If you’re still ruminating on 2017 resolutions for your business, adding video to your content marketing should be at the top of your list. An overwhelming majority (70 percent) of businesses saw an improved conversion ratio using video ads over plain text in their marketing.
Considering how much easier it is for our brains to rapidly digest visual images than to comprehend text, this is no big surprise. Video is simply more eye-catching, which automatically improves your chances of winning potential customers’ attention.
People are intrinsically drawn to moving pictures.
A simple video showcasing the features and real-life applications of your product can create a much stronger emotional connection to your audience than complicated diagrams or pages of written content ever could.
Anatomy of a Killer Video Ad
Great storytelling should be the primary objective of any marketing video. Your potential prospects will probably see multiple videos on the same day yours appears, so you need to tell an authentic brand story to best engage them. At the same time, make sure you focus on the product. Don’t get too technical. Instead, show off the benefits your audience will enjoy after buying and using it.
Always use your brand’s color palette in the video player. This can improve your play rate by almost 20 percent. If your brand doesn’t use specific colors, do some basic adjusting to your website to give it a thematic color scheme you can stick to in videos.
Finally, always include a call to action. Whether you’re looking for email subscribers or crowdfunding investors, ask for what you want! While you have their attention, tell your viewers how to follow up. CTAs are usually stuck at the end of videos, but here’s a secret: Putting yours in the middle could bump up your conversion rate by 6 percent.
Video Stars of 2016
As you’re considering how to boost your video ad strategy, take notes from the stars of video marketing:
1. Kay Jewelers
This Kay Jewelers ad checks off a number of important boxes. The message is communicated clearly, even without sound. This has become increasingly important now that 85 percent of Facebook videos are muted when viewed.
The benefit of Kay’s product is obvious from the happy response of the woman who has received jewelry, and the company stays true to its brand with the trademark Kay kiss. The call to action has the clear goal of earning page likes, and the ad closes by highlighting the fact that the brand’s jewelry is a great gift idea. Moreover, throwing in a golden retriever rarely hurts your cause.
2. Sensazao
We helped Sensazao shoot a great video highlighting its high-energy dance classes and distribute it locally to attract fitness-focused young adults in the region. Getting your video in front of the right audience is key — nearly 40 percent of customers favor ads targeted to their interests.
In it, Sensazao’s highly relatable founders tell their brand’s story, which helps viewers connect with them on an emotional level. Of course, we did our best to ensure this video would still capture attention even without sound, especially in those first few critical seconds.
3. Hom Essence
For Hom Essence, we created a straightforward, eye-catching explainer video that complements the simplicity of its product. Through the transformative power of video production, we gave a basic product a huge personality while keeping it easy to understand.
This video capitalizes on consumers’ natural gravitation toward visual content with the dynamic integration of color. Visuals featuring paint being tossed on a surface mid-splash entices potential viewers to find out what’s happening early on. By closing with the Hom Essence website, the video makes it easy for viewers to find more information.
When it comes to creating a video for your content marketing campaign, it’s never too late to start. As more and more brands catch on to the fact that video ads outperform pictures and text alone, it’s even more important to concentrate on these small, often overlooked elements to help set your video — and your brand — apart from the crowd.
Video Styles
Video Types
Video Marketing Strategy
Social Video
