[cs_content][cs_section parallax="false" separator_top_type="none" separator_top_height="50px" separator_top_angle_point="50" separator_bottom_type="none" separator_bottom_height="50px" separator_bottom_angle_point="50" style="margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;"][cs_row inner_container="true" marginless_columns="false" style="margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;"][cs_column fade="false" fade_animation="in" fade_animation_offset="45px" fade_duration="750" type="1/1" style="padding: 0px;"][x_image type="none" src="https://letsdevelop.tv/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/usevideoaudience.jpg" alt="" link="false" href="#" title="" target="" info="none" info_place="top" info_trigger="hover" info_content=""][cs_text]Using Video to Reach the New Orleans Audience
Reaching out to every potential customer in your area, making them love you, inspiring a response, and making them customers – it may seem like a daunting task! There are the obvious basic questions you should ask to reach your target audience with your marketing strategy: What’s your demographic? Where do they live? What motivates them? The answers to these questions help you to narrow the scope of content presented through your marketing efforts. But video marketing takes targeting the people of New Orleans to another level entirely. It allows you to target not just “women between the ages of 18 and 34” but specifically those women in your city. This isn’t just a regional ad campaign, it’s FEATURING the region in the ad campaign. And in a great place like southeast Louisiana, there is plenty to feature. The landscape, food, history, and people of this area are unique, and video allows you to inject that culture into your marketing.
The key to reaching New Orleans through your video marketing is to make your city one of the stars of the production. This could be through filming in a location that is unique to your neighborhood, using the classic New Orleans sound as background music, or highlighting the local nature of the food you serve. Featuring yourself as the community business around the corner automatically gains the interest of your potential clients. And here’s why it matters that you used video to gain that interest – 80% of people recall a video ad they watched 30 days later, and 48% of them take some action after viewing the ad (Digital Content Next). When given the option, most people would prefer to frequent and support local people and local establishments. This works in your favor! When you set yourself up as the best local option, viewers will have confidence in your business and quickly become customers. The goal here is to grow your New Orleans business, and video is simply the most effective tool to do so.
The Local Atmosphere
When members of the community are your patrons and employees, the culture of New Orleans is infused into your business. Koz’s restaurant has a long history in New Orleans, and you can feel it when you walk through the door. They are a neighborhood business full of neighborhood people, food, and culture. Their promotional video puts this on full display. Their opener uses street signs and the neutral ground to set the restaurant in their neighborhood. Viewers see their food – classic New Orleans dishes like red beans and poboys. Koz, the restaurant’s owner, is featured explaining why their restaurant is a “family place” – a characteristic in which they take pride. Their establishment is a reflection of Lakeview – laidback, historic, and full of families.
Your business may not be a restaurant that screams New Orleans, but the culture of your community is still a part of what makes your business unique. One of the things that only locals understand is how every neighborhood and surrounding city is so distinct from the others. Businesses uptown are different from the ones downtown, and atmosphere in the Marigny is different from Metairie. Things are always buzzing in the CBD, while the Northshore boasts a slower-pace of life. Why did you choose the location of your business? How does your business reflect the unique culture of your particular neighborhood as well as the greater New Orleans area? The answers to these questions will help you develop a plan for infusing your video with local culture.
Does your business cater more to locals, tourists passing through, or both? Do your employees call your regulars by their first name, or extend welcoming warmth to new patrons everyday? Perhaps what sets you apart is the way you give back to the community – how can you use video to to share your purpose and capture your atmosphere? Once you know what you’re trying to share through your promotional video, you can set the feel in subtle ways. It may just be capturing the simple interactions that take place in your business everyday! Or maybe you could plan to film a special event that represents what your business is all about. The beauty of video is that it can simultaneously capture both what makes you unique and how you are an invaluable part of the greater New Orleans area.
The Local Sights
A super simple way to make New Orleans the star of your video is to use shots of your local community in the production. In both of the examples above, you see background shots of the neighborhoods in the surrounding area. This is a great option if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar location, or you make the magic happen in a simple office setting. In the case of Hunt Telecom, they feature the locations they serve in their video. Shots of Covington City Hall and the Courthouse appear, along with a map of southeast Louisiana. As potential clients watch their video, they see familiar locations alongside images related to the telecommunications services Hunt provides. This helps them to visualize themselves received the same services that other members of their community receive from this local business. Hunt is offered as the local alternative to bigger name companies, who may not be as familiar with the unique needs of their business.
The informational video we produced for Metairie Church is a great example of using video to get the word out, even if it’s not a business you are promoting. As a new church in the area, they were seeking to tell their neighbors about their love for the community. They used shots of local business and apartment complexes so that viewers would know that they were located close by. If you wish to invite the people of your community to participate in your church, ministry, or charity, video grants the opportunity to frame your invitation in the backyard of your guests.
The Local Dialect
Rodney's Dynamic Success Story
Another way to include the local feel in your video is for it to sound like New Orleans. As mentioned in our previous blog entry, it builds your credibility when someone featured in your production looks and sounds like the demographic you’re trying to reach. In the client testimonial above, Rodney shares his story of recovery at Dynamic Physical Therapy in Covington, Louisiana, and he definitely sounds like a local. His local accent allows viewers to intuitively trust what he has to say. Beyond that, hearing someone who sounds like you grabs your attention! When your viewer picks up on the “yat” in the speaker’s voice, their ears perk up. In Rodney’s video, you can hear his accent when she says words like “house,” “involved,” “shoulder,” and “here.” You don’t have to tell viewers that he’s not a paid actor – they intuitively believe he is part of the greater New Orleans area. The viewer can identify with his story because they get a sense that he is “just like me!” The person on their screen shifts from being a random stock actor to the viewer’s neighbor, co-worker, friend, or family member.
Even if the speaker in your video does not speak with a noticeable accent, your script can be written to include local expressions. When they hear an invitation to “pass by” your place next time they are in “da parish,” you are speaking the language of your viewers. Everyone naturally gravitates toward things which are familiar. When a future client hears themselves in your video, they will be drawn in before they even know what response you want from them.
All three of these approaches to bring local culture into your video will help you target New Orleans and the surrounding area through your marketing! Put unique aspects of your neighborhood on display and share the New Orleans atmosphere in your establishment, or simply utilize shots of the surrounding area to invite your neighborhood in. When you can, feature people and dialogue that sound local in your video. There are so many wonderful things about southeast Louisiana, and your business or organization is one of them. The most effective way to spread the word about what you bring to your community is to grab attention and show them![/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][/cs_content]
