Where do brand films fall short?
Brand films are the bread and butter. We do these constantly, love the artistic drive, and will look for every possible opportunity to start here, BUT they don't serve every need.
They are higher in cost and time. They drive a strong emotional response, but it's just ONE film.
Quality v. Quantity?
Volume has a place in storytelling, but the key is making sure story is Infused with every piece of content. This is where Microfilms crush every other film type.
Rather than every piece of content being a brand new process, it should feel more like a consistent system that works to educate, build trust, humanize, and nurture a relationship with the viewer. This is what microfilms do best.
So, what is a Microfilm?
In short, they are typically 45-120 sec films touching on thought leadership and/or FAQs for your brand. It's funny because we started by making these for ourselves to answer questions, express our thoughts, and share insights we've gained over the years. Over time, our clients started asking us to produce these for them. They have added so much value to our team and clients and are a film type we firmly stand behind.
Here's what's crazy.
Most video producers are so focused on "quality"; however, the quality is usually misplaced. The energy and focus are often towards image quality and things surrounding that, but for us, the quality in Microfilms is all about objectives. How can we humanize a brand? Educate potential customers? Create systems that support company goals? Build trust long-term?
Let's talk format for a second.
Which is better for my brand? FAQ vs Thought Leadership. Neither is better, but they have different functions and takeaways for the viewer and your team's needs.
Let's start with FAQs, as they are pretty straightforward. Every brand has common questions, and most have a FAQ section on their site, but a video-version is ideal. Why?
To Sell is to Help.
FAQs are about more than just the information. The reality is the best salespeople are education-focused with their clients. In that education process, it's not singularly about gifting your potential customer the information, but the style points you deliver it in. This is humanizing the brand. People buy from people they trust, so taking your FAQs and going beyond the answer adds the human element. Asking who can answer these questions the most on brand and how that will encourage someone to take the next step. That is the power of FAQs video style.
It builds trust before you've ever truly met. Think about it like forming a friendship. How can you do that before that first face-to-face?
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To lead, you have to Inspire.
Now, digging into Thought Leadership. These aren't instantly actionable, but they are great for creating influence, sharing expertise, and showing you are invested in your audience. Most brands have a mission, passion, and culture but only place these aspiration messages on the walls of their building. Brands need to live the message, so let's speak it into existence.
Giving these messages and ideas more breath and a personal touch creates as much momentum as it does accountability. This is not the time for a strong CTA. It's about rallying people around an idea and adding value to their lives. People don't want to be sold but love to buy; they want inspiration and education. Infuse that with your personality, and you have a winning strategy.
That's what these films do extremely well. Brands have lurkers. People who aren't ready to buy but are hanging around. Blasting the same Brand film may work, but you aren't diversifying the digital diet.
Let's keep the conversation going.
Brands need to give multiple points of entry. A brand film, client story, FAQ, Employee highlight, and stories of impact all go a long way to building more trust for the lurkers. Most brands can look at their best customers and reverse engineer how they built the relationship. Video should work the same way. You have the path already. You probably educated better, listened to concerns, presented solutions, and added value.
So, when we think about the subjects of a Microfilm, these things should be discussed. Create the experience and relationship you want, film after film.
Not quite sold on it yet?
Let's talk cost per film and usage. The average brand film with us can range from $7k-$50k depending on resources, style, and time involved. On the other hand, micro-films are short and inexpensive, and you can batch-produce a ton quickly. For some of our best campaigns, we've got the cost per film down to $300-$800/film.
Often, brands have a bunch of simple info on their site that customers need to read to learn. It's the age of video. Make it easy for one, but also realize if the right person is sharing the message, you're giving potential customers a chance to meet you before they actually meet you. Give them the upper hand.
Taking your team through the process, developing ideas for subjects and exploring talking points will help you grow the relationship and make the most of your time with our team.
Okay, so how about usage?
How do you use these things? Most people have a good sense of usage, but we've seen these used on blogs to enhance the reader's experience, email marketing to add value, social media, and resource links on the website. Where do you need to grow a relationship with your customers? That's where you can use these. Think in a system function, and these start making more and more sense.
The biggest success factor is the structure of how you answer your questions. We like to pry into what breaks your heart, what pisses you off, and what's your purpose. These are great starting points for generating compelling questions and telling a story around the questions. The beginning matters most, the Hook.
Great idea, but how do we really do this?
Start with value, something sticky that people want to hear, then break it down with a personal story and close with a sentiment you're in this together. This lands aspirational connects and excites your audience to stick around with your content.
It's brand positioning, identity, and volume. In the day and age of social media, these work well for creating a message that influences and encourages a customer to take the next steps. So how can you communicate you know them, hear them, and are here to serve their needs? These films let you do that and with consistency at scale.
Imagine sitting down for 2-4 hours and walking away with a year's worth of content that you can add to a social calendar, insert into blogging or newsletters, and provide value for under $10k. How will this save time, add value, increase revenue, inject more creativity into marketing, and inspire your team? Theres a lot of byproducts from this approach.
Giving this gift to our clients has been so fulfilling. But it's also been an excellent way to lay a foundation with new clients or recharge marketing with existing ones. Our roots are in storytelling, and that can happen in several ways. Micro-films are another way to support our partners, serve their needs and learn.
Want go Deeper?
If you found this read interesting and want to dive deeper into storytelling resources, we highly recommend Hookpoint by Brendan J. Kane, Building a Story Brand by Donal Miller, and You are the Brand by Mike Kim. These resources have helped us stay sharp, innovate, and become better partners.
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