Insurance Marketers: Don’t Make These Video Mistakes

These days, no one can afford to leave quality videography out of their marketing strategy—insurance marketers least of all. Marketing videos, when executed properly, have the ability to deliver loads of information in a quick and accessible fashion making the medium a natural fit for busy and easily distracted insurance agents. Whether you’re picking up the camera yourself or hiring out, there are a few major pitfalls to look out for when reviewing the eventual rough cut. These five common red flags, compiled by Agent Link’s award-winning video production team, have showed up in several of the videos that have come across our desks. We won’t name names here. We’ll just point out the mistakes so you can avoid them in your next marketing video foray.

Audio issues – As we’ve mentioned in previous blogs, audio is the primary component that separates the professionals from the amateurs. Your marketing video may contain the most astounding visuals the industry has ever seen, but that’s all useless if the audio track is drowned out by hissing or other noise distortions. Believe it or not, some ill-equipped videographers even have trouble keeping the video and audio tracks synced, meaning the speaker’s voice doesn’t match up with the movement of their lips.

Bad lighting – Quality lighting equipment can be expensive, but there are ways around this like maximizing available daylight whenever possible. Basically, there is no excuse for dark shadows obscuring the faces of your speakers. Sometimes, the wrong kind of light is better than no light at all.

Green screen hubris – More and more amateurs have ventured into using green screens and chroma keys for eliminating unwanted colors, spiffing up talking heads and adding rudimentary special effects. But that hardly means they’re any good at it. Working with green screens and keying is an extremely meticulous process. Don’t add it to your production unless you’re sure that your editing crew knows how to remove digital noise around the edges of your subject.

Lack of editing – This is unacceptable in almost every case. If your video doesn’t mix up shots and angles through editing, your audience might as well just read a transcript of your marketing message to themselves. In other words, cutting the fat that accumulates during any production is a necessity. Quick, flashy and experimental editing is the potential cherry on top. Like the backbeat of any danceable tune, a tight edit keeps the rhythmic pace of your video up and keeps the viewer enticed.

Frame Composition – This is Photography 101, but you’d be surprised how many videographers intentionally or unintentionally throw out the Rule of Thirds during production. Composition here is just as important as it is with a photograph or painting—perhaps even more so. Ideally, your video’s speaker or talking head should occupy one third of the screen, be in focus while the background is out-of-focus, and have no shoulders, arms or appendages cut off by the frame.

This should help you greatly in your marketing video efforts. Steer clear of these five video production sins, and you’ll be commanding attention with video marketing before you know it.