The Increasing Importance of Video Content in PR

The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is probably one of the most famous expressions ever coined when it comes to storytelling and communication. Unsurprisingly, the image was first conjured by a newspaper editor when he was discussing journalism and publicity and it remains a cornerstone of editorial principles, often alongside its copy-based cousin “show, don’t tell.”

Communications professionals have known about the power of images for decades, and it is true to say that a great picture can play an important role in securing much sought after editorial space. Clearly though, the media is changing, and as news moves from tabloids to tablets, it has created an opportunity for moving pictures, that is, video content to be used on a regular basis in press activity.

To come back to the original notion, if a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words would a video be valued at? Well, the online videos we are now developing at MK are generally shot at 24 frames per second and run for about 120 seconds. To actually do the maths here would leave you with a cumbersomely large number in truth, but the point is clear: video is an incredibly powerful and efficient tool for storytelling and storytelling is at the heart of good PR.

Thanks to a number of technological advances, a few savvy PR professionals can now film and produce quality video content on behalf of clients to deliver as part of a multimedia press package that includes a press release, photographs and of course the audio and visual content.

And it is often the audio and visual content that is now considered the most important component, with content increasingly being shared via social media platforms and regularly embedded into blogs and websites.

The newspaper industry has long been searching for a business model to replace the advertising-based one that can’t be cut from printed papers and pasted onto the web. For many media titles the best answer so far has been to use paywalls – and for paywalls to work there needs to be enough value to the content to entice readers to part with their money. Video content is an important part of the added value that journalists need to create and clearly there is a fantastic opportunity for PR and communications professionals to deliver this type of content.

In the ever changing world of PR, professionals now needed to be multi-faceted when it comes to print, broadcast and online production. And at MK we have trained our team in how to produce industry standard content so that our clients’ stories can increasingly be told in the crystal clarity of high definition video.