Audiences appreciate novelty, uniqueness, surprise, and explorations of the unknown. We deliver "Cinematic Truth"—an enhanced reality, where videos and photos pop, with genuine beauty and brilliance. With every video and photo session, we record a story straight, with excellent camera work, and then we make it great, with advanced editing.

At Arise, we practice various approaches to our camera work. The method we employ most often for weddings and other documentary events is an approach we call “recording in the flow.” This is the method we see commonly in popular YouTube videos, which are often created on-the-fly, often by amateurs, often having massive appeal because they are raw, real, and relatable. When we create documentary videos and candid photo sessions, we always have an intention: i.e. uplift, inspire, train, and entertain. Whatever the intention, we will be sure to capture it on camera during the camera session. When we hold space for our clients to “be a star,” we prompt the person on camera to show us “What lights you up.”

YouTube is the most popular platform for online videos, and Vimeo is a fine alternative, while some businesses choose to self-host their videos. The advantage of self-hosting is that it allows the owner to control the viewing experience. If you’re seeing full control over the right message at the right time for the right audience, this might be the right option for you. However, self-hosting usually requires heavy website bandwidth, potentially ruining the viewer’s experience with longer page load times and less reliable playback. Most of us will prefer a professional video hosting service, like YouTube or Vimeo. YouTube gives us the greatest likelihood of being found through search engines. I always recommend YouTube for this reason, although I do prefer Vimeo’s added flexibility in the way we display our videos. YouTube is owned by Google, offering us the benefits of search engine optimization, along with its built-in audience of billions of viewers. YouTube also offers interactive elements, helping us to establish genuine connections through gentle invitations.

YouTube is by far the best video publishing platform for visibility, with its billions of viewers and integration with the Google search engine. YouTube provides a fantastic solution for video captioning, adding valuable keywords which may help videos to be discoverable. These are the first steps for maximizing video reach. Secondarily, there are infinite possibilities when it comes to video promotion. A natural next-step after publishing is to speak with a video marketing consultant who can help you make informed decisions in this area. Contact Us, if you’d like to speak with a professional.

As a whole, the field of video marketing includes: explainer videos, product demos, how-to tutorials, customer testimonials, brand stories, behind-the-scenes, event coverage, and commercials. Most of these are documentaries. Documentary videos are among the most cost-effective and beneficial types of videos to create. That’s because the real ROI comes from the value our videos bring into this world. Documentary-style promo videos generate a high ROI compared to other marketing videos due to their authenticity, emotional connection, and depth. Featuring real stories and genuine experiences, these videos build trust and credibility, fostering stronger connections with viewers. Their unique storytelling approach captures attention and retains it, leading to higher engagement and shareability across multiple platforms. The high production quality and detailed insights they offer enhance the perceived value of the brand, positioning it as an authority in its field. By evoking strong emotions and providing educational content, documentary-style videos effectively drive conversions and customer loyalty, offering long-term value and versatility that ensure a significant return on investment.

A “brand video” is a video designed to extend a brand campaign. The narrative commercials we see in the Super Bowl are good examples of this. They hold entertainment value, delivering an imagined story in 30 seconds. Sometimes 60. Behind the scenes, in the agencies where these high-dollar commercials are made, the video production team includes campaign managers, writers, art directors, creative directors, camera operators, executives, and all the other people who support these people. That amounts to a big budget, invested in a story, designed purely to entertain. Most businesses don’t have the luxury of spending all that money purely to entertain their audience. Instead, most of us are trying to gain something of value: new leads, new customers, and new sales. That’s what a “value video” is designed to do.

Besides written content, photography is the primary form of media that is shared online. Photographs are essential to any marketing project, including videos. For this reason, we include photographs with every video project. These photos serve as thumbnails for our video projects, and they’re useful in other areas of the digital marketing mix. We aim to reserve space for photography within all of our camera sessions.

Yes, video marketing is a great year-end tax write-off. Marketing and advertising investments are 100% tax deductible. Every dollar invested in marketing can be effectively written off.