Podcast Summary

Martin Watters, a video producer and founder of Brief Media, discusses the evolution and effective use of video for businesses. He emphasises that the focus has shifted from simply creating aesthetically pleasing videos to producing content that drives specific actions and results, informed by data and analytics. Watters covers the importance of a clear video strategy, the components of a good brief, common mistakes clients make (such as making videos too long or lacking a distribution plan), and provides actionable tips for creating standout content that connects with audiences emotionally.

 

Key Points

  • Video was described as the default way people now consume information, making it essential for business visibility.
  • The primary goal of video production had shifted from aesthetics to performance, focusing on content that changes behaviour or drives action.
  • The most significant change in the industry was not technology (like drones or AI) but the use of data and analytics to measure and optimise video performance.
  • A formal video strategy was crucial for success, yet many businesses lacked one.
  • A good video brief was clear and concise, outlining a single key message, the target audience, and what success would look like.
  • Common client mistakes included trying to convey too much information in one video, making content too long, omitting a clear call to action, and failing to create a distribution plan.
  • The creation of the video was described as the beginning of the job, not the end, highlighting the critical role of a distribution strategy.
  • To stand out, videos needed a strong hook in the first two seconds, a clear story, and should prioritise creating an emotional connection over simply conveying information.

 

Podcast Transcript

Transcripts are auto-generated.

Kiran Kapur, Host (00:01):
Hello and welcome. We are in the world of videos and videography today.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (00:06):
Creating a nice-looking video is easy these days, but a video that changes behaviour or drives action, that's where the real job is. It's more about getting the videos to perform the best and using the data that we have access to make them work.

Kiran Kapur, Host (00:22):
I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Martin Watters, who is the founder of Brief Media and is a video producer. Martin, it's probably fair to say you've done one or two videos with me in the past.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (00:34):
I have, and I'm waiting for a grilling from you today, Kiran, because usually I'm on the other side of the camera. Yeah, very much looking forward to being interviewed by you today.

Kiran Kapur, Host (00:46):
Excellent. So tell me a little bit about Brief Media and what you do.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (00:52):
Yeah, so I'm Martin Watters. I'm a video producer. I've been producing videos for 16 years. I began in radio and then moved over into full-time video making. I now shoot edits, fly drones. I help clients build video strategies to make sure that they get results from video.

Kiran Kapur, Host (01:14):
Yes. Your strap line is videos that create results, which is something I really wanted to come onto. Actually, I'm quite intrigued. You went from radio to video. You said it's like that was a sort of straight line, but that's going from an audio platform to a visual one.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (01:29):
Yeah, I think I was working in radio, producing all sorts of content to go on air and on the websites. And part of that was making videos, and I just really enjoyed video and the power of it and being able to add music and visuals and really change people's emotions quite quickly, and especially the documentary format. I really enjoyed creating video documentary. So yeah, I kind of naturally moved in that direction. 16 years ago video was really taking off, especially for companies and organisations. So I've kind of fell into it at the right time, I think.

Kiran Kapur, Host (02:08):
So, did you have a background in video before you moved into creating Brief Media?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (02:13):
Basically, I had been creating some documentaries. Personally, there was kind of a few passion projects we call them, whereby we'd just go out and make some videos for the love of it. And I created a video for a radio station, just a little documentary for it for future radio in Norwich. And then the Norfolk and Orige Festival saw that video, and they said, "Oh, can you make our film that year?" And then the National Centre for Writing saw that video and asked me to make a video for them, and it just started snowballing really. And I'm still here 16 years later, producing video content and loving it.

Kiran Kapur, Host (02:54):
Brilliant. So how important is video as a medium for sales and for brand awareness?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (03:01):
So I think video, dare I say, is now the default way that people consume information. I think if you're not using video, if you're a business or organisation, maybe you're a little bit invisible. I think video is the quickest way to stop people scrolling on social media. I think the synergy of the movement, the sound, human faces, the instant engagement it creates really grabs people's attention when you're on social media. And I think people buy from people. So seeing a real person on screen, a real place, a process in your business or organisation, showing that through video can create credibility really fast, especially much quicker than text or photos. So I think it really builds trust with your audience,, and then complex ideas can be shown really simply through video. So I think a 30-second video can replace say a 500-word explanation quite quickly and really provide some clarity to what you're trying to say.

(04:11):
And then platforms prioritise video as well. So if you want organic visibility, video is obviously the easiest route. So if your business isn't using video, then maybe you're relying on your audience to kind of work harder than they want to.

