Our tips for creating great training videos for your business.
Plan Ahead
When setting out to create training videos, take time to make a game plan. Consider your main objectives and how much video content you may need to fulfill those objectives. Will you need a few longer videos, or several short videos? Know how the videos will relate to other training materials. For example, there may be a hands-on portion of your training program, or perhaps you are creating a customer service training video for the customer service team. Determine where the customer service videos will be viewed by your employees or customers: will it be part of an online training course, or will the video(s) be posted to your website or YouTube channel? When it comes to the information presented in training videos for employees or customers, decide what team members will need to be involved to gather info and write the scripts. The more of these questions you answer early on, the better.
Decide How You Want the Information Presented
Of course one of the biggest things to consider when you set out to make a training video is what the video will actually look and sound like. Do you envision an animated video that’s made up of motion graphics and a voiceover? Perhaps it’s presenter-driven, with a subject-matter expert delivering the information directly to the camera. There are many different possibilities...you can even mix and match! The overall approach may be influenced by your budget, the subject matter, your timeline, among other factors. Since the purpose of a training video is to instruct, make sure the concept you choose serves the information that needs to be conveyed. Flashier does not always mean better, when it comes to training videos.
Use Humor to Connect with Your Audience
When you consider how to make a training video, there is a lot to think about – primarily the information and how it’s delivered to your audience. But don’t forget to try to connect to your audience with tools like humor.
Even a straightforward training video can include lighter elements that make it easier for your audience to connect to the content – oftentimes that could be something light in the intro or outro of the video, or perhaps a tasteful running gag throughout the training series. No need to turn your training video into a comedy sketch show, of course...that would be taking it too far. But finding opportunities to engage and connect with your audience will draw them in and keep them interested in the content, and will hopefully lead to better retention of the important information that you’re hoping to convey.
Know How Your Videos will Relate to Other Training
Oftentimes, especially for employee training, your videos will be one element of a larger training program. When planning out the video portion of your training, take a broad view of the entire training platform and ask yourself what content would benefit most from a video treatment. Video is of course a visual format, so are there portions of your training that are more visual in nature? Showing a process, for example, or demonstrating a feature of a product. Try to avoid a great deal of redundancy or repetition...if there is information presented in a video, there is probably not a great need to repeat it elsewhere in the training program, unless it is to reinforce important topics or concepts. Your video content should support and bolster your overall training goals, meaning everything should work in harmony to create great results.
Check out our other post on Promo Videos, Post Production, and Explainer Videos.
