As a full-service video production company, the Studio Sage team consistently strives to stay up to date on all components of the video journey. Telling a brand’s story through our lens involves creating replay-worthy content and understanding the current digital marketing landscape. This ensures that from the moment we kick off pre-production to delivering the final product, we are setting our clients up for successful video campaigns

On May 23rd we attended the 4th annual DigiMarCon Chicago. This premiere digital marketing, media and advertising conference hosted a roster of industry thought leaders who shared best practices and offered their insights on emerging strategies and innovative technologies. 

Each session offered provocative ideas backed with experience and below are our key takeaways, bucketed within the phases of our project lifecycle.

Phase 1: Pre-Production

• Find the Story,  then Build Around It: Great stories that demand attention activate the senses (physical), stay connected to the subject matter (mental) and evoke a strong, genuine response (emotional). Keep these top of mind when finding your content’s core message, and build from that solid foundation once established.
• Community Engagement > Influencers: When reaching out to potential spokespeople for a brand, the digital influencers with a substantial following are great for awareness, but the “nano” influencers with strong ties to the community drive true, authentic engagement that moves the needle in marketing campaigns. Pay attention not only to the content they are posting online, but also what they are engaging with on their platforms, to find the perfect fit for the story you’re trying to share with your audience.

Phase 2: Production

• Interviewing with Purpose: Remember those three attributes that result in a great story (physical, mental, emotional)? They also make for a fantastic interviewer checklist. Slow down when you’re talking to your interview subject (physical), always be thinking about the future audience and what the story is ultimately trying to convey (mental) and stay strong and compassionate with your interview subject (emotional). 
• The Human Component: Be Prepared to go Off Script: While we can prepare questions, and talking points for months for a video shoot, do not forget to trust your gut and be open to straying off course to capture the best story out of your subject. Sometimes the littlest detail can grow into the largest, most compelling narrative.

Phase 3: Post Production

• Optimizing Assets: With the niche trends that are developing across all digital marketing platforms, it makes sense not all content fits every platform in its original state. Successful content exposure comes from taking the source asset and properly modifying it to best serve each platform. And let’s be real, at this point in content creation, one asset should be repurposed into at least three assets. Content is still king.

• AI Best Practices: There are many AI editing platforms that can assist in post-production. For instance, AI audio software can pull hours of live sessions into readable transcripts. As we think through adapting actual AI-generated content into the mix, a long examination of ethics and best practices is a must. No matter how much or little your team chooses to incorporate AI into your workflow, transparency is key! Always share with the client if and when AI is being used for their project.

The Sage Team really enjoyed this conference and everything it had to offer. We gained valuable insights into new trends and perspectives from industry leaders. It was also affirming to hear many of our core practices recognized as best practices within the industry. With these takeaways, we will continue to explore more ways to uncover and authentically share compelling stories and maximize engagement with the right audience.