Videos are a great way to market your business. They can be used in many different ways, including on websites and social media channels. In this article, we will discuss how you can use stock video in your marketing strategy.
Choose the Right Stock Footage
There are a few things to keep in mind when choosing stock footage for your marketing endeavors. First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure that the footage you choose is thoroughly consistent. This means that the image quality of all the clips, the light, the colors, the atmosphere and the people in them have to be similar and make total sense. Otherwise, you will end up with a puzzle, more than a consistent complete production.
Secondly, you will have to make sure that the license of the stock video allows you to use the content as intended, and for the duration of your campaign. This we will discuss further below.
Do I need my product in the video?
Well, it really depends, but the quick answer would be “no”. More and more, companies are relying on values and brand awareness to promote their products, so there are plenty of marketing videos out there where the product is not in the video.
This may be an advantage, because the use of stock video is normally more cost efficient than producing custom video. In case you absolutely need your product in your video, but do not want to give up the benefits of stock video, what normally happens is that a custom video is produced, and it is complemented with stock video on the parts that are not worth the trouble or the cost of filming yourself.
However, there is at least one boutique stock video site (www.vystock.com) where you can buy full stock video stories, fully licensed, for your marketing needs. If you need to complement the stock story with clips with your product, they offer the possibility of further customizing and adapting the stock story to your full satisfaction. Their licenses also offer almost full exclusivity at perpetuity, which is something important, as you will see below.
License concerns
One of the potential drawbacks of using stock video might be that the license may be very unrestricted, or on the contrary, it may have too many restrictions. If the license is very broad, it normally means that many people may be using, or have already used, the clip you like. This is a great risk if you pursue exclusivity in your campaign. The good news is that broad licenses are normally cheap (and so is the quality of the clip).
For more exclusive licenses you will have to pay more, but this will also normally entail more quality in the video itself. These licenses typically have further restrictions on the term for use, geographical scope, allowed uses, etc. You will need to pay special attention to the licensing terms before you confirm that the stock video you like so much is really the one you can use in your campaign.
Conclusions
Stock video may be very useful in your marketing strategy because it is cost efficient and saves your company plenty of time. You do not necessarily have to be worried that your product is not in the final result, but if it has to be, there are ways to include it without giving up the benefits of stock video. However, don’t forget that the terms of use are as important as the stock video itself.