Why you should fall in love with video this Valentine's Day

Our Scottish PR experts explain why you should take your business to the pictures this February 14

IT’S that time of year again.

Sales of those huge, oversized teddy bears go through the roof. Restaurants take hundreds of frantic phone calls from people who’ve forgotten to do something romantic for their other half. And there’s always that one guy who explains that it’s just a ‘con’ made up by the shops as his long-suffering wife longs for just a hint of romance.

Valentine’s Day. For millions around the world, it’s the perfect day to show that special someone you care and set aside some special time for both of you.

But here at Holyrood PR, it’s a great opportunity for us to explain exactly why your business should throw out the red carpet and let another potential love into your life – video.

So if you’re waiting on your better half to get ready for your Valentine’s meal, take five minutes to sit back and find out why moving pictures is so important to your business.

The opening scene: Bring your story to life

People will always have time to read engaging, well-written and enriching content but the way in which we digest news or find out about new products has changed.

How many times do your find yourself scrolling down a web page and skipping on to see the pictures or video?

Brilliant writing will explain and create a picture of what happened in equal measure and with the addition of high-quality video footage, you can really help your customers gain as clear a picture as possible of your business’ story.

Nobody wants a web page filled with just black and white words.

Think about news stories these days. You scroll down the news site and read the article, but then you want the live video from the scene or the interviews with witnesses or officials.

Your customers want to read about the product or service you’re offering but they also want to see it in action, which is why it’s essential your website hosts plenty of quality video content to both drive traffic to your pages and keep users there once they’ve clicked on.

Character development: Show them who you really are

We can all relate to this next point as we’re all more comfortable doing business with people we know and trust, rather than a faceless sale done via email or over the phone.

And most-likely, your business will be fully aware of this and you’ll have a ‘meet the team’ section, with a photo and little bio about each staff member.

But now’s the time to take that one step further.

Why not celebrate your staff’s successes with video content to show what your business has been doing over the past month.

At Holyrood PR, we film HPR TV to highlight our achievements and allow our staff to present it, developing their presenting skills and providing engaging content for our social channels at the same time.

Grab your audience: Social Media

Another one that we can all relate to is the value of video on social media.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat. They’re all filled with video after video and if you’re business isn’t in the picture, then you’re missing out.

Video nowadays doesn’t mean being in front of the telly or sitting at the desktop computer.

Now you can watch a video on the bus on the morning commute or while you enjoy a quick coffee in a café.

It’s quite literally all around us.

Check out our work with Olympic swimmer Duncan Scott in a series of short ‘Daily Dunk‘ videos to see how short, snappy video content can really get your business’ message across.

Win over the critics: Tell your story far and wide

Video isn’t just useful for your own web pages or social channels.

If you have high quality video content readily available, then your story is far more likely to be told through external channels.

If you have a well written press release, eye-catching pictures as well as engaging video content, then it’s a far more attractive proposition for the news websites to look at and will turn an average story into a great one that’s far more likely to be picked up.

We told the story about Mackie’s cows who produced less milk while listening to country music as opposed to other types and the story went everywhere thanks to the engaging video we produced which was used by the BBC’s social channels as well as a host of other media outlets.

And it’s the same on social media.

If you tell your tale using video, it’s far more likely to engage your audience and be shared far and wide thereafter.

And that’s where a multi-functioning PR agency like ourselves come in.

Having experts in your corner can make the process smooth and painless and take the strain off your hands, allowing you to focus on the day-to-day running of your company.

The bigger picture: Life in 360 degrees

Like everything in life, video technology is ever-changing and progressing at pace.

One of the latest technologies is 360 degree video.

You’ll have seen it on Facebook and through VR goggles and it’s a great new way to immerse your customers into the world of your business.

If you’ve got a property to sell, a 360 degree video or picture is far better than a static picture as we showed in our work with Bield The Walled Garden in St Andrews.

Luckily, our video team have all the capabilities to film this type of footage for your business and the process couldn’t be simpler to have this technology for your business.