Excellent content creation and curation is at the core of every brand’s successful strategy to reach more people. Whether you offer products, provide services or supply information, there is a need for content to attract large numbers of people and endear them to your brand. Many brands in the present day have discovered that video content works better on many platforms, providing users with an easy way to absorb information.

Before you start creating a new video, however, you’ll want to consider the following elements to get maximum value from each creation. Let’s talk about these considerations and guide you in the right direction.

Consider the Audience

Before you can make any highly effective video, you must first have an idea of who it is you’re targeting. Whether you’re selling a product, service or merely attempting to entertain, knowing who is the target of your creation will help shape the narrative, messaging and overall theme of any video. For instance, selling a product requires an innate understanding of the consumer psychology of the audience: without this info, how can you maximize your pitch? Pinging users with a video that is well-designed but lacking in targeting essentially generates no value whatsoever, so identify your audience first and foremost.

Consider Your Must-Haves

Every video has the ability to provide a unique message coupled with excellent content delivery. When crafting any new video project, it is vital to know which must-have elements need to be included. This can be anything from specific characters and scenes to unique phrases and calls to action that deliver results across other campaigns. Whatever elements deliver the most value and help the video resonate most effectively with an audience must be identified and featured at one or more points throughout the video.

Consider Your Timeframe

In planning out any video project, you need to be realistic about the time constraints behind its creation. Ultimately, the more time you have to plan and create, the more detailed your video can be. If you’re running up against tight deadlines, however, then keeping a video simple and to the point will likely be necessary. For brands that consistently create content, planning ahead can help minimize some of these time constraints and lead to better videos with higher production value.

Consider Your Goals

What exactly should the video accomplish for your or your brand? Without clear goals laid out from the get-go, determining whether or not the video has lived up to expectations can be tough. Are you wanting to make sure it gets shared far and wide, accumulate tons of views or direct traffic to your website? Whatever message and content you’re pinging users with will be useless if it does not result in actual goals being accomplished; create a game plan before the actual production begins and make sure that you follow through from beginning to end for maximum results.

Video production is hectic and stressful, but what goes into the process before creation even begins is arguably more important. By establishing time-frames, goals, must-have elements and audiences, you’ll be better equipped to deliver the kind of video content that truly excels.