Little Details Take Your Videos From Good To Great

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." — Coach John Wooden

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden led UCLA to 10 National Championships in just a 12-year span.

He's famous for teaching his players not only how to dribble, pass, and shoot, but also the little things like lacing and tying your shoes properly (to prevent blisters and injuries).  "Coach" knew that when you're operating at the highest levels of competition, it's those little things that separate good teams from great teams.

Just like team sports, marketing is a competitive activity. And these days, your prospects are inundated by over 3,000 marketing messages each day and 71% of them are increasing their budgets in video.

Ten years ago, just having a video was enough to stand out online. Even five years ago, our team was seeing success with Skype-recorded videos. But those days are long gone.

Just like Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) developed the sky hook in response to the NCAA banning dunking, so too will you need to adapt your video strategy to reflect changes in the competitive landscape.

The fundamentals haven't changed. You still need a smart strategy, an effective script, and great production quality. But now the little things are what separate your videos from the competition. Things like staging, storytelling, B-Roll, and wardrobe.

Those are the new frontier — the "little things that make big things happen."

That's why This Week In Video Marketing, our team takes aim at some of the little details that separate "good" videos from "great" videos. Check it out!

Why You Need to Include B-Roll in Your Videos

A staple in WireBuzz video projects, B-Roll is one of those terms we're often asked to define when talking to clients. So here's how we explain it...

A-Roll is the primary footage you're shooting. In the case of a "talking head" video, that means the actual person talking to camera.

B-Roll, on the other hand, is supporting footage that's used to help tell the story in a more compelling way. Watch Morgan's video to see the difference in action.

But as it relates to today's topic, B-Roll is a critical element in your overall production quality. It creates variety, amplifies emotion, and improves clarity by showing what you're talking about.

Perhaps most significantly, it increases your video's "audience retention," or the percentage of your video that the average viewer reaches before leaving. That means more people reaching your call-to-action, better search engine rankings, and increased sales.

Think about it like this: when you watch a movie trailer, all the motion and scene changes happen super fast. This is done deliberately to keep your eyes glued to the screen. But if you have just one long, continuous shot of someone talking to camera, people are more apt to get bored and pull the ripcord.

Ultimately, that's why "B-Roll" finds it's way into nearly every WireBuzz video project...because it ensures your video asset gets the highest ROI.

What to Wear for Your Video Shoot

Another seemingly small, but extremely important detail is your wardrobe.

I'm sure you've seen it: a video where someone was wearing a shirt with a crazy pattern that appears to be moving when viewed on small screens...like mobile devices and social media news feeds, which account for the majority of video views online.

This is a distracting optical illusion, but it's an easy one to avoid. Simply avoid patterned clothing and textures that may be noticeable on camera.

And that's just the beginning! There are a whole host of wardrobe do's and don'ts, so be sure to watch Annette's video for the whole story.

She shares insights about things like:

• What colors look best on camera (and which ones to avoid)
• Why solid colors are always your safest bet
• Whether or not you should wear a "uniform" or dress up
• Accessories and jewelry to avoid
• If you should wear glasses or contacts

This is important stuff, because just like B-Roll keeps your viewers interested, your wardrobe choices can create distractions and speed bumps that actually cause people to stop watching your video.

Conclusion

Long story short, you want to make sure that you take the details into account when planning your video shoot.

At WireBuzz, all of our project managers are extremely detail-oriented. And that's by design!

Because all those little details add up to big increases in your video ROI.

Got any tips that you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments below.