20 May Three tips to help charity marketing videos flourish

One of the very top internet e-bulletins is written on these small island shores. Step forward Econsultancy, who we’ve been subscribing to for well over fifteen years. It’s not just us either, Econsultancy’s fanbase extends to well over 600,000 readers worldwide each month. Yes, it’s that good.

Now a part of Centaur Media’s portfolio (publisher of Marketing Week etc), Econsultancy’s strength is in its tips and advice to companies looking to achieve excellence in digital business. To that end, our attention was firmly piqued by an article this week entitled Three Tips To Help Charity Marketing Videos Flourish.

As the article explains, a big myth is that to produce a video costs a lot of money. That might have held true a decade ago, but no longer. Video technology and editing have moved on leaps and bounds and with smartphone penetration in the UK at 77%, most people are adept at videoing their friends, family and events. Creating videos is no longer a ‘closed technology’ inhabited by high cost production studios, cameras as heavy as bazookas and costly editing suites!

Indeed, the article explains how Male Cancer Awareness Campaign achieved 7 million views for a video that cost only £1,000 to make. We’d like to link to the video itself but in a family-oriented website we feel it’s perhaps best to sidestep that one! We’d point interested parties to read the article itself!

As Econsultancy points out, the trick to making a great charity video is not so much the budget available but more a question of ‘knowing your audience and having good creative’. Other tips they put forward are ‘reacting to current events’ as well as ‘hitting home with a hard message’.

We’d like to add a fourth video tip to Econsultancy’s article – enlisting the help of a charity’s supporters, volunteers and friends. As a case in point, Male Cancer Awareness Campaign teamed up with world-renowned fashion photographer Rankin to create its video. They also enlisted the help of lingerie model Rhian Sugden. The cost to the charity? There wasn’t one.

The bottom line is that many charities can think of well-placed and influential supporters who might be able to help in a variety of different ways – from possible locations, low cost production facilities, free assistance and support…the list is endless.

So if you are a charity looking to reach out to spread your message or further raise funds, a video campaign might be worth considering, even if you are a small charity. It can be done.