Every day about 24,000-days worth of video is uploaded to the internet. Some are informative with high production value, others are as simple as a cell phone video of a cat blasting through a screen door. And, of course, there are plenty of promo videos.
The amount of content available online is certainly overwhelming. But people do actually watch much of this content. On YouTube alone, almost 5 billion videos are watched every day.
If you’re thinking about a promo video for your business, you may be wondering how you can get a piece of that viewership pie. Even capturing a fraction of a percent of the internet viewing audience would be a game-changer.
As much as we might want them to, great promotional videos don’t fall out of the sky. They require creativity, planning, thoughtful execution and more. And that’s a tall order for any business owner to do on their own!
But creating an attention-grabbing video promotion is possible because there are a few things every great promo video have in common. With that in mind, here are five tips for making a buzz-worthy promotional video that will propel your business to greater success.
1. Don’t spend too much
This year, the average 30-second spot during the Super Bowl cost around $5.6 million. You shouldn’t even be considering spending such an amount on your promo video.
And there’s no need to hire a big-city advertising firm to create and produce your spot. They’ll charge you hundreds of thousands of dollars with no guarantee their product will be successful at building the engagement or brand awareness you’re looking for.
While it’s important to invest in quality video for your brand, creating content is more affordable and accessible than ever before. You can take advantage of these cost savings by using an online video production company, or you may even keep the project in-house using equipment you already have to shoot your own video promotion.
So don’t break the bank on your promotional video! Quality video doesn’t cost what it used to, especially if you are able to take advantage of the resources available to you. But creating an effective promo video does take a great deal of planning.
2. Consistency is key
This is an important lesson not just for promo videos, but for building your brand in general. Creating a quality promo video simply enhances your brand awareness and builds upon the identity you’ve created for your brand. But this only works if you’ve remained consistent in your branding.
Whenever you showcase your company, you want to offer the same look, feel and attitude. This means using the same colors, font and tone every time. Predictability of presentation helps people get to know your business and ultimately builds brand awareness.
Chances are, you’re planning to create several promotional videos, or at least you should be. Make sure each one presents your brand in a manner consistent with previous marketing efforts. While every video promotion should be unique, they should be easily identified as a group as well.
3. Keep your promo video short
The average adult attention span is a brief 8 seconds. This marks a sharp decline from merely 20 years ago, in 2000, when adult attention spans were 12 seconds. Certainly, 12 seconds is still quite short, but for attention spans to reduce by 30 percent in two short decades… something’s up.
Of course, we know the reason. This decline is directly attributed to the rise of the internet and instantaneous access to information. Remember dial-up? Can you imagine people going back to waiting for 60 seconds (or more) before reaching their homepage? Society would collapse.
Okay, collapse may be a bit harsh. But the point is, people don’t have much patience these days. So you have to play to their short attention spans in your promo videos.
When creating your film, focus on capturing attention from the very start. Present your information from most to least important so viewers are more likely to hear everything they need to know within the first eight seconds of your video promotion. This is by no means easy. But when you limit your time, you also distill your message into the most essential points and strip off all the fluff.
4. Simplify your message
Staying brief is essential, but just as important is keeping your message simple. The average American reading level is about 7th grade. This basic reading level is the ceiling of most peoples’ understanding. So if your audience is the general public, you shouldn’t be creating promotional videos a 7th grader couldn’t understand.
Depending on your industry, this may be a challenging task. But if you really want to grab peoples’ attention and ensure they grasp your promo video’s message, make your message simple by staying on the audience’s level.
5. Consider an explainer video
To achieve a goal of attention-grabbing simplicity, an explainer video is a great way to go. These informative animations have a knack for taking complex business concepts and boiling them down to their most essential parts, parts every viewer can understand.
Explainers make some of the best promo videos because they use a medium everyone can relate to, like animation, and marry the visual with a catchy tune, conversational script and, in some cases, memorable statistics, to support their claims.
You probably don’t have an animated cartoon maker on staff (or even on retainer) to create a promo video like this. But there’s great news! There are many quality production companies out there creating effective, affordable promotional videos.
Making a great promo video may seem difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. So what are you waiting for? Contact us today to get started on your next promo video.