Kiran Kapur, Host (04:27):
It's interesting. I was at a conference last year, and they were showing stats that suggested that if you just had a video on your webpage, you had a 60% higher dwell time, even if people didn't watch that video, which I thought was fascinating.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (04:42):
It really is. There's so many stats around video. 82% of consumers say that a video convinced them to buy a product. 84% of video marketers reported increased dwell time on their websites. You're holding people on your website longer. If you want to talk about social media, 96% of marketers say that videos increased brand awareness. 89% of consumers say they want to see more video from brands. It just all points in the same direction that video works for business.

Kiran Kapur, Host (05:16):
Yes. And increasingly as one's buying online rather than in person, it replaces that tactileness of feeling a product. You can actually see it, and you could potentially see it in a 3D circle or something. Yeah.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (05:31):
Absolutely. So yeah, it really builds trust quickly with consumers and especially with videos like testimonial videos that I shoot as well. You can really hear from the customer how they thought the process or the product was, and really hear how successful it was directly from the consumer.

Kiran Kapur, Host (05:55):
Yes. Again, that sort of social endorsement. So you say videos create results, and I'm always intrigued by statements like that. So what sort of results should I be looking for?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (06:05):
Yeah, absolutely. So I think if we say rewind back to my earlier career, even say 10 years ago, I think clients would come to me and they'd say things like, "Oh, we want a video." Just because they thought it was the right thing to do. I don't think they knew why they wanted a video. I think they could just see that other people were producing videos, and it seemed like the right thing to do. So a lot of my job was educating people why video works and why they should have it in their business or organisation. But now we fast forward, and clients are coming to me, and they're wanting their videos to perform better, and they're looking at all of that data and analytics that they now have regular access to, to make sure that their videos are working. So they're wanting more inquiries.

(06:56):
They're wanting clearer explainer videos that reduce any confusion about their product or service. They're wanting more conversions on their website or even kind of fundraising, looking to tell better stories through video, emotional storytelling, driving donations through websites, even looking at recruitment videos that attract better candidates for instance, or even internal videos that communicate internal strategy internally amongst organisations and businesses. So there's a whole host of different reasons for creating better results through video, I'd say. So I think creating a nice-looking video is easy these days, but a video that changes behaviour or drives action, that's where the real job is.

Kiran Kapur, Host (07:47):
That's interesting. You used a phrase earlier on about helping clients with their video strategy. I'm assuming part of that is helping them to understand what videos could achieve and therefore what results to look for. So how do you even approach that?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (08:02):
I think that it's interesting that so many businesses that I work with don't have a specific video strategy and simply just sitting down at the start of the year and thinking, okay, what are we going to do with video this year? What do we want it to do? Where is the business at? What are we looking to improve, and how can video help us with that is so easy to do, and I can do that with clients. And we simply just sit down and chat about what they're looking to achieve and how video can help with that. So I think just simply having a plan for video content creation sets you apart from the competition immediately.

Kiran Kapur, Host (08:41):
That's interesting. So you've talked that you've been doing this for 16 years. How has video production changed over that time?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (08:49):
Gosh, it's changed a lot really. I think mainly through data. So especially when we're creating videos now, and there's so much access to data, and companies and organisations have all sorts of data on their clients and how they're consuming videos. And so I think that data then affects the videos that we're creating, especially creatively and especially advertising. So if we're creating an advert now, we're not just creating an advert, we'll probably create three adverts, and then we'll test various creative parts to that advert. For instance, it could be the hook at the beginning. We're changing for each advert. It could be simply the colour of the text that appears in that advert. It could be the music. It could be having a voiceover or a person on screen. We test a lot to make sure that the advert is working as well as it can do.

(09:49):
So I think that's where things are changing the most at the moment. It's creating a whole host of variations, the video content and then testing it through platforms like Meta to see which is performing best.

Kiran Kapur, Host (10:05):
That's interesting. I thought you were going to say something about, oh, it's the introduction of AI or it's using drones, which you mentioned earlier as well. But in fact, the change is not the things that you use to create a video. It's knowing how your video is performing.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (10:19):
I think we've now got to a point where it's so cheap to make a video and anyone can use an iPhone, a really decent iPhone or any kind of iPhone and get a good quality video. So now I think it's more about making these videos work. I think we've got to a great point where it's so easy to make a good-looking video, but it's more about getting the videos to perform the best and using the data that we have access to make them work.

Kiran Kapur, Host (10:51):
I think that's really interesting.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (10:53):
Yeah. And I try time and time again to point clients to it. I'm working with a client at the moment, they're trying to raise what quarter of a million, and it's the third year that we've done it, and I'm saying, look at the audience retention rates. What worked last year? What content was the most engaging? So we're really kind of delving into the data to make sure that drives what we're about to produce for this year because obviously there's a lot of money at stake, so it's really important. But yeah, time, time again, you don't see clients doing it.

