Engaging storytelling is the crux of any marketing campaign. As a business, you don’t just sell products or services anymore. The customers want more than sales-ey pitches and promotional campaigns.
The customer wants stories. Stories that shape their ideas, share their opinions and ultimately drive action. And in the digital marketing space, there is no better way to tell a story than through effective videography.
Advertisers are forever looking for unique and effective ways to tell compelling stories that capture the crux of customer demand. Drones or unmanned aircraft vehicles are becoming increasingly popular in the marketing space for this very reason.
Drones can record a location from multiple angles and capture breathtaking aerial footage that is sure to make heads turn everywhere.
Before drones, ad creators turned to helicopters to capture aerial shots of a product/location. This was a costlier, noiser option. Not to mention that working with helicopters requires special permissions and a lot of space and fuel- something that small ad agencies may not be able to fund.
Enter drones, little flying machines that do exactly what a helicopter does (maybe better!) without burning a hole in your pocket.
Drones in modern marketing
One of the most obvious ways to incorporate a drone in your marketing campaign is to use it as a tool. By this, I mean using the drone camera to record a location from different perspectives.
Drones are far more accurate when it comes to collecting site data and conducting in-depth aerial surveys. This is useful not just for construction projects but also to create stunning ad campaigns for brands and company profile videos.
Here are 5 ways you can incorporate drone videography in your ad campaign to boost engagement.
1. Be unique
Most marketing campaigns tend to use stock photos and video footage that can be easily found on the internet. These stock photos are unoriginal, stagnant and boring. Moreover, the average customer knows that these are stock images and videos. This reduces the credibility and authenticity of the brand.
Earlier, marketing agencies did not have the budget to get helicopters for aerial shots. With drones, capturing aerial videos has become a lot more accessible and affordable.
Drone aerial videography allows for a new and unique way to highlight a location and gives you a chance to be creative and original with an ad campaign.
2. Put forth a dynamic brand image
Drones are the future of advertising. These flying machines will soon become an everyday reality not just for TV ads and billboards but also social media campaigns. Customers love a brand that moves with the times. The faster you adapt to this emerging technology the better off you will be.
Companies that fail to embrace drones will be stuck with ads that look generic. Drones help you put forth a dynamic brand image and get an edge over the existing competition.
3. Get a Bird’s-Eye View
There is something wonderful about getting a bird’s eye view of a location that puts things into perspective. Humans have always wanted to fly and we’re not equipped with wings to make that dream a reality.
UAVs come a close second, making the experience as realistic as possible. Be it capturing a city’s skyline from a high-rise building or getting a panoramic shot of a scenic location – drones can make it possible.
Drone videography helps marketers create immersive narratives that leave your audience completely awestruck.
A bird’s eye view also makes an ad narrative more personalised, almost as if the viewer was seeing things in real-time.
4. Quick Video Editing
Drone footage is easier to process and edit. Plus, with drone footage, you can effectively recreate 3D maps and models of a location.
Aerial footage provides a more holistic view of a neighborhood. All you have to do is export the drone data to a BIM platform or photogrammetry software. It is easier to edit a drone video and the possibilities become endless when you bring 3D data visualisation into the picture.
I would recommend you hire professionals to create your content. This improves the quality of the ad campaign and reduces the scope for errors.
With a team of professional drone experts, you also save a lot on production costs. In Australia, for instance, a drone operator can give you all the updates on the latest CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) regulations and other permissions you might need to shoot over a location.
5. Drones as a Platform
Drones can fly over almost every location under the sun (provided you have the special permits needed to shoot over the area). This makes them a dynamic advertising tool when compared to more traditional marketing tools.
Don’t limit your campaigns to just aerial pictures and videos. Instead make drones an active part of the campaign. Drones take a company’s core message and tells it to people directly and aggressively.
You can use drones to send samples to customers within the local neighborhood. Furthermore, you can use drones to deliver packages to customers – something that brands like Amazon are already using!
