Video marketing has been an increasing trend across all industries for some time now. Construction managers (CMs) are leaning heavily on this tool, seeking to ease the process of construction for clients. Providing continuous videography can contribute to this goal by enhancing the client’s overall experience, supporting their marketing efforts by showcasing project progress, and learning that video marketing can be easy and beneficial to any client.
Enhancing the Client Experience
Construction projects are major investments of time and money, and clients want to work with a trustworthy CM that consistently demonstrates that through words and actions. Video marketing can be one tool that provides clients with transparency and demonstrates expertise. It enhances the client experience by providing owners with real-time progress and allows full transparency into the process.
Live Stream Cameras
TrueLook Construction Cameras provide a live camera feed that anyone with access to the link can view at any time. Clients in particular love being able to check in on daily progress. Streaming video devices provide more than just a way to check in on project progress. If the client requests data from a specific day, the CM can easily comb through footage and still images to provide what is needed. Weather conditions, team performance, and status of material delivery are other requests that can be answered with a quick turnaround. Additionally, live cameras enhance the security of a site and protect clients’ overall investment in the project by deterring theft and vandalism.
Currently, Old Dominion University has a TrueLook camera streaming at the Health and Sciences Building in Norfolk, Virginia.
Check out the cameras in action and see what is going on at the job site today!
TrueLook live stream camera at ODU Health Sciences Building
Aerial Imaging
Drone technology is used for many reasons on the job site. For client purposes, two trending reasons drones are used are to create time-lapse videos and to prove existing conditions on neighboring buildings. From the start of groundbreaking through project completion drones are flown and take short video clips around the job site. Every few weeks the drone is flown again on the same flight path. It continues this pattern until the project is complete. Once edited together, a video is produced showing months to years of construction progress into a 30-60 second video. Time-lapse videos benefit the client by showing the journey of how the job site was regenerated into something new. Clients are able to use the footage as marketing collateral, sharing with potential donors and the community about how the structure was built.
Timelapse video of Apex Plaza in Charlottesville, VA.
Shadowing
One of the biggest benefits of video marketing is the ability to showcase project progress in a visually engaging way. Construction projects are often complex; explaining the current work on site through conversation alone can be challenging. Scheduling a site tour by shadowing the CM is a great way to capture content. The site’s Superintendents and Project Managers enjoy taking clients on job site tours to show key features and design elements. It is encouraged to take video clips while shadowing to document each detail. Having a visual, like a video, creates clear communication and can help current clients, as well as potential clients in the early design process, understand the scope of the work and envision what completion might look like.
The below video is an example of a marketing opportunity for an institutional client – this type of video can be leveraged by the client and CM to rouse excitement about this new and innovative facility.
UVA Contemplative Commons Site Tour with Superintendent, Paul Hahn.
The Power of Videography
Capturing site activity, milestones, and monthly progress on video enhances a client’s engagement with the community surrounding the project. Partnering with the CM for weekly photos and short video clips of the job site showcase project progress and updates. The client and CM often use these visuals to share on the company website and social media platforms to engage with the community and provide them with visual updates. Depending on the nature of the project, these updates can help the client generate community excitement and buy-in, engage potential donors, entice future tenants, or attract students and faculty.
From groundbreaking to ribbon cutting, videos provide a visual lens to tell a story, showcase progress, check in on the site, and most importantly share an exciting project with the community and stakeholders.
