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Promote, produce, profit.
There is an old marketing adage that says that the average attention span of a goldfish is 8 seconds, and the average attention span of an adult is 7 seconds. Yes, we are losing to goldfish. So when it comes to your website, every second counts.
Therefore, the number one way to humanize your company, and to entice a potential new client, is to create a promotional video that sits front and center on the homepage of your website.
A promotional video is a short film designed to promote a brand, company, product, or service. They can be used to introduce new products, services, or campaigns. Things such as event promo videos are also great ways to use promotional videos to drive traffic. Promotional videos are effective at increasing the awareness of brands and companies. These videos are the most common video type used by marketers (HubSpot).
Promotional videos should be entertaining, informative, and compelling. They should also be designed to evoke an emotional response from your audience. If they don’t meet these criteria, then they won’t get watched. Here are some key points to consider when creating a successful promo video.
54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support. This goes to show that the demand for video content is also increasing.
Here are 5 things to consider when developing a promotional video for your company.
How to Choose the Best Promotional Video Ideas for Marketing
The main goal of a promotional video is to tell your story. This could include showing off your product, explaining why someone should buy it, or showcasing your customer service team. Whatever the case, there are certain things you want to keep in mind while shooting your video.
For a proposal to succeed as the properly epic precursor to your fabulous lifetime partnership, or for a promotional video to bring in new clients, you need the following things:
1) An Original Idea
The development of a promotional video is not a small undertaking. Therefore if you’re going to make the leap, and we recommend that you do, it’s important that it all starts with an original idea. The best way to do that is to spend more time working on the concept of your video than you do on actually shooting the video. I’m sure that sounds crazy, but the more organized you are––the more you have run your idea past your peers, employees, and potential clients––the better chance you have of developing a video that is impactful.
The following video is one that we developed for a client called LifeBrand. LifeBrand implements a super innovative piece of technology that allows users in companies to scan their social media history using AI technology. The technology identifies harmful posts and allows users to clean them up or delete them.
Due to the fact that their technology was very disruptive, we needed to create a video that was thought-provoking and humorous, but also explained the value proposition of what LifeBrand was trying to communicate to their potential clients.
2) When in Doubt, Don’t Over-cook Humor
One of the most famous stories about the power of videos in digital marketing is the promotional video that was developed for Dollar Shave Club. As the legend goes, the CEO of dollar shave club built a promotional video for his company for less than $3000. Nearly overnight, the video went viral and his profits soared.
The part of the story that no one tells is that the Co-Founder of the company, Michael Dubin, didn’t just get lucky. According to an Inc.com article: “While living in New York City from 2001 to 2010, he studied improvisational comedy for eight years with the legendary Upright Citizens Brigade. He credits that experience with much of what he’s accomplished, including what it took to pull together that popular video.”
The problem is, if you are not 100% sure that the concept of your video (and the dialogue) are funny––don’t push too hard. Humor that doesn’t land well creates a really awkward experience for everyone involved. So if you are scared that the video you put out “doesn’t exactly stick the landing” consider getting feedback from others before you publish.
In our Podcast, Digital Marketing Masterclass, our CEO Chris Carr recounts a terrible story of humor gone wrong with one of his clients. The guest of the show, Jay Baer, agrees: When it comes to humor, tread lightly.
3) Bring Value: Ad Visuals
Statistics show that user engagement drops consistently when you do not provide a decent amount of variety. What I mean by that is that if you create a video that’s three minutes long but the large majority of it is what we call “talking head”, 9 times out of 10 people will abandon your video early. The inverse, however, is also true. If you overuse visuals and B-roll without humanizing your video by putting people in it, it could have a massive impact on your engagement.
The ideal scenario is to have a perfect blend of humanization (people talking) supported by visuals that bring value. To track engagement on our videos we use a technology called Wistia. This video analytics tool allows our team to identify where viewers are dropping off and becoming less engaged. We use this data to inform our creative team when we make future videos so they don’t make the same mistake twice. We might even take down the video and create a re-edit to see if we can maximize watch time and engagement.
