Have you watched all of the Harry Potter movies but not read a single book? How about the countless Nicholas Sparks novels that have made it to the big screen? Chances are you haven’t. With the hussle and bustle of everyday life, most of us do not have the time to read a book cover-to-cover, and, thanks to motion pictures, we often don’t have to. The same goes for videos on the Internet. It’s 2013 and, let’s face it, most Internet users would rather watch a video than read a blog or read your website to learn about your product. With over 4 billion views on YouTube per day, video marketing has become increasingly important for businesses big and small. Creating a video takes a lot of time, money and creativity. Here are some tips to make sure none of your video marketing efforts are going to waste:
Keep it Short
Imagine trying to find a new product online, for example, a software to help capture, manage, and follow up with leads at trade shows and events. You do some research and find quite a few products that can help in different ways. You find two that have video explanations of their product on their website. You click “play” for the first one and realize it’s a 7 minute video. Are you really going to sit there and watch the entire 7 minute video or are you going to go to the second website which has a 2 minute video explanation of their product? Chances are the latter. In fact, Shoretel Sky Sr. Manager of Marketing, Michael Freeman, talks about the short, to-the-point videos we created for them, the decreases they’ve seen in bounce rates and the increases they’ve seen in lead quality. Short videos can quickly capture an audience and generate an interest in the information you’re delivering.
Keep it Fun
Your audience wants to laugh. Getting them to smile will create a positive connotation of your brand, whether they realize it or not. The entire video doesn’t need to be funny and this doesn’t have to be the main purpose of the video. The main purpose should be to inform viewers. Take this video we created on our Next Gen of Lead Gen blog. It accomplishes two main goals; it informs and it puts a smile on your face. Videos like this can go a long way in the eyes of your customer, potential customer, or next referral.
Keep it Light
You don’t have to mention every minute detail of your product in your intro/overview video. That’s what the demo is for. An intro/overview video should entice viewers to learn more. Give them enough information to be intrigued by your product but don’t show them all of your cards. This will help turn a viewer into a lead.
Keep it Visual
Add some graphics! They can dramatically change the appearance of your video and they’re not as complicated to create as you might think. Video marketing can produce great results so it is important to dedicate as much budget and time as you can. If you’re a small company and don’t have the budget or the knowledge to create a cool opening graphic to your video, there are a few solutions that might help. First, you could save money by filming the video yourself and then hire a company or a freelance editor to piece it together. If you’re really trying to save on budget you could get a few graphics created from freelance video editors and place them in the video yourself. Sites like fiverr, ProductionHUB, and even Twitter can help you find freelance video editors.
These tips are sure to help you create some visually stimulating, attention-getting, kick butt videos. If you want to learn more, give us a call at 800.457.0905!