What should a marketing video include?

A typical internet user watches videos for 33.3% of their online time and anyone who runs a business is well aware of the superpower of video marketing. And it is not a surprise that in the past year, 66% of businesses used video content marketing. Creating a marketing video is not difficult at all, but creating a video that ranks and improves conversion rates is a skilful task.

At first, video production seems more affordable and all you need is a lovely storyline, good lighting, high-quality sound effects, aesthetic graphics, illustrations & animations that appeal to the customers. But the key to creating a successful marketing video lies in focusing on the minute details that matter more than these superficial aspects.

Here are some of the most valuable elements to focus on, while creating the marketing video for your brand.

1.  First impression counts

The average attention span of humans has declined by almost 25% between 2000 and 2015, reaching 8.25 seconds, making it extremely hard for internet advertisements to capture their attention. This means without unique introductions and expressive thumbnails, you risk losing your audience by huge amounts.

Therefore, you need to focus on making the first few seconds of your video count, so that it grabs the attention of the viewers and they are compelled to watch it until the very end, or else your whole hard work goes in vain.

This can be achieved by keeping a few simple points in mind while creating your marketing video:

• Ask a question that makes them think or share a shocking fact
• Show them what the video is all about by creating a hook or a quick preview just like providing an abstract to a book reader
• Create the video intro keeping in mind that the viewer has kept the audio on mute in the beginning (which is actually the case for most viewers) by including closed captions
• Focus on branding tags like logo and colour scheme and make sure to show them off
• Discuss the problem in brief and such that the audience finds it relatable
• You can also, show them the value you are adding to their life in a sentence or two
• Focus on answering “What’s in it for them?”
• Use text overlay (in bold colours and ample font size) and voice-overs
• Fix the time limit for the intro session and make sure it is not more than 10-15 seconds

2.  Do not take the colours lightly

Which colour comes to mind when you think about Facebook? Is it Blue?

And youtube, it is red, right?

WhatsApp, Green, isn’t it?

See how the human mind associates colours with brands more than anything else. And not just brands, colours are associated with almost everything that is around. Colours act as mediums of communication in marketing.

Creating thumbnails with aesthetic graphics and using appealing colours within the video to attract users’ attention is the key to creating a successful marketing video. Most of the designers are already aware of the fact that “colours have a huge impact on viewers’ mindset”. And that is also why almost every established brand has its own colour scheme to represent its identity.

If you already have a colour scheme, make sure to show it off in your video, and if not, or if you intend to experiment with colours, use the colours best suited for your brand as every colour has its very own unique influence.

Make sure to effectively utilise colour psychology depending upon the type of marketing video, target customers, and the message that you are trying to convey through the video. Here are a few examples:

1. Use shades of violet, blue, purple, and green and not brown or grey if you are targeting a female audience (Although that is not compulsory)
2. Use orange to propagate the idea of joy and change, or green and blue to associate with nature and the environment

Take a look at this article to get more ideas about how to use different colours for different purposes.

3.  A great storyline

Investing more in a great storyline is a lot worth more than investing in other parts of the video that only aim at selling your brand. Brainstorm creative ideas that help you in connecting with the audience and establish a relationship through your video script. This can be done by including references that are relatable to your potential customers or the ideas that they value.

Rather than simply stating the goals and values of your company, try to tell the story behind your brand or your product, to give your marketing video that human touch. Stories in a marketing video will ensure that your audience watches it until the end with full concentration, thereby increasing brand engagement.

Even if you do not have a budget to shoot an entire video with actors and props, a great script can be executed through animated content or voice-over along with super cool illustrations and graphics.

Apart from that, you can also incorporate customer-generated content like video testimonials, customer product reviews, Q&A, or interview videos to make your marketing video script more engrossing. Making your own customers the show’s toppers will help you earn brownie points of appreciation from them as well as other audiences.

4.  SEO content

Search Engine Optimised (SEO) content basically refers to improved content through the use of accurate keywords that have high search volumes and are relatable to your brand, such that it increases the visibility of your video.

Consider the most famous platform for all the brands to do their marketing i.e. According to Wyzowl, on average, 3.7 million new videos are posted on YouTube daily, which equals 271,330 hours of video content with an average length of 4.4 minutes. Therefore, if you are a new brand that wants to establish its presence, it seems almost impossible to reach the target audience without the use of appropriate keywords, hashtags, titles, content, description, etc. These all come under the category of SEO.

Proper SEO is the key that will help your video reach your target audience and enhance its visibility among so many fishes in the sea. Here are a few effortless ways to rank your video at the top in this sea of the internet:

1. Make sure to include the main keywords (related to your brand, product, or service) in the title, video script or voice-over, closed captions, and other hashtags while uploading the video on any platform of your choice.
2. Depending upon the platform, add an appropriate description of your marketing video that again contains the strong keywords for which you wish to rank. For example, on Facebook and Youtube, you can add descriptions directly. While on other social media platforms like Instagram, you can add it in the form of a caption of the video being posted.
3. Rename your video file i.e. to be uploaded as a long tail combination of your major keywords. For example, if your brand sells hair-care products and you are launching a new shampoo through video, you can name it “Hairfall_SmoothHair_Shiny_Shampoo.mp4” before uploading it on any platform.

Apart from these, this website lists a lot of significant methods in detail that can help you optimise your video for search and understand video SEO in depth. You can also take references from this website to specifically understand SEO for the Youtube platform and improve your video ranking there.