When it comes to messaging, we strive to provide as much value as possible. To drive your point home, use visuals that support the critical parts of your narrative. If you’re using statistics, data, or other storytelling elements, consider adding them in either full-screen format or over-the-shoulder of the subject matter expert who is speaking in the video.
In these two examples, we use kinetic text in the background––not only to add a pleasant visual, but to also use the opportunity to teach our potential audience how our client’s products and services work.
4) When it Comes to Video, Size Matters
In 2009, we hired a consultant named Brian Dean from Backlinko to teach us the special sauce of how to create link-worthy content and generate backlinks to our website to enhance our SEO. Since that time, Brian’s company exploded into a marketing powerhouse.
His subject matter expertise stretched even beyond SEO, into how to get the most out of your content on YouTube. His analysis indicates that longer videos tend to have the most SEO juice on YouTube, meaning they rank more effectively. However, the rules that apply for YouTube are very different than the rules that apply to promotional videos.
It is our recommendation that a promotional video last anywhere between 45 seconds to three minutes long. Any promotional video that is longer than three minutes runs the risk of diluting your message. Consider the 3-minute mark as your check engine light. If the light is on, consider consolidating your messaging. This doesn’t mean that you can’t make other promotional videos later or elsewhere that include the extra content that pushed you over the 3-minute barrier.
5) Let your Clients Tell Your Story
One of the biggest traps that companies make when developing a promotional video is sounding too “salesy”. There are a number of different tactics that you can use to prevent this phenomenon from happening to you, however what we recommend most is to have your clients tell your story. It is one thing to say that you are great and that your products and services rock; it means something entirely different when your clients do it.
In a video that we developed for Newtown Dentistry, our development team strategically used client testimonials built into the video to tell a complete story from multiple angles. When done effectively, the video should encourage longer engagement due to the sheer variety of perspectives coupled with value-added visuals.
When and Where Should I Use a Promo Video?
Building a promotional video should be one of your largest marketing investments. The reason why we recommend putting such a large investment into your video is because of how nimble it can be as a medium.
Commonly, the first place that we put a promotional video would be on your website’s homepage. The reason why is that it maximizes engagement and, as data shows, very few potential clients that come to your homepage often ever click the other pages on your website. So use this data to spoon-feed your potential audience the most important parts of your message.
Your promotional video should also be syndicated on all of your social media channels. Ideally, in YouTube, it should be your overview video on the top of your organization’s YouTube homepage. In the most ideal sense, you have one promotional video for each of your products and services. If you made this investment in the video, we recommend having your product promotional videos as high up on the top of the page as possible. Usability conversion analysis data shows that the more a potential user has to scroll to find your video content, the less likely they will be to engage with it.
Other creative places to put your promotional videos are as follows:
- On your About Us Page
- Embedded in Blogs
- On your employee’s Linkedin Profiles
- Embedded signature of your emails (NOTE: this video should be hosted on a media server)
- Website and Landing Pages: Wherever your product, event, or asset lives.
- Email: Send promos directly to prospects or contacts—videos get more emails opened
- Social Media News Feeds
- Social Media: Stories / Reels / Tik Tok
- Social Media Groups
- Digital Ads and Paid Social
- Webinars
- Yelp / Google My Business
- Dailymotion
- Vimeo
- Medium.com
How Does a Promotional Video Drive Sales?
Promotional videos are one of the most effective ways to promote your products and services online. They are proven to increase conversions by up to 80%, according to research from HubSpot.
The best way to use a promotional video is to put it on a landing page. This helps you build trust with potential customers because they know exactly what they’re getting into.
When done correctly, videos can help boost your revenue by encouraging people to make purchases.
Videos can be published across multiple platforms including Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
A good video should: tell a story, inform, inspire, entertain, educate, sell or simply create engagement for your target audience. The goal of the video shouldn’t be telling people “how” to buy. Instead, the main purpose of the video should be to demonstrate value. After all, online videos are a great asset to businesses looking to grow.
