More video please!

Being the father of a little girl I love US charity The Girl Effect, and as a marketer I love the brilliant use of compelling video in their fundraising. Check them out if you haven’t already, its lovely stuff. I came across them recently via their entry on SOFII – worth a read.

(I agreed)

But this is rare, particularly in UK charities. Solaraid is one notable example. I think this needs to change, and quickly. Today, film and video production is cheaper than ever. We’re consuming, interacting with and sharing stories and ideas with video now at an incredible rate – just check out the numbers published by Youtube alone. We expect video. And if done well, the moving image has more power to emotionally engage people than any other medium, it’s the closest we can get to personal experience.

Charities have the best stories to tell. So tell them! Here’s a simple way to start to start the revolution.

1. Allocate a few hours pull staff together and review your video fundraising capabilities. What are your stories, where are the opportunities, what are the barriers, what video assets do you currently have, what are the gaps?
2. Put together a small number of short videos that tell the story of your cause, or current campaigns, and contain a clear and compelling ask. Animation or live action, new film or edit of stock footage – whatever works best for the story you want to tell. If you’re pleased with them you’ll find lots of uses; online, at events, for corporates, internally etc. You might have the skills in house, but if you don’t there are plenty of agencies and independents to help you make films, including a new partnership I co-founded called Story Partners. Remember though – this needn’t cost you the earth but you do need genuinely compelling films.
3. If you can, put your video front and centre on your home page, or failing that your donate/ how you can help pages, with options to share, like, tweet etc. But push for home page if that where the bulk of your volume is. Have a look at charity:water for another great example.
4. Over a few weeks, test your fundraising videos. For example, which drive the best click-through to donate rates? Which drive best value? Which are shared or liked most?
5. Now you should have a case for further investigation or investment in video as part of your fundraising mix.

I’ll be watching! In the meantime, please do share examples of your own or that you’ve come across. I’ll be picking up this theme again.