You are a busy person and you have a heck of a lot to do. If you’ve somehow got to get your video content made on top of all the other communication, marketing or brand work that you have to finish, the first thing you should do today is to get it out of your head and write down a release date for your video.
The video release date is the finish line
Writing down a release date for this video will help you to work backwards from this date and give yourself that little bit of time to properly take the steps you’ll need to go through before you can publish your video…and there are a few of these. Unless you’ve been making videos for a while, they can appear unexpectedly and throw you out of your slipstream.
The steps that are affected by this one date
This release date will help you to fix dates:
- for scriptwriting
- for getting sign off from your manager on said script
- with talent based on their availability (which often changes, so you have to get in early. It’s harder for them to change things on you if it’s in their calendar)
- with your video production company of choice (if they have notice, they can add a lot of value to your project and help you with things like scriptwriting and scheduling)
- for the edit and revisions
- for posting the video!
Plus, other communications content might come from your video shoot (like stills for your campaign) or your video shoot might be influenced by other content (like the written report the shoot is based on) so having a date set for your video release will give you a clear timeline and the confidence to pivot when other comms are connected to it. You’ll know what else needs to change straight away. Otherwise, you might find yourself running around like a stressed out puppy…and out of time.
So, give yourself room to breathe.
Something I’ve learned over the years is to give yourself room to breathe from the get go, pad your schedule by 25%. It’s tough to do but this little step can give you a lot of focus when the pace kicks in.
If you need any help, let me know.
Ajit Singh is the Executive Producer at Sydney based video production company Rocket Productions. Get more useful tips here.