As a marketing or communication director, you need to work with your team, in alignment with your organization's strategic plan, to develop tactics for conversion and growth. There isn’t much of a better feeling than turning a potential customer into a paying customer, especially if they become a repeat customer who gives your business that all-important word of mouth exposure.
One of the best ways to do this is with video. Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have made this more accessible than ever, while services like Bombbomb.com, make it even easier to record a video and get it to your potential customers.
However, simply creating and posting videos is not enough. It is important to understand how to develop high quality content that will allow you to engage strategically and share your organizational values with both your current and potential customer base. This will help them understand what your organization's core values are, what you offer, and why they should buy your product or service.
Here are some considerations for creating a winning marketing strategy that includes video production:
- Tailor It to Your Audience
One common mistake businesses make when making videos is not factoring in the intended audience. You need to speak to them on their level, as peers. Even if all the content is relevant to what they want, people need that emotional connection and trust that comes with being able to share a common bond with someone. Speak to your audience as they present themselves. If it’s serious business types, be a serious business type. If it’s moms with middle schoolers, lay off the edgy content – but try to mention wine.
- Keep It Short
People are busy. They want all their info quick so they can go about their day. Videos should be as short as possible. The ideal length is around 30 seconds to a minute or two. Any longer than that, and interest nosedives fast. Videos can be longer, but they better be useful and relevant. Even then, have lots of good stuff in the first bit.
- Keep It Entertaining
Just because your video is all about your business doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. People don’t want a boring video where someone drones on and on. They’ll shut it off as soon as it starts to remind them of that class they hated in high school. Find a hook, get it in there as quickly as possible. You only have between 10 and 20 seconds to pique your audience’s interest enough to keep them watching.
- All Smiles on the Thumbs
Want to keep people from scrolling past your video? Make sure its thumbnail has a smiling person on it. People automatically respond to a smiling face better than a still image, block of text, or a non-smiling face. A thumbnail with a smile will impart a sense of warmth and friendliness right from the start.
- Present Yourself as a Trusted Authority
No one wants to do business with someone who doesn’t seem to know what they’re doing or are unsure about their skills. Merely stating that you're better won't work. Prove to your potential customer that not only are you an expert at what they need but also why you are better than the competition.
- Target the Skeptics
Chalk it up to too many years of late night infomercials hawking dud miracle products or pure cynicism, but a good chunk of people are less inclined to believe what they see on the internet. Those are the people you need to target the most. If you can convert the skeptics, you can convert almost anyone. Provide ironclad guarantees, show scientific studies backing up your claims, and offer up testimonials from former skeptics that had the same concerns of the ones you haven't reeled in yet.
- Make More than One Video
Don’t think that one video is all you need. Whatever good or service you provide probably has several facets that can’t all be covered in a single video. Different customers have different needs even for the same thing. Make a video for every significant niche your business serves, and maybe for even some of the smaller ones. Also, spread them out on your site. Don't cram them all into a single page.
- Hire a Writer/Video Editor
Making an engaging and exciting video takes skill and talent, and not everyone has it. A choppy video with jarring transitions, lousy audio, and stilted dialogue won't land you as many conversions as a slick video done by professionals. You have no problem taking the company car or truck to a mechanic to get fixed, right? Hiring a professional writer and video editor is the same thing since it's often more expensive to do things cheap instead of doing them right in the first place.
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