Looking for a new, low-budget way to create more engaging video content? Try turning to your whiteboard.
It’s no secret that more marketers are looking for ways to incorporate video into their overall content strategies.
From a business perspective, video production is obviously much easier and less expensive to achieve than in years past. After all, anyone with a smartphone and a YouTube account can shoot and post online video these days for practically nothing. Of course, it’s the content of those videos that really matters, and experimentation is high to find creative ways for businesses to get their messages across.
One simple – yet increasingly popular – technique for video marketing involves the use of a whiteboard. You’ve no-doubt seen videos like these online at some point over the past couple years, and they’ve proved to be an effective (and cheap!) form of video communication. There’s really no trick to it; all you need is a dry-erase marker and a topic to get started. Of course, the subject of your video should be a solid communicator with good energy, and you should take steps to make sure the lighting/audio are high-quality, but that’s true when filming any type of video.
The best part – especially for marketers who are short on time (and who isn’t?) – is that the production for most whiteboard video content is a snap. Since it’s essentially a “one-shot” presentation, the editing process is relatively painless. For example, when creating a Brainshark video, you could simply upload the video file, bookend it with a couple PowerPoint slides to act as intros/outros, and you’re essentially done. (Also, if you’re interested in learning more about integrating whiteboard videos with PowerPoint, Eric Oakland wrote a cool post on the topic recently for Business 2 Community.)
There are a few different types of whiteboard marketing videos to consider, but here are the two that jump out to me as being especially effective for marketing purposes.
#1. One person, one whiteboard.
These videos are exactly what they sound like – just a person standing in front of a whiteboard, illustrating away as he provides some sort of explanation. These are great because they combine a personal, human presence with visuals via the whiteboard. (Sure, most of these “visuals” are pretty sloppy, but honestly, that’s part of the charm of these videos.)
A good example of whiteboard marketing videos from a thought leadership perspective is Rand Fishkin’s SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday series. In each segment, Rand simply spends 10 minutes or so in front of a whiteboard, breaking down a relevant SEO topic of the week. Again, it helps to have strong knowledge of your topic area and at least a bit of charisma, but as you can see, the essential elements are just a man and his marker.
#2. Visual storytelling – at warp speed.
This technique is one of my favorites. It basically involves a camera following an artist’s hand around a whiteboard, as said artist draws images that visually compliment the story of the video. The video is then “sped up” during post production to sync up with the audio narration.
Obviously, these types of videos require a certain level of artistic skill and a bit more time in the editing room, which is why professional organizations like The RSA are famous for this particular type of content. That said, when done right, these types of videos work as an incredibly compelling form of storytelling. A great example is this insanely popular video about what motivates us in business, which has received over 9 million views to date.
Again, these are just a few examples of how whiteboard video can be used as part of your overall video marketing strategy, but they are easily my favorites.