If you’re a contractor, or you work for a construction company, then this is for you. If you aren’t – then I’ll see you on the next one.
While a lot of this will apply to any niche or industry, I’m sure the constructioney terms may bore you. Onward.
I want you to pretend that you’re a tv show for a moment – and think about exactly what happens on say, an HGTV episode. There’s a lot of talking, a lot of doing, some slow motion transitional shots sometimes, and some time-lapses as well.
Usually we’ll see nice, sweeping drone shots, and we’ll see major transformations in about 20 – 30 minutes.
In essence, this is just a long form process video – and you need to include them as part of your marketing strategy.
A few years back, I made the first of a few of these – and it did the client so well, that he only calls me once or twice per year to have a new one done. They’re that effective!
The company is called Ravenshead Homes, and he had us out to document the entire process of quite an extensive and high stress build.
We were right along the water in Niagara-On-The-Lake, and the home was owned by some doctors. They needed to go up a level – their home had become too small.
So the goal for the project was to remove the entire roof in the middle of the home, rebuild a flooring system, throw up the walls and get the roof structure put back on – all over the course of 2 days.
It was a tall order, and quite something to marvel at.
I arrive as the sun is coming up and get everything set and ready to go. We used the drone as well as 2 camera angles for the documentation of the entire process.
In essence, I was able to cover every single aspect of the project. Since I was in the industry for a number of years before my filmmaking endeavour, I was able to stay ahead of what was going to happen next – effectively allowing my cameras to be in exactly the right places at the right times.
Throughout the two days, I interviewed James, the owner of the company. The initial interview covered everything that was going to happen, timeline expectations and the rough plan for the project.
We conducted these interviews 3 more times during the entire process. I grabbed his attention for a few minutes while they were installing the new floor system at the back of the home, then once at the beginning of the second day and once at the end of the project.
Including these interviews in the final cut of the film really helped to break up the flow of the process, as well as to provide some explanations regarding the specific events the viewer was watching unfold.
In the final video, we see the entire process. It’s all documented. All the way from the crane arriving, to the existing roof structure being removed in chunks. Then we see the crew rebuilding the new floor system, and finally craning in the new roof sections.
The film itself was satisfying to put together, and even more satisfying to watch. Along with managing to collect something like 10k views online, this video served a much more important purpose.
James found himself sharing the film with a number of potential clients, and was able to sign quite a few new contracts.
The homeowners could see first-hand what the Ravenshead process looks like – from start to finish. It’s a brilliant piece of marketing, and it was likely one of the best investments I’ve seen a small business owner make.
About a year later, when the entire project was complete – I went back to the house with James. We did another interview and then we did a walkthrough of the home, using the original video clips as the “before” sections of the new film.
This kind of process video is something that can be used for a number of years – and it can really set the tone for the types of projects you’d like to be working on. The terms “watch and learn” or “actions speak louder than words” couldn’t be more true.
This is your best bet at winning over that potential client.
If you’re a construction company in Barrie, Orillia, Muskoka, Toronto or any of the surrounding areas, we want to work with you. Creating marketing strategies like these ones can really help to attract your dream projects – and we love making them. Reach out today.
To Your Success,
Jay Ashcroft
four32 MEDIA