Company profile video

It is built from three things: a short piece to camera from someone in the company, footage of the real operation and a few lines of on screen text. It shoots in a day, usually at the client's site, and edits over two to three weeks including feedback. It should not run past ninety seconds, because people stop watching and it stops being usable on social.

Why companies want one: a salesperson sends a deck before a meeting that nobody opens. An engineering firm we worked with started sending a one minute video instead, and people arrived at meetings already knowing what the company makes. The conversation started half an hour further along. The cost is comparable to a single trade fair stand, but the video lasts two to three years.

What to prepare: one sentence saying what you do, with no technical vocabulary. Most of the preparation is that sentence, and it is usually the hardest part. Then pick who speaks, ideally someone who genuinely understands the work, and free up two hours of their time. And agree where filming is allowed, because most operations have a corner you would rather not show.

When it is not worth it: if you sell one thing to one customer, a profile video has nobody to talk to. And if the company is mid change, wait, or in six months you will have a video about something you no longer do. There is equally little point filming one before positioning is settled, or you get a handsome film with nothing to say.

We start every profile video by asking who you will send it to and at what moment. That answer sets the length and the tone, because the film for an email before a meeting is not the film for a screen at a trade fair. Try it today: say out loud in one sentence what your company does, and time how long it took.