Kiran Kapur, Host (11:32):
Possibly because you don't think you can, possibly because you're so excited about doing the video bit, you forget about the data bit.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (11:37):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think most people just don't know that you can, and they're fascinated when they can see it. So yeah, it's really, really good to look at.

Kiran Kapur, Host (11:46):
What data would you look at?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (11:47):
Within YouTube, I look at the audience retention rate. I think that would be my first go- to. How long are people watching for? And usually, there's always a drop-off rate in YouTube videos, and the audience will drop off at some point, but it's really interesting to see. And you may even see that there's a drop-off at a certain point where something appears on screen. So that's a real good metric to look at. Obviously, the number of views as well, maybe even the click-through rate from the video content to your website as well, you can measure that and then maybe even see how many people have converted into a customer from it. So those are all really good metrics. And of course, just talking to your customers that come through, where did you hear about us? How did you find out about us? Just talking to people as well is really, really key.

Kiran Kapur, Host (12:43):
I think one of the things that I'm intrigued by is always when there's somebody on your side where you're working with clients. As clients often don't get the brief right. So what makes a good brief for you, and what sort of brief makes your heart sink?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (12:59):
Oh, I've got to be careful here. So what makes a good brief? I think that it's quite simple really. So clear objective. What does this video simply need to achieve? What are we trying to achieve through creating this video? Obviously, we need to think about the audience. Who are we talking to? Who is it for? What do they care about? You might even want to imagine your target audience in front of you. Are they male, female, their age? Where do they shop? Are they an Ocado shopper or do they shop at Lidl? Everything. Really picture them in front of you, your audience. I think a video should have one key message. I don't think a video should be muddied with five or 10 messages. Give that video one message and make sure that your audience gets it. So we clarified that in the brief and then success metrics.

(13:55):
So I think I always ask the question, what does success look like with this project? Once we've created the video and it's online, what does success look like? So I like to clarify that before we make a video as well. And then any constraints. So it could be budget, it could be deadlines, it could be locations. Sometimes the clients that I'm working with, their staff are too busy to work on the video or be in the video. So there's all sorts of constraints that I think are good to clarify in your brief. Sometimes just a few things that aren't helpful, simply asking things like, "We want an Apple ad, or we want a John Lewis ad." I think it's best to probably avoid things like that in your brief, or trying to include everything in the one video. I wouldn't try and make your one video do everything for the business.

(14:52):
I think it should cover one aspect maybe. And then maybe one other kind of phrase to avoid is, "We'll know it when we see it."

Kiran Kapur, Host (15:02):
Oh, I think I used that on you.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (15:05):
No, no, no, I don't think you have. I think probably the most helpful thing to do is just show, maybe just say, "Oh, we like this video or we like the look of this video." And even if you can say, "I like the text in this video or I like the feeling of positivity in this particular example, or we like the cinematic look of this video." Things like that can be really helpful, but a good brief doesn't have to be long. It just has to be clear.

Kiran Kapur, Host (15:35):
So when you said you don't want people to come and say, "I want a John Lewis advert," is that people thinking they can do a John Lewis advert style on the cheap because John Lewis adverts are massively expensive.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (15:47):
Yeah, they're massively expensive, and typically working with video production professionals like myself, they're not the cheapest to make either, because they're quite time intensive making a video and typically all the technology we use is very expensive. So, saying things like, "Can we film a John Lewis advert with one person?" It is probably not going to be achievable, unfortunately, because there's teams of a hundred people working on them and quite large budgets. So I'd probably avoid saying things like that in your brief.

Kiran Kapur, Host (16:25):
That's good advice. What sort of mistakes do you see clients making? You've already said don't make it a kitchen sync style, as the one video's got to achieve everything.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (16:35):
Okay. Yeah. So in terms of mistakes that I see clients making, I'll try and be diplomatic here. I think again, just trying to say too much in the one video. I think I'd definitely revisit that, and just saying just keep it to the one message in the video. I think videos are too long. I had a client recently wanting a 10-minute recruitment video that was going to sit on their website, so I quickly had to talk them out of that one. If it feels long to you, it will definitely feel twice as long to the viewer. So don't make your videos too long. Definitely a clear call to action. I see that a lot in video content. Definitely give the viewer a clear call to action at the end of your video. We've watched a fantastic video, but what's next?

(17:29):
So that's important, the clear call to action at the end. I think expecting the one video to do everything for your business, I see a lot too. You definitely need a suite of videos, perhaps a Who Are We video or an explainer video, a testimonial video, perhaps a series of videos on your products and services as well. So don't just create one video, create a suite of them that are going to sit on the website and social media too. I think ignoring the platform that the video is going to appear on as well is really important. Make sure that if you're filming for your website, filming landscape, if you're filming for social media, film vertically. I think 75% of video views happen on mobile phones, so that's why vertical video dominates at the moment. And then the final thing is, I see this a lot as well.

