Behind every promotional video is a thoughtful production process involving four key stages:
- Ideation and strategy – Define your goals, audience, and message.
- Pre-production – Organize logistics and a creative plan.
- Production – Film interviews and other original content.
- Post-production – Editing for the right channel.
Ideation and Strategy
Many organizations jump right into what their video looks like, and not what their video should accomplish. By starting with ideation and strategy, you’ll have a clear roadmap that establishes your message, creative direction, and purpose before production begins.
As you build your strategy, consider:
Understand your target audience
Define deep audience insight, including viewers’ interests, motivations, and goals
Determine what action viewers should take
Whether you’re encouraging viewers to visit a website, register for an event, request a demo, or learn more about your organization, define a clear purpose.
Your goals and audience should reveal the best creative approach. Ask yourself:
- “Where will the video be shared?” (on a website, social media platforms, a digital campaign, an event?)
- “What format tells the story best?” (documentary style, explainer, testimonial, narrative?)
- “What tone best supports your message?” (energetic and inspiring, personal and reflective?)
The right format depends on what you want viewers to understand, remember, and do after watching.
Pre-production
Pre-production involves planning the details needed to turn your strategy into successful production. This often includes:
- Identifying the right talent (real life subjects, actors, voiceover narration)
- Developing scripts and creative outlines
- Coordinating interviews
- Securing locations
- Drafting storyboards and shot lists
Before moving into production, consider:
- How much new content needs to be filmed and how much already exists (and can be repurposed and licensed)? Are you working with existing footage, or will new footage need to be captured?
- Will different versions need to be filmed or created for different platforms?
Production
Production is the process of capturing new material for the final video.
Whether we are directing actors or interviewing real life subjects, our best shoots allow us to quickly capture all necessary content but also make room for unscheduled and impromptu scenes that better capture authentic moments. This gives editors more flexibility to create the best story in post-production.
See how the production process came together in this promotional video for IBM X-Force Cyber Range using acting talent and carefully staged scenes.
Post-production
During this process, producers will:
- Review new content, including raw interviews.
- Identify the strongest takes and soundbites.
- Begin assembling a narrative that aligns with the project’s goals and messages.
Music, pacing, graphics, and animation all play a role in shaping how the audience experiences the story. In post-production, our team creates a different version of every promotional video to best adapt the message and call to action to distinct channels, including pre-roll ads on YouTube, Instagram reels, TikTok, and more.
In our latest PSA for RAINN, “Strength to Care,” we created over a dozen different versions of the video to widely used across different social media and paid advertising channels.
Ready to Get Started?
From strategy and planning to production and post-production, every stage plays a role in creating a successful promotional video.
Whether you’re developing a new idea or ready to start production, LAI Video partners with clients throughout the process to help support our client’s larger purpose and bring your story to life.