5.  Relevant Data

The power of data should never be underestimated. Including data relevant to the brand, product or service can help your marketing video in various ways. You may include data about the performance of your product, reviews, customer perception, and comparison data with competitor products or brands which will make the video more convincing and effectively communicate your message to the target audience.

Adding research-based data from reliable sources will help you build trust and credibility for your brand. Once the trust is built, your target audience will convert to actual customers thereby improving your conversion rate and profits.

Adding relatable data will also help your audience to connect with the product or services and it will give them that required validation for taking a final decision. However, describing the data alone in a video will get a bit boring. To achieve maximum success, make sure to align your great storyline with the relevant data to make an impact and differentiate from your competitors.

Also, data along with the storyline will provide your audience with the most effective video that is compelling, convincing, and relatable as well as sticks to their minds.

If creating a video based on data seems a challenging task, make sure to check out this informative article which explains different ways to combine data and storytelling to achieve more profitable results through marketing videos.

6.  Customer connection

Building customer connections is another important element of creating a successful marketing video. A genuine bond with your customers will not just improve your brand perception in the market, but it will also help you to build trust and increase brand engagement in the long term.

Brands that form valuable relationships with their clients have more conversion rates. Brand marketing videos are the most transparent and reliable source of communication that can help you in exclusively conveying your message to the audience.

HubSpot says the ability to better explain products and services to clients is the biggest advantage of producing video content according to 40% of marketers. The fact that video content generates greater engagement than other forms of marketing, according to 36% of marketers, is its strongest advantage.

Here are some engaging ways to create a marketing video that will help you in building long-lasting relationships with the audience:

1.   Follow the problem-solution approach:

While creating a marketing video, make sure to address the problem in such a way that it relates to the audience’s pain points such that they can easily bond with your brand.

After that, share how you plan to solve this problem of their lives through your products or services and what value you are offering to them that no one else in the market can. It will help them align with your goals and understand the motivation behind your business.

2.   Reveal the real you:

Show them the real people behind the brand by creating ‘Behind-the-scenes’ or ‘BTS’ videos and company culture videos that explain the working environment, and methodologies followed inside your organisation. Creating these kinds of in-house marketing videos will help in building trust and it will let your audience melt into your business like no other way.

Also, it is super cost-effective and easy because such videos won’t require any outside actors, props, or specialised scripts. Use emotional storytelling art to tell them the story behind your brand to establish stronger connections.

3.   Involve the customers themselves

You can also make your customers “stars” of your video by creating video reviews, testimonials, Q&A, or interview videos. Another approach is to organise live sessions on social media or webinars for the brand audience to share insights about the brand, a newly launched product or service, or your company’s future plans. You can also address their doubts regarding your services during these sessions. Such practices are essential for building credibility among customers.

7.  Surprise elements

Everyone loves surprises after all. So never shy away from surprising your customers every once in a while by creating collaboration marketing videos with their favourite brands or influencers in the market. The collaboration will help you to increase the reach of your brand and establish trust in the market.

When a reliable person sells your brand and shares their experience with the product or service that you offer, people are more likely to believe what he or she has to say about your brand rather than what you say yourself. This fact is obviously well accepted in the industry for years and that is the reason why huge brands pay lump sum amounts of money to famous actors and sportspersons to endorse their brands and act as their brand ambassadors.

However, with the onset of social media, many brands have shifted to influencer marketing instead. This is because influencers are much more affordable and are themselves looking for numerous opportunities to enhance their presence on social media.

Everyone loves to use the brands that are preferred by their favourite people on social media. Also, it will help you to establish a genuine brand image with the help of influencers and other trustworthy brands in your space.

According to this website, Instagram is used by 4 out of 5 brands for influencer marketing. With 79% of firms seeing Instagram as the most crucial medium for their influencer marketing operations, it is the network of choice.

And if you are worried about how to begin your own social media marketing campaigns, check out this insightful article which will provide you with the basics required to develop a successful influencer marketing strategy.

8.  Conclude by providing CTA (calls to action)

This is by far the most important step to include in a marketing video to improve conversion rates. If the users watch your video until the very end and are genuinely interested in the products or services offered by your brand, it is your responsibility to guide them further on what actions to take next. These are called CTA or calls to action. For example:

1. Subscribing to your channel
2. Checking out the brand website or product catalogue
3. Follow your channel on other platforms
4. Like, comment, and share the video with people they know
5. Sign up for an event (like a webinar)
6. Start a free trial
7. Or, purchase the product/ subscribe for the service

CTA could also be placed at the start of a video (called pre-roll CTA) or even in the middle of the video anywhere (called mid-roll CTA), and of course, the most preferred way is to place a CTA at the end of the video (called post-roll CTA) for all those who stick to the video until the end.

This website claims that CTAs have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 4.23%, which is higher than the CTR for Google Ads. So, make sure to specify the CTA clearly to the audience so that they do not get lost on their way to making a purchase!

Conclusion:

Standing out in this online world full of videos for the purpose of marketing and establishing your brand will take patience, perseverance, and consistency. To differentiate from others and create an impact, you can follow the tips discussed above and see the results yourself.

So, if you want to make a presence for your brand, get creative, produce that marketing video, choose the best-suited platform for your product (or all of them), and get started with your own video marketing campaign. And, do not shy away from sharing your content on social media to attract more leads and improve conversion rates.