Video Production Due to Pandemic in the US

Has COVID-19 pandemic affected video production in any way? The answer is a straight Yes!

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide quarantine began, we have experienced its adverse effects on every line of work, including video production. The film industry has taken a substantial hit more than any other sector when it comes to restrictions on video production due to lockdown and social distancing concerns.

Movie theaters and cinemas have shut down worldwide, film festivals canceled or postponed. Some analysts estimate COVID-19 has already cost the global film industry approximately $5 billion. 

Advertisement is another sector that has felt the impact, and the businesses have no means to advertise their products anymore. This has resulted in a loss of billions of dollars to the video production firms as well their clients who relied heavily on the video content to run their businesses and promotions. 

COVID-19: What Your Video Production Team Can Still Do

The Coronavirus outbreak has altered the daily operations of almost every business. The pandemic has created a nuisance, especially for those who mainly rely on in-person interactions and services such as video production industry. In such circumstances, to pull the shutters down on your business operations is the last thing you would dream. 

However, when you have no other options in situations like quarantine, you can avoid or reduce the impact of the pandemic as an e-commerce video production company by following six simple rules.

Protect Your Partners and Employees 

The quarantine’s official slogan is “stay home, save lives,” which means safety first. Unfortunately, due to the contagious nature of coronavirus, people must stay away from each other as much as possible. 

We all know that video production is all about teamwork, interaction, and hustle, so it makes it harder to follow the protocol needed for social distancing. 

If you wish to lead your e-commerce video production agency successfully during the pandemic, you must make sure your employees go unscathed during this time. As a video production company, you most likely work with various partners, including actors and actresses. Therefore, it must be your top priority not to put their health and well-being at risk. 

One of the simplest ways to safeguard the health of your partners and employees is advising them to stay at home. If they can manage a telework set-up at home, it is ideal to allow your staff to work from home. 

If it is inevitable for your team to gather at the office, but try to restrict the number of employees present at one time. Plus, remind everyone to sanitize and wear gloves and masks whenever they go out in public. 

Anticipate interruptions

To be honest, it is already a little too late to anticipate any disruptions or complete halt. You may have most likely experienced it already one way or the other. However, there are still ways that can help you cope. 

One way is to try and produce your videos in bulk. Whatever your daily output rate of video production, see if you can increase it with all the means you have at disposal. Alternatively, you can encourage your video creators to film themselves at their homes ideally. 

Of course, it depends on the nature of the video you wish to produce. However, it will give you enough material to work with if your partners can film themselves. 

Prepare Your Post-Production Team for Remote Work

As of now, your staff is already at home. Most video production companies normally run post-production operations exclusively from their offices. Therefore, having your video production split-up and off-site presents a challenge. 

You will have to reorganize your workflow, secure your production material while making it available to your video production team for remote editing. 

One of the most effective ways to make this happen is by moving your post-production tasks to a cloud-based management service. Such systems and services have features to secure the transfer and storage of your data. This way, your video editors can access all pre-cut material from a remote location anywhere. 

You can even go a step further instead of using a cloud and adapt a remote online and ingest collaboration tool specifically designed for video production companies. 

Review Your Client Contracts

It is high time that you review your client’s contracts. If your clients are postponing or canceling projects, you must ensure your business is secure to cover any related costs. 

For any new contracts, make sure that you add an addendum to your commercial agreements. This must state clearly on who will be covering the costs for relocations, cancellations or postponements due to COVID-19 quarantine. 

Rely on Local Talent

You must realize that quarantine measures will not start to relax at the same pace everywhere. So even if the restrictions loosen in one area or state, there may still be social distancing and travel bans in other places. So when your video production agency resumes filming on locations, you must choose local locations. 

It will not only reduce the costs but also lower the disruptions and risks associated with traveling to other locations. Similarly, you must rely on local talents, such as directors, camera crew, and actors, to reduce health risks. 

Pivot Your Services

As your final step, you must adapt and keep your video production company running through the COVID-19 pandemic by transforming your services. If you are experiencing regular projects drying up, offer production services geared toward and in-line with the current situation. 

You can propose creative ideas to produce public service and information announcements for local and government agencies. You can also offer to provide internal videos for companies working remotely to train and help their employees cope with the pandemic and its challenges. 

Offering video production services to create entertainment content such as workout videos and cooking tutorials may also help you to generate some business in current circumstances. 

You can provide a variety of videos while offering to add animations or produce self-shot footage. It is a great way to help video content creators who would otherwise not have the opportunity or courage to produce their videos. The most creative ideas you can come up with, the more chances you have to generate more business. 

E-Commerce Product Videos: It ALL Comes Down to How Fast You Adapt

A decent product video could be well worth thousands of sales depending on how well it appears in the search listings. According to a report, your product can help in sales conversion if it appears within 70 percent of the top 100 listings searches. 

