Our crusade to democratise the process of making video started in an Italian restaurant in Bali when I received a phone call from a client. I was on leave, but after years of being an account manager, I understood that there were clients who preferred to touch base with me directly.

Still, I had thoughts about automating my duties, rendering the marketing process one that was far more convenient for both the client and my team. 

At that time, my team had also suffered a rejection with regards to a potential mascot design for some videos we were creating for a client. After a year of ideation and planning, we were crushed that our ideas were not followed through.

On that same Bali trip at a beachside bar, I began having ideas to create a fuss-free, automated process for businesses to design their own mascot. That would save time, effort, and potential creative heartbreaks too.

Not long later, we had a company retreat where I brought up this idea to my colleagues, including Tio, my co-founder, who thought, “Why not?” The team got excited about this idea and started plotting how we could make this automation a reality.

At first, we were all caught in the idea of creating a digital process for mascot design. However, the team and I soon realised that the extension of one mascot to many potential businesses was not at all feasible, and we had to broaden what we could offer to the market.

Recognising the gaps in the market

As creative marketers with years of experience in the industry, an issue that Tio and I often came across was the lack of accessibility for many SMEs in Singapore when it comes to video marketing. Not all businesses have the resources needed to make professional-grade videos.

Big corporations can simply hire a team to film and put together a video for their campaigns, yet this might not work for growing businesses with tighter financial and creative resources, and time limitations.

Also Read: iVS rakes in US$3.2M led by Tin Men Capital to expand its video ad platform beyond SEA

Many times, the conventional brief-centred approach to engage a video production team can be painfully inefficient. Arduous creative tugs-of-war between the business owners and the designers, hidden costs, and delayed deadlines often end with broken spirits on both sides.

At the end of the partnership, the results might not even reflect what the SME owners have paid for. This is also why some businesses prefer working with in-house teams to create their video assets.

Through many of our partnerships with clients of all fields, we have also realised that videos have been an essential medium for businesses of all sizes to build brand awareness and foster relationships with their online audiences.

Even the data from studies like Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing (2021) has shown that 93 per cent of marketers have shared that videos have become an essential component of their marketing strategy. 

With the multiple lockdowns and social restrictions over the last year, the video landscape across social media platforms has been growing even more dynamically, as algorithms change and dictate the way viewers engage with videos.

Here, targeted allocation of ad dollars needs to be spent carefully to ensure that the content reaches the right audience. Simply put, it is no longer wise to rely solely on organic traffic. 

This is where SMEs and growing businesses might be left between the gaps. Big, affluent brands have the resources to splurge on both the video making and advertising fronts. Yet, many small and new businesses with tighter marketing budgets we have come across don’t have that luxury.

Broadening what we could offer beyond mascot design, it was clear to us then that we could create a platform where videos could be easily created by growing businesses without any fuss or worries about budget. 

Creating a video-making platform does not necessarily make us special, and we knew that. In fact, there are many video template providers in the market, allowing businesses to create their own videos. However, many of them provide generic templates that don’t impress in illustrations and transitions.

Others that might offer beautiful designs are instead complex in their use. While they provide a myriad of choices and customisation controls that work great for seasoned video editors, users such as new business owners and solopreneurs with no design background might be overwhelmed. They might be looking for a quick and easy solution to create a nice and professional video for their business.

Also Read: Video content: Next wave in marketing businesses; Brightcove shows how

Months of research and development have made it even clearer for our team that we wanted to create a platform that bridged all three gaps– price, design, and ease of use. We wanted to bring to users professional, beautiful designs through an easy-to-use method, which are also affordable. This will help businesses dedicate more of the marketing budget to paid advertising while also placing them in a better position to compete with the bigger players on social media.

With this, Tio and I decided to set our hearts on creating this very platform that democratises the entire process of video creation for small and growing businesses. Hence, Oneshot was born.

It’s all about making video marketing accessible

We have streamlined the process for Oneshot users with minimal editing or design knowledge so they can personalise our templates quickly. This means getting rid of bloated stock media libraries and scene-by-scene editing and keeping everything to a point-and-click interface.

This efficient method is one way we empower businesses to create pro-grade videos quickly. In fact, we could be considered the world’s simplest video maker.

Moreover, every Oneshot template is essentially a video that is already 90 per cent complete, with most of the work done by professional designers and animators on the team, including Tio, who has accumulated seven years of experience on top of his training in design.

All that’s left for users to do is to personalise the video to their brand with our online editor in three simple steps: replace the placeholder images and copy with their own, pick their background music from a curated list, and render the video. With this simplicity, a tutorial might not even be needed. 

On top of this, all of the videos can be rendered at a very affordable price that small businesses are able to fork out, leaving most of their marketing budget for targeted advertising or other purposes. This approach we have adopted with Oneshot has helped to solve some of the budgeting issues that some clients have reflected on us over the years. 

To date, our templates have worked successfully for many partners across various industries, from retail to F&B and automotive. As creative visual communicators, we are also always working with our partners to improve their experience and our services. 

Also Read: How FilmDoo pivoted to online learning by leveraging the power of films and video in the pandemic

At Oneshot, we make it our mission to lower the barrier to entry for video advertising, and help small and growing businesses take flight. Our hundreds of templates provide businesses from all industries with endless possibilities to present their messages in a visually captivating and succinct manner.

Whether it is increasing the range of professional templates for corporate campaigns or 2D animation models, our team at Oneshot is always challenging and chasing exciting, never-seen-before ideas to help every business create the beautiful videos they deserve.

In this dynamic online marketing industry, we hope that more people will begin to realise that their growing businesses deserve a presence online with innovative, eye-catching video content.

So here we are, to help and work alongside these businesses. Having an online presence interacts and engages with the customers, who are the very foundation of any business. When done effectively, the results will surely begin to show.

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Image Credit: olegdudko

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