Video is the future of content marketing. With today’s increasingly high-speed internet connections and growing mobile video consumption trends, it is no question that a video should be the focus of any company’s marketing campaign. A well-produced and strategically crafted video is this most effective way to convert your prospective clients and customers into loyal brand advocates.
Focus on the narrative.
The goal of your marketing video is to demonstrate how your business can help clients. The most effective way to achieve this goal is to create a narrative. Use a recent successful client case study to tell your story. In doing so, be sure to answer the following questions:
- What were the client’s goals?
- What challenges did the client face when achieving these goals?
- How did your involvement help the client overcome these challenges?
- What emotional effect did the positive results have on your client?
- What perceived values did the client gain from your involvement?
- Why are these values important to your audience?
For example:
Let’s say you have a client who was struggling to raise funds for their non-profit organization. The opportunities they missed were hurting their progress. In an effort to increase awareness and boost donations, they hired you to create a website and launch a marketing campaign. After working closely with the client to develop a strategy and bring their vision to life, your business was able to increase their revenue by 120%, allowing them to fund scholarships for 16 more students the following year.
In this example, it is important to focus on the narrative. Create a video that guides the audience through the story. The protagonist is the client. The conflict is the struggling non-profit organization. The climax is process of developing the website, brand, and marketing campaign. The resolution is the increased donations. The happy ending is the 16 students who were given scholarships by the client’s non-profit.
Build an emotional connection.
Creating a narrative is likely to have a very effective emotional impact on your audience. As behavior science and market research shows, customers act on their emotions. They want to feel a connection with the brand or business with whom they are considering. Think of any successful big-brand’s advertisements: Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola. Their advertisements almost never focus on the product, but always focus on the narrative — or the lifestyle — that the brand invokes. The most effective marketing videos and advertisements are those that make the audience feel something.
Keep it short.
Some of the most successful commercials are only 15 seconds in length. Of course in order to effectively tell a story, your marketing video will need to be longer. We recommend keeping it to length of 1 minute to 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This should be plenty of time to pitch your company’s products and services in an effective and simple way.
- Don’t use any industry-specific words.
- Don’t use 10 sentences if you can explain it in 2.
- Don’t be afraid to leave space for silent pauses.
Pre-Production is key!
Have everything planned out and prepared before you even turn on the camera. This means you should have a script written beforehand, with every single word strategically planned and practiced. Your script should also include every camera frame or shot that corresponds with what is being said. This way, you have the vision prepared in advanced, and if done correctly, there will be no decision-making or questions for the video producer, editor, or assistants.
If in doubt, hire out!
If you are overwhelmed with the process of creating an effective marketing video for your business, feel free to contact us for assistance. Espo Digital offers full-service video production, video editing, and digital marketing consulting services. We will be happy to assist you in all your marketing video needs!