It also depicts that 64 to 85 percent of viewers are more likely to buy your product if there is a product video available. Therefore, it is a marketing strategy and force you cannot afford to ignore during the pandemic. 

Online video marketing has been popular for a while now. There are no more sluggish internet connections with faulty technologies, and the viewers are turning more and more towards online services and products. 

Social distancing and isolation have made it even more ideal for reaching your consumers in the comfort of their homes. Even the most innovative entrepreneurs and smart companies are moving to the online broadcasting medium, such as videos, and turning it into a communications cornucopia. 

If you are still wondering whether to adapt to e-commerce video production for your e-commerce website, do not wait any longer. The verdict is in. Online video service such as Shopify video is the next big thing, and the experts are betting on it to grow exponentially in the next few years. 

Amazon is another prime example; they decided to adapt to changing demands amidst the COVID pandemic and started focusing on Amazon product videos to showcase the products.

Similarly, a UK company known as GoPromotional created marketing videos of over 4,000 products and observed a 100 percent increase in their sales conversion from their visitors viewing the videos. There was a 7.5 percent overall increase in conversion along with SEO improvements. 

Here as some other reasons why e-commerce video production will help your business sell more online. 

E-commerce Video Production Boosts Conversion

According to a report, using e-commerce video production increases conversion up to 85 percent. It also increases email clicks by 96 percent and helps SEO ratings as well. This strategy also reduces your product returns up to a quarter. 

The Top E-commerce Retails Are Using Videos

The top online retailers are focusing on product video creation to make their e-commerce listings stand out on video services such as Amazon product videos and Shopify videos, etc. If you are an e-commerce retailer interested in showcasing your brands and products on Amazon, Shopify, or your own website, you can use services such as Ad.Just Production to help you with your e-commerce video production. 

Consumers Love Education Content

According to research, educational videos capture your consumer’s attention, and half of the consumers have more confidence in buying the product when they watch the product video. 

How Shopify Partners Can Use Videos in their Favor

One significant aspect of a Shopify video is that most consumers prefer watching a video over reading product details.

Try to remember when was the last time you preferred reading a newspaper instead of watching the news. It will give you an idea of how effective and grabbing videos are, and this phenomenon spans over almost every demographic and industry. 

StacksAndStacks.com is an e-tailer in organization housewares. They published a report stating that their visitors were 144 percent more likely to buy after watching their product videos than those who did not watch the video. 

Unique Uses of Video Marketing

Increasing sales conversions requires more than just sticking to your product video on a YouTube advertisement or your website. You have to come up with creative ideas with an edge to help improve your consumers’ browsing and shopping experience. 

For example, you can ask a video production company to create videos with embedded “hotspots.” These hotspots are basic features that make certain parts of your product videos clickable. Like if there is an outfit worn by a model in the video, the consumer can click on the dress to take them to the product page and add it to their cart, etc. 

If you are struggling to sell products through a shopping cart, you can still benefit from the personalization features of the videos. For example, if you are looking for a way to improve your customers’ experience, you can offer live chats, a video tutorial for services and products, etc. 

How to Produce Kickstarter Videos

It is a simple five steps process to create a compelling Kickstarter video during Covid-19.

Be Yourself

Community is at the core of Kickstarter’s primary goals. In most cases, people invest in who you are as much as they fund your project. They want to see you, get to know what motivates you, what your passions are. 

Your viewers also want to ensure that you are competent and trustworthy. When you are on a camera, you must muster up all the energy and bring your “A” game while smiling and having fun. 

Keep them Snappy

You must keep this in mind that most people tend to have shorter attention and concentration span. According to a report, the consumer’s attention span can be as short as eight seconds. Chances are most viewers are not going to sit through your five-minute storytelling video to figure out if you have what they need. 

Therefore, you only have the initial ten seconds or less to hook and grab the attention of your viewers and convince them that the video is worth watching till the end and that you or your services are worthy of their investment. 

Cover the Basic

You must cover five essential topics in your videos that are as follows:

• Who you are
• The story behind your product or project
• Explaining why you need their support
• Talk about the awesome rewards you are offering 
• Thank everyone 

Keep it Legal

Whether it is a business venture or a personal project, you must beware and avoid violating any copyright laws. These include music, photos, logos, and videos. Always use royalty-free content from various sources such as TuneFruit, SoundCloud, iStockPhoto, etc. 

Close the Sale

By the end of the video, you must state the rewards clearly and finish it with a specific call to action, inviting viewers to click the button to back your project or subscribe. 

Great Brand Commercial for Businesses

Although the entire country is in the state of lockdown, you can still produce a significant brand commercial from remote locations. Therefore, you must brainstorm ideas with your colleagues and employees to create an attractive brand and product advertisements. 

However, you will need some essential tools for video production; these include:

• Camera

• Tripod
• External microphones
• Gimbal
• Lighting
• Editing and production software
• Transcription services
• Video editing hardware