Whatever your brand’s experience with video marketing has been thus far, as of 2020, you shouldn’t be treating it as a mere optional extra or ‘nice to have’. Instead, it should be playing a central role in how your organisation communicates on the web – which should also mean being unafraid to innovate where appropriate.

But what’s ‘old hat’ in the world of video production, and what’s starting to play a fundamental role in our understanding of what video marketing can be in the 2020s? Well, here are just a few of the trends that we have observed ourselves here at TMC, and that we expect to continue in 2020.

Videos getting longer rather than shorter

It’s one of the most predictable pieces of advice you are likely to have received from experts in video production in Edinburgh: don’t make your videos so long that the viewer becomes bored and distracted, to the point of clicking away before they’ve even reached the end.

This emphasis on video shortness above all else might not be one of the defining trends of 2020, however. In fact, we’ve seen a trend lately in the direction of longer-format videos, which enable marketers and brands to tell more of an in-depth story and delve beyond the snappy and superficial content often associated with mere advertising.

A movement towards educational content

Continuing from the above point, a lot of us are so accustomed to the idea that videos are supposed to be short, snappy and relatively light, that we can sometimes forget just how good they can be for imparting more specialised and slightly denser information.

After all, when you’re seeking details online about a given product or service that could make your life so much easier, do you want to spend your time sifting through impenetrably long articles, ebooks or manuals? Or would you prefer a video that could explain all of the essentials to you in a really memorable way, in the space of a few minutes?

It’s no surprise to us, then, that educational video content like frequently asked questions (FAQs), interviews, testimonials, behind-the-scenes clips and explainer videos has become increasingly talked-about among video marketing professionals and clients alike.

Optimising for soundless playback becoming the norm

How often have you found yourself playing an online video on ‘mute’, simply because you don’t wish to disturb people nearby in public places, or even let co-workers know what you’re listening to if you’re in the office? And have those videos always made complete sense to watch without audio?

The chances are that you have ended up watching videos on silent more than a few times in the past – and there’s a similarly strong likelihood that prospective customers or clients of your brand will have done the same.

So, whether you partner with top video marketing companies in Edinburgh like the TMC team in 2020, or instead continue producing videos entirely in-house, you might want to spend a bit more time this year considering how to optimise your videos to work well even when watched without sound – such as the use of captions. And of course, it’s a step that will help to bolster the all-round accessibility of your videos, too.

You don’t necessarily need to be a seasoned videographer to realise that the art of video production is evolving as we head into the 2020s – and that this could offer up certain opportunities for your brand to eke out an invaluable competitive advantage.

So, don’t hesitate to talk to our own professionals in video production in Edinburgh here at TMC, about how we could aid you in extracting the maximum potential from your marketing this New Year.