even if they use different models and versions of it.

Obviously, you’ll need a professional video camera. The camera that you have on your phone won’t work for this purpose. Professionals can teach you how to create relatively good videos on your phone, but these cannot replace those created with a professional video camera.

You will also need a shotgun microphone. People care about the visual quality of professional videos, but the audio quality is just as important these days. Almost every video production company uses a shotgun microphone to enhance the audio quality of a production.

If you’ve been around video production companies at all, you have probably seen a tripod. You’ve also no doubt looked at professional videos and wondered how the camera people managed to keep the camera so steady. It definitely wasn’t because the filmmakers in question had very steady hands. Tripods provide the stability videos require, making it easier for video producers to get really good results.

You may already have one of the most important pieces of video editing equipment: headphones. With headphones, you can listen for absolutely everything during a shoot.

All video production companies use lights of some kind. Professional lighting is extremely important. It can eliminate a lot of disruptive shadows. A camera light can also make everything much more visible than it would be otherwise.

Gather all these pieces of equipment before you start, and you’ll be well on your way to making quality videos.

If you need a quality video production company to help you with a project, take a look at the things we’ve done here at Fusion 360.