In 2017, We used our own team to create a testimonial video for Idea Paint that was used to drive sales and tell their story from our experiences:
What does the process look like?
The process to develop a promotional video may vary from project to project, however the following are common steps that we take with our clients:
- Kickoff & Discovery
- Dialog / Script Writing
- StoryBoarding
- Internal Production Meeting
- SME / Acting Talent Selection
- Prep-Dry Run (Production and Acting)
- Video Production
- Post Production
- After Effects / Visual Post-Production
- Publishing
- Promotion
Mistakes to Avoid When You Make a Promotional Video
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Forgetting The “Big Picture”
Video production is a long, expensive journey that requires careful planning and execution. But it doesn’t always require a lot of money or manpower. In fact, there are many ways to make videos without spending much cash. However, what happens when you start losing sight of your larger goals? You might find yourself getting sidetracked by the little things along the way.
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Trying to Include Too Much in One Video
You know those videos where there’s just way too much crammed into one little package? They’re hard to watch, and even harder to digest. And while some video marketers love them because they look cool, others hate them because they feel like they’re missing something essential.
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Focusing on Information Rather Than Emotion
Video is a great way to present your brand personality. But it’s not a replacement for traditional advertising. A good video doesn’t just tell you about your product; it tells you how much you care about your customers.
The problem is, some marketers think that a video must include every single detail of your business, down to the most obscure technical specifications. This approach is understandable because many businesses are still unfamiliar with the power of video. They assume that a video needs to be comprehensive and thorough, to give potential customers everything they could possibly want to know.
But that’s wrong. Videos are designed to connect. And there’s no better way to connect with someone than by showing what makes you unique.
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No Call to Action
In today’s world, we’re bombarded with videos every day. From YouTube to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, our feeds are filled with content that pushes us to act now, buy something, watch a video, sign up for a newsletter, or follow someone on social media.
Videos are a consumers’ favorite type of content to see from a brand on social media platforms. Consumers expect more video content.
But while the amount of information we consume is growing exponentially, the number of times we actually engage with the content we see isn’t keeping pace. Take a look at your feed.
How many videos do you scroll through before finding something worth watching? And how often does clicking play lead to a second click to find out what happens next? If you answered “never,” you’re not alone.
The problem is, most of the videos we see aren’t designed to compel us to take action. They simply exist to entertain or inform us––not to inspire us to do anything. But why? Why are we so quick to dismiss videos that lack a clear call to action?
Ultimately, without a clear call to action, viewers won’t even know that there’s is something for them to do! You want to make sure that the call to action is clear so that there is no confusion for the viewer.
For KISSmetrics, a CTA within a video gets 380% more clicks than their normal sidebar CTAs.
The Final Word on Promo Videos
Promotional videos are often seen as a necessary evil, something we do because we’re supposed to. Business owners might assume that promotional videos are nice to have, but not really needed.
But promotional videos aren’t just a way to promote your product; they’re actually one of the most effective ways to tell your story. They help build trust and credibility, and they’re great for getting attention. If done well, they can even change how customers think about your products and services. There’s no doubt that promotional videos are important. So why don’t more businesses make use of them?
Well, there are several reasons.
First off, many companies simply don’t know how to produce compelling videos.
Second, they feel like they’re too expensive to make.
And third, they fear that making a good promo won’t lead to sales. In fact, a recent study found that nearly half of B2C marketers don’t believe that creating a promotional video increases conversion rates.
Farotech has helped hundreds of businesses grow, improve quality, and find new audiences. We work closely with our clients to understand their goals and objectives, then develop a strategy to achieve those goals, using a combination of traditional media, social media, and promotion. Our approach ensures results and increased client satisfaction.
If you have any questions about our agency or approach, please contact us and we will get back to you shortly. We look forward to working with you!