(18:24):
We create this beautiful content, this beautiful video content that we've spent thousands on and lots of time, and there's no plan for distributing it. So it gets posted on social media once and then never seen or reposted or anything's done with it again. So I think definitely building a distribution plan around your video content once you've produced it is really important, and make sure that you do get the most value out of it. So yeah, definitely the biggest mistake would be thinking that creating the video is the end of the job. I think it's actually the beginning.

Kiran Kapur, Host (18:59):
That's really interesting. And actually, I can see how easy it is to fall into that one because quite often, it's your creation is separated from your distribution side. So one person's done all the creative stuff, but the distribution side just can get easily get forgotten. That is so interesting. So what sort of things can people do with the video when they distribute? What would you sort of suggest? What have you seen people do well?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (19:24):
Definitely have a plan in place. I would make sure that the video is usable on your website and then also on social media. So, create a longer form piece of content for your website. I'd probably upload it to YouTube and then embed that YouTube content into your website, which would help with SEO and obviously keeping people on your website longer. And then Google then realises that there's some YouTube content on your website and that you're holding people longer and that will help improve your SEO. I'd also create some short-form content from the long form and post that on social media, thinking about your creative hooks, how are you going to hook people in those first couple of seconds and maybe try and get them to somewhere with a good call to action. Are we trying to sell a product or a service, get them to the website or simply buy the product there and then on social media.

(20:21):
So really think about how it's all going to work in the ecosystem of your website alongside the video.

Kiran Kapur, Host (20:30):
That's so interesting and such good advice because it is very easy to just forget that bit. I've produced pretty content. I spent the budget. Oh yeah. What happened to it? Oh, yes. It's gathering digital dust. You said videos can be too long. How long is a piece of string, but what is too long? Is there an optimum?

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (20:51):
I think that every good video should have a beginning, middle, and end. So I think that's probably where I would start. And then go back to that point that I made earlier, that what is that one key message, and how long do we need to say it? And maybe think about the emotional connection that the audience needs with that piece of content as well in order to change their emotions. If you're telling a story about someone who is going to run the London Marathon, you might want to feel that length of time that it took for them to do all of that training through the content. It may be that you can say your one message very quickly, and it needs to be 10 seconds. It really does depend. But also, once you've created that content, test it, especially if it's an advert, look at your audience retention rate, which is so easy in YouTube, and so many clients don't look at it, test it.

(21:54):
And then if it's not working, maybe even cut it down.

Kiran Kapur, Host (21:57):
Are there some tips you can give us on sort of how I make my videos stand out? Yes. Because there's a lot of videos out there.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (22:05):
There really is. There really is. You only have to open up your Facebook, Instagram, or Reels, and you are bombarded with video content. So, probably some key takeaways that I would say to make sure that your videos stand out are the start strong. Definitely that first two seconds matter more than the following 20 or 30. Definitely hook people in the first couple of seconds, especially for social media. I think especially in a world of AI, make sure that you show people. I would tell one story, think about that beginning, middle, and end of that story and what that might be. And a real simple story is really memorable. From a young age, we love stories, and I don't think that dies even through old age. So story is really powerful. So make sure you're using story in your video. Movement, if you can, with your cameras or anything you're shooting with, movement with your camera is really helpful, maybe through drone shots.

(23:10):
You could even think about walking and talking interviews out and about and outside. Even if you've got a product in front of you, and you've got your filming with an iPhone. So just a simple, slight little bit of movement left or right creates some intrigue with that product. So just think about how you might want to get the camera moving to create things that are even more interesting. Definitely think about the platform you're shooting for, horizontal for websites, vertical for social media, the key ones to take away. Captions, make sure you caption your content. Most people don't watch with the sound on, so it simply has to have captions, especially for social media. And the other thing about captions is through YouTube, search engines can now search YouTube videos with the captions. So make sure that your YouTube videos have good captions because search engines will be able to look at them and send people towards your video content.

(24:10):
Final one is emotion beats information, is probably what I'd say. So don't try and pack your video with tonnes of information. Put it on a webpage or somewhere. I think the real power of video is the emotion and how you can change people's emotion in seconds, and really do remember that because that is the power of video, and people will remember how you made them feel.

Kiran Kapur, Host (24:38):
That is solid and sound advice. Martin Watters, founder of Brief Media, thank you so much for your time and that considerable expertise.

Martin Watters, Founder of Brief Media (24:47):
You're welcome. Thank you very much for having me.