Today we are going to be talking about how to create effective marketing videos, but before we dive in, let’s explore the why. Why should this be important to you? 

The Stats

85% of all internet users in the United States have watched online video content this month. 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands that they already engage with and enjoy. 87% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool. 73% of consumers claim they have been influenced by a brand’s social media presence when purchasing or making a purchasing decision. Video marketing gets 66% more qualified leads per year for your business. 93% of marketers say they’ve landed a new customer thanks to a video on social media. The average user spends about 88% more time on a website with video. 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service. They don’t want to read it. They want you to tell them about it. YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine, receiving more than 1.5 billion users per month and plays over 1 billion hours of video each day. For comparison, Facebook has 8 billion monthly. These numbers are staggering. Viewers are 95% more likely to remember a call to action after watching a video, as opposed to reading the content or seeing it in a text format. 

As the years go by, video keeps getting more and more important and critical to your marketing. Live videos are great, but a good piece of branded content marketing in video form is now a crucial component of a good social media strategy. Someone should be able to go to your website and instantly be able to tell what you do with a video. Video on a landing page or homepage has the potential to convert up to 80% of viewers. Now that we know why it’s important, let’s dig into how to create it. There are 5 essential ingredients needed to make an effective marketing video.

One Clear Message

I can’t stress this enough. You need to focus on one clear message. You’re going to be tempted to shove everything into this video. You may have a minute or even 2 minutes and you want to talk about your history and where you started and what color shoes you like. No. It needs to be one message. You need one clear, concise idea that you can convey in a minute or 2 minutes. You can take longer if necessary. If the message is good people will watch it. However, you need to be aware that most people will leave if you don’t hook them in the first 7 to 10 seconds. 

The information has to be good but the message also has to be engaging. A great way to determine the content of your message is to ask yourself what’s in it for your end-user. It’s awesome that you’re a third-generation business but your potential customers are going to be much more interested in what you can offer them. I’m not saying don’t tell your story. There are some amazing stories. You can have a separate video and even a separate page where people can go learn about your story. For the initial engagement, you need to stick to why they are there and what you can provide for them.

Have a Strategy

You can have the highest quality video in the world but if there is no call to action it’s not going to be very effective. Think about what you want people to do after they watch your video and communicate that with your end-user. Sadly, it’s not magic and they can’t just watch the video and know what their next step is unless you lay it out for them. If you have a great video telling people why they should use your business, then at the end of the video, or in the caption, you need to convey to them what action step they need to take to start the process. Common calls to action include “click here to schedule an appointment” or “call us today at…” or “download this checklist.” No matter how amazing your video is, without a clear call to action, it is very rare that someone is going to find you and say “take my money.” It does happen sometimes, but for the most part, people need clear direction on how to start the process. 

Show the Who, What, Why, and How of Your Business

Show clients who you are, what you’re bringing to the table, and why they should purchase from you. Then, tell them how to do just that. It’s about you because it’s your video, but you don’t necessarily have to appear in the video. You just have to let them know why you, what’s in it for them, and how do they proceed. You have to get that information in. It may seem like a lot but think about that elevator speech that you give. In reality, you can probably answer all of these questions in 15 seconds. A minute or 2 is actually a good bit of time. Remember, you can have others talk or have a voice-over while your products are shown. It doesn’t have to be just you staring into the camera. 

Quality Production Value and Quality Content

I love live video and the engagement stats for live video are staggering. However, when it comes to your branded marketing video that supports your company and is most people’s initial exposure to you, it needs to be professional. Now, I’m not talking about a 12-camera shoot with a drone video of them flying you in on a helicopter. I’m talking about having a professional team, like Cinepear, come in that has experience helping people like you tell their story. Maybe you’ll do a multi-camera shoot or maybe not depending on your needs. I love to recommend Cinepear because their greatest strength is that they tell the best story. When someone who isn’t an emotional person can watch one of their videos and be brought to tears, you know they are talented storytellers. Let a company like Cinepear help you tell your story. If you aren’t completely comfortable on camera or if you are unsure of exactly how to tell your story, they can walk you through and pull the information out of you. Then a great editor puts it together and makes magic with it. 

It Needs to be Good Technically

The last key ingredient is that your video needs to be good technically. What does that mean for you? It means if you’re putting it on YouTube it needs to have the right tags, a good description, and a good title. You might consider adding captions to your video that tell people how to contact you. You also want a good thumbnail. A good thumbnail will compel people to click on your video. A tragic thumbnail will keep people from clicking on your video even if the video itself is amazing. People will judge the video, correctly or not,  on the quality of the thumbnail. 

Video, Baby

There was a time when you didn’t need video to successfully market your business. That time is NOT now. That time has passed and to compete in today’s market you need to engage in video marketing. Follow these steps to create a video that works for your business.