If you’re in charge of marketing for a non-profit organization or event, you want people to feel excited about your efforts and motivated to give their support!
The best way to do this is to not only inform them, but to ignite their passions and drive them toward helping your mission succeed.
You’ll want to reach them in a way that stokes their feelings of empathy, excitement and inspiration; Video is the BEST way to achieve this.
Video can do so many things for your efforts: from informing viewers about your cause to increasing attendance at an event, or motivating supporters to make a donation, volunteer their time or help spread awareness. But, the video content must be strategically developed and well-produced in order to be as compelling as possible, and live up to its potential as a powerhouse marketing tool.
Let’s take a look at 5 qualities of a compelling non-profit video.
Your Non-Profit Video Establishes Real Human Connection
A non-profit video is an uber-successful marketing tool because, quite frankly, it’s the next best thing to reality! It’s the best way to show viewers living, breathing imagery across a digital platform like a phone, tablet, computer or television.
Video puts a real-life face to the organization, establishing a human connection. This drastically enhances relatability as well as a sense of transparency, which helps to build a strong sense of trust and loyalty for the organization.
Video Length is Tailored To Your Target Audience
What’s the best length for a non-profit video? Ideal video length is something that has been widely debated for years now. To answer this question we consider many details in pre-production, details like:Â
- What length is most effective to tell your story?
- Where will viewers be watching this video? On social media? Live at an event? Both?
- Who are the viewers? People who have never heard of your organization, or people who have a history of supporting you?
- What actions do you want them to take after viewing?
These and other questions will help determine how invested the viewer is and what their next actions might be.
In general, the consensus on video length is that it should be 90 seconds or less. In certain cases, however, long-form video content (a 6-minute mini documentary) can be successful if it’s highly relevant to the viewer. In social media feeds, micro content (a quick ten-second edit) may perform more successfully since viewers are generally scrolling through quickly.Â
Another great benefit to video content is that you can also multi-purpose your footage, and create multiple videos for different uses.
Your Video Informs, Educates and Edifies
Education is often key to motivating people to get involved with an important cause. Video is the best tool for delivering information in an engaging way, and getting it to stick!
It’s no secret that viewers prefer video to text over 72% of the time.  Moreover, viewers retain 95% of a message after watching it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.Â
While video delivers information in an engaging way and increases information retention, it also achieves results on an emotional level.
Edification (by definition) means more than educating, it’s also about uplifting and enlightening! Video can do all of these things at once by employing powerful imagery, impactful music and emotional storytelling.
Your Non-Profit Video Prompts a Call to Action
The whole entire point of marketing your organization is to share stories, engage your audience, and continue to generate support. This is why it’s crucial to have a call-to-action in mind as you’re having your non-profit video produced.
Perhaps you want your audience to share your non-profit video on social media to increase awareness; or, maybe you’d like viewers to click through to a site where they can make a donation or sign up for an event.
A successful non-profit video will include the call-to-action or be shared in a way that it motivates and directs viewers to take action.
It’s Set Up for Strategic Success
There are many elements of successful video marketing that thrive on a solid strategic approach. This includes details such as intended use, main goals and how the video will found, shared and viewed.
So, beyond strategically preparing to produce the video itself, it is also beneficial to consider the video’s environment throughout the viewer journey. Meaning: website pages, social feeds, accompanying text and call-to-action and so on.
For example, if you will be hosting the video on YouTube, it will be beneficial to craft a title for the video that benefits your organization with regard to SEO. This can help you gain additional awareness when your video shows up in popular Google and YouTube search results. This will help more viewers become exposed to your video and potentially your website or other online presence.
A video production agency can guide you through a strategic planning process for any size production. They can also help make the most efficient and effective use of your video marketing efforts, timeline and budget.
