Clients Can't Travel to You? Bring the Plant Tour to Them - And Save Money!

Travel plans are on hold. For the time being, you won’t be able to show off your pride and joy, your plant and the people who run it. You can’t show your clients the latest and greatest technologies. You can’t walk them through the doors where all of the magic happens. Or can you?

The answer is YES YOU CAN! Now more than ever, Plant Tour Videos are going to be essential moving forward, especially if you do business with customers that want to see where and who is making their products.

But not all Plant Tour videos are created equal. Here are some examples of Plant Tour Videos done right.

The Plant Tour Teaser

This first example covers a lot of ground in less than 60-seconds. You meet the people behind the products at GE. You see all kinds of products. You see all kinds of technology. And my favorite part? A lot of the footage is shot by employees using their phone. This is a high energy piece. It doesn’t give the viewer a full factory tour. But it does give you a sense that, wow, there is a lot going on here. I love the fact that this video is kind of raw. This is the kind of video you can send to your clients and potential clients. You can post this on social media. You can put this in an email blast. It’s versatile and has a long shelf life.

Historical Tour

Ford obviously has a ton of history. As a video producer, I’m usually one to advise clients to focus on, “What can you do for your clients now?” But when you have this much history, it’s ok to brag a bit. What I love about this video is it’s an actual tour with a guide. You get a history lesson. You get a capabilities presentation. And you get some straight up facts:

  • It’s a 2-million square foot building

  • The roof of the building is covered in plants (the size of a 9-hole golf course)

  • Workers have 41-seconds to do their job and 10-seconds between vehicles

This is a mini documentary that is sure to wow any potential customer, vendor, employee, etc. Great use of video to sell your plant.

Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words

Sometimes you just want to show off. That’s what Nike did with this video. My guess is this video is used to impress both new hires, vendors and possible customers. It’s simply a music video showcasing Nike’s huge campus. In this case, size does matter. I love the use of drone footage here. Often times people ask for drone shots when they really aren’t necessary. Here, drones are needed to capture the essence of the Nike campus.

This video also demonstrates storytelling without using a narrator. You get a history lesson, a technology lesson and an innovation lesson without hearing the words. Great use of visuals to create tell a story.

Capabilities Tour

Sometimes it’s important to show off exactly what you can do for a customer or potential customer. That’s the sole purpose of this video for NatureWorks. A little background, NatureWorks creates biodegradable plastics using plants. Pretty cool! And they have one facility dedicated to research and development. For example, a customer will call up and say, “Hey, can you make me this NatureWorks?” NatureWorks takes that idea to the the research facility and gets to work.

This video showcases that plant. I love that the video focuses on one thing and one thing only. Research and development. This small location plays a big part in what makes NatureWorks the leader in its industry.

Bring Your Facility to Your Customer! (And save some money)

Some day hopping on a plane will seem normal again. But right now, that’s not the case. Video is your best option in providing plant and facility tours to your customers, prospective customers and potential employees. And think about it, every time you bring in a new prospect, the travel costs add up! It can be extremely costly to bring people in to tour your facility. Creating a video is usually a one time cost and the video can be used over and over again. You can actually save some money by bringing your plant to your customer.

Todd Vaske