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The 5 Essential Attributes of Healthcare Video Production

Healthcare is a difficult niche to get right, not only do you have to deal with sensitive subject matters but you also need to make sure you convey your message as clearly and as effectively as possible.

By Victor BlascoPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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Going to the doctor is hardly an exciting idea, but even worse is trying to consult Dr. Google for advice! More often than not, you’ll “find out” you have a fatal disease that was eradicated decades ago.

Yes, there's much misinformation regarding healthcare. That is definitely a shame, especially now that handling the right information is more vital than ever.

Luckily, content marketing can help you inform and educate your audience correctly about health issues.

An empathic and comprehensible video can help both patients and health professionals understand and deal with serious topics, like disease treatments. Video also works like a charm in prevention campaigns and in the promotion of medical apps and products.

However, since healthcare videos deal with sensitive and complex issues, they need to be carefully designed in order to nail the right tone while remaining compelling and informative.

What do I mean by “carefully designed”? Well, for starters, there are 5 essential elements that every top-notch healthcare video production can’t do without. And today, you are going to learn all about them!

Great Healthcare Videos Tackle One Topic at a Time

As you surely know, most healthcare topics are extensive, to say the least. And the last thing you want to do is give viewers an incomplete picture of such delicate subject matters.

However, an excellent healthcare video doesn’t overwhelm the audience with too much data either; that could be detrimental to the video’s clarity and confuse viewers.

After all, audiences are far more likely to process your video’s information if they can digest it by bits.

So, an excellent way to cover complex or extensive healthcare topics is to present a video series. The idea here is that each piece focuses on a different aspect of the same topic, instead of trying to cram it all into a single, convoluted piece.

This isn’t a revolutionary idea in the healthcare world either – many companies and organizations are already known for their video series. Take, for instance, the amazing job of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, which has created a video series called Imaginary Friend Society to help children with cancer endure and understand their disease.

They Use Approachable Explanations

Let’s face it: medical topics are far from being simple. Even med students can find them complicated from time to time, so imagine how hard they can be for the rest of us mortals!

With that in mind, you should simplify the information to make it approachable to a broad range of people– without reducing its value, of course.

You will find that the best healthcare video production companies handle a conversational tone and do without any technical jargon. But they have many other tricks up their sleeves to turn a complicated topic into a simple explanation. Tricks that are common to any kind of video marketing endeavor, not just healthcare video productions!

These companies harness the power of relatable storytelling (more on this later) and use well-thought examples and metaphors. They usually pair these effective script strategies with meaningful visuals, as you’ll learn in a moment.

They Reinforce the Script with Visual Elements

When it comes to complex explanations, videos' audiovisual nature puts them ahead of written content or even images. Since videos stimulate two senses instead of one (sight and hearing), they offer a more understandable description of a topic.

This is an aspect that great healthcare video production companies know how to exploit. They don't limit to just creating a top-notch script, but they also reinforce its information thorough dynamic visuals, delivering a cohesive message on all the fronts.

It’s common to see videos of any kind that pair the narrator’s explanation with visual metaphors, helping the viewer follow the story more easily. Other videos simply use the visuals to subtly introduce a healthcare brand’s color palette and logo. That way, the video’s branding feels more organic and less on-the-nose.

Every video can leverage these kinds of visual reinforcements, but we can’t deny animated videos have it easier. They offer endless possibilities in terms of visual storytelling (almost anything is feasible!), whereas live-action videos are limited to the possibilities of reality.

The next healthcare explainer video, for instance, includes visual metaphors that would have been impossible – or at least too expensive – to create via live-action techniques.

They Leverage a Tactful Tone

Some healthcare videos are directed to patients or their relatives – that is to say, people that may be feeling vulnerable. In that case, the last thing you want is to alarm them and add to their stress, so you need to deliver your message with extreme care.

That's easier said than done, right? After all, healthcare videos can touch on incredibly sensitive – even taboo – issues.

In these types of videos, you should tone down your script, bringing your audience as much calm as possible. Do bear in mind, though, that toning down a topic is not the same as playing it down. Don’t minimize the seriousness of the patient’s condition, but assure them that everything will be fine.

A helpful tone is much appreciated in these kinds of videos, doubly so if you are a healthcare provider. Nothing will soothe your patients more than knowing they are in good hands.

Now, you know your audience could use some cheering up, and you might be thinking of adding a dose of humor to your video. The thing is, this could be a risky move when talking about a delicate topic. Some people might find it inappropriate, even offensive.

Our advice? Try to include some charming moments in your videos – the sort of moments that could make the viewer smile, not crack up in laughter. Such ambitious comedy efforts could fail tremendously, and leave the viewer thinking you aren't taking their situation seriously.

They Present a Relatable Story

Relatable storytelling is a vital element of any type of video, even more so when it comes to healthcare content. In order to appeal to your audience and make them listen to your video, you need to provide them with a story that they can identify with.

This is closely related to the tactful tone we were just talking about. Many patients feel that nobody understands them, so watching a video that basically says, "We know what you are going through” can feel like a breath of fresh air.

But relatable storytelling isn't just useful in videos meant for patients – it also works wonders for prevention campaigns. Since certain diseases are most common among a particular group of people, most prevention videos focus on stories that can impact and resonate with that specific audience.

We can find an excellent example in this American Heart Association's video. "Do I look like the type of person who has a heart attack?” its protagonist wonders, embodying the audience that this video is after: busy middle-aged women who don't see themselves having a heart attack and, therefore, aren't taking precautions.

Of special note: Note that this video example uses humor but doesn't feel inappropriate, partly because it's meant for a prevention campaign. In that case, humor can make a video more shareable and, therefore, more popular, which is definitely the purpose behind a mass campaign like this one.

Parting Thoughts

As you can see, producing a healthcare video is a delicate endeavor. After all, the piece may touch on topics that are nothing short of sensitive.

If your video is meant for patients, they may logically be in a vulnerable state, so it’s critical to nail the right tone, being both tactful and empathic.

The complexity of healthcare issues is also a factor to take into account. Your video should leverage relatable storytelling and meaningful visuals to explain these complicated subjects in the simplest and most impactful way possible.

So yes, creating a healthcare video is hard, but it’s definitely worth it. There’s no better medium than video to help health professionals and actual or potential patients understand such delicate issues. The right video can allow you to bond with your audience and help them go through difficult times, even preventing them from having health complications.

You now know the five main attributes of an excellent healthcare video. So, all that's left to do is to create your own. Good luck!

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About the Creator

Victor Blasco

I'm an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video company Yum Yum Videos. Besides running the business, I'm a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi.

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