“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Isn’t a Strategy - It’s Lazy
Don’t Overwhelm Your Brand Story
If you haven’t seen the hit movie “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once”, it’s an at-times absurd but overall touching story that lies somewhere at the intersection of drama, comedy, and action. The main character, Evelyn, connects with lives she could have led on a dizzying journey to save her daughter (and maybe the world!).
But sifting through all her possible lives leaves Evelyn frazzled and in danger. She’s fragmented, and can’t seem to hone in on one thing. Much like the movie, trying to accomplish everything, everywhere, all at once isn’t the solution to communicating your brand’s story. More often than not, it leaves you maxed out and can sometimes stray away from the main point of your message.
We’ve certainly learned a few lessons over the years when it comes to helping clients get the most out of their content—without trying to do it all at once. Here are some common misconceptions about the process and ways to stay true to your roadmap.
Common Misconceptions About Good Storytelling
Misconception 1 - It’s More Effective To Have One Video That Does It All
You probably have a lot of different areas where you’d like to grow your business. Whether it’s recruiting and sales, bolstering brand-building content, or getting videos for ads, each has a specific purpose.
In our experience, creating one video to solve all of your different goals just won’t accomplish everything. At best, it might get 60-70% of the work done. But we want to help companies we work with reach 100% of their video content goals. That’s why we tell all of our clients that there can’t be just “One Video to Rule Them All”.
Many people think having this “catch-all” video optimizes their strategy, but really, it does the opposite. Effective targeting is the name of the game, and targeted video content for specific purposes (for example, different types of videos for social, paid ads, or different segments of your business) will help take things to the next level.
At the end of the day, trying to accomplish too much at once won’t get you as far. It’s a lazy strategy that might seem more efficient but it’s just less effective.
Misconception 2 - It Takes Too Much Time and Energy
Sometimes it seems overwhelming to develop several videos that will solve different issues than creating one big video that (theoretically) will solve all of your problems. And we get it! Sometimes clients overestimate the amount of time and energy it would take to create the briefs and content necessary for multiple projects.
Most of the time, we find that once you’ve hit the road, it’s easier to finish the entire journey instead of getting off at the first rest stop. But when crafted with purpose, those few extra videos serve as a targeted solution to your company’s problems—getting you where you want to go.
We’d say that’s worth the effort.
Misconception 3 - Creating Different Types of Content Is Too Expensive
Clients often ask how we can maximize the budget or make one overall video that will benefit several aspects of their brand. And we get it—budgets can be tight. But if someone could guarantee the success of your project, how much would you pay for it?
For instance, if we could guarantee an uptick in web traffic by 500%, or that every employee would fully understand what you do and how to interact with the services you provide, what is that worth to you? The answer is usually exponentially higher than what you think they have for a budget. While we can’t guarantee the perfect outcome 100% of the time, one video certainly can’t solve all your problems. That’s why we believe in strategy coupled with targeted solutions. Sales, recruiting, brand recognition, and brand loyalty for example all need very different types of content or video to be successful.
There are even scenarios where several intentional videos are more cost-effective than one “catch-all”. This came alive for our client, RDN. We broke their video needs down into four separate deliverables, each targeting a specific demographic. Each video captured the heart of the company while keeping the specific audience in mind. This helped them keep website traffic moving and helped showcase their day-to-day operations.
At the end of the day, approaching video creation from the perspective of how much money can be saved handcuffs the video production team creatively, and the client because they have to create a video that does everything, all at once. But more often than not, this approach leaves clients wondering why the needle hasn’t moved for their business.
Bridging the Gap Between Misconception and Reality
We know that a good content strategy creates targeted solutions for targeted problems, and making videos as purpose-specific as possible goes a long way.
At the end of the day, each use case for video content requires a different type of video to optimize the results. For example, a culture content video on your website will look very different from direct response video ads on Instagram that are focused on driving instant sales. All this means is that you need different types of videos to accomplish different goals.
Creating a good video marketing strategy doesn’t have to be hard. We want to help you create specific, targeted content to solve specific problems. This way, it’s much easier to measure its success. Targeted content always maps back to specific goals, so at the end of the project, you can measure your success through tangible outcomes.
At Minivan, we aren’t creating videos just to put more information out into the world, and just because you have the budget to create content for the sake of content doesn’t mean you should. Content isn’t valuable in and of itself—without a strategy, it ends up being a drain on your budget without results to back up the cost.
Ultimately, content only truly benefits you when it’s matched with a great strategy. That’s why we’re so passionate about making sure we get things right the first time. Instead of trying to accomplish everything, everywhere, all at once, take the road less traveled and hone in on your focus.
Ready to hit the road and start creating amazing video content? Book a mapping meeting with Minivan today!
