WHY YOUR VIDEO NEEDS A TARGET

There’s an old comic where a person is seen with a bucket of paint, a paintbrush, and a bow and arrow. The next frame shows him firing an arrow. Then the last frame shows him painting a bullseye where the arrow lands. That’s exactly the way a lot of people go about making videos for their business. If you’re raising your hand right now and confessing, let me offer something that can help.

WHY PICK A TARGET?

The most common response we get when we start this conversation with clients is, “Everyone is my target.” Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way. If you had unlimited time, energy, and resources, then maybe it would work like that. Do you have infinite time? Energy? Money? If you do, let me know the secret.

I think of it more like this. Sure, if you could stand in front of a dart board all day and keep throwing, eventually, you would get a bullseye. Or, at least you could reduce your chances from 99% failure to 63% failure (yeah, I looked it up).

Picking a target reduces the amount of time, energy, and resources you need to connect with your audience.

That’s why we always ask this question of all of our clients. We want to create the best video for you. To do that, we have to know who you want to connect with in the video.

WHAT DOES TARGETING DO?

A lot of the times, clients have an idea about what they want their video to look like and feel like. That’s fine. However, that may miss the point. What works much better is to clarify what your target audience will respond to.

So when we think about the style of a video, if it should have certain people in it, a look, a time of day, art direction, wardrobe, etc. all of these decisions can be made at random and it might just work. But, better than guessing, is to make those decisions based on who you want your video to connect with.

Targeting informs the decision of the video production process

All of the details in your video can be used to connect with your target audience. The people, what they wear, where they are, how they interact with everything, their mood, EVERYTHING. This should never be left to chance (or the preference of the client for that matter).

When we use targeting to inform all of these details, we we’re really doing is focusing attention. We’re using video imagery to help the right people sift through the millions of visuals they encounter every day, so that they (the right people) can focus on what we are presenting to them through video. That starts the connection needed to convert someone from an acquaintence into a fan. It shifts ads into connections and connections into purchases.

HOW DO I FIND MY TARGET AUDIENCE?

This is where things get interesting. Some companies spend millions in research finding their ideal target audience for individual products or services. Other companies can infer their target audience. I can tell you directly, it was no mistake that Apple appealed to creative professionals in the late 90’s. Neither was it an accident when Starbucks began popping up only in certain parts of town. Targeting is the smartest way to enter and dominate a market.

So, how do you find your target?

That depends. How much time, energy, and money do you want to commit to developing a target audience? If you have nothing to work with on developing a target audience, you don’t have to guess. An easy way to start finding your target audience is to look at your competition. They have done some of the work for you. You can look at what they’re doing and let that synthesize with your brand to make a start.

You can also gain insights from traffic you might already have on your website or social media. If you’re really plugged into your product or service, you probably can ask some of your customers what they like.

It can be as simple or complex as you are willing to make it.

CONCLUSION

Targeting is an essential part of the pre-production process. It informs all the details of your video production and makes your video more efficient in reaching its goal. You have a goal right?! If not, read this.

If you want help with your video needs or help finding your target audience. please get in touch.