When given the choice between video and text, 72% of people would opt for a video to find out more about a new product. So, it’s obvious — people love to watch and learn new information that way. For this reason, promotional videos are an essential part of every marketing campaign. If you’re yet to try them out, we’ve made this promo video guide to help you along the way.
At the end of the day, a high-quality promotional video can be effective even with a low budget. Because internet users desire promo videos, you should give them what they want. Fortunately, technology has advanced so much that you can create a video with inexpensive cameras or mobile devices in no time.
Here’s our guide to promotional videos to kickstart your campaign!
What Is a Promo Video?
Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of making a promotional video, it’s important that you understand what it is compared to other types of videos.
A promo video is specifically used to promote a product, a service, a sale, or an event. In most cases, it shows how something works and how it will help customers solve their problems. Production wise, it’s often short in length as marketers want to capture the audience’s attention immediately. Because of its style and tone, a promotional video is compared to a teaser video where you grab the audience’s attention and interest them to learn more.
Why Are Promo Videos Effective?
Marketers have different video formats at their disposal, but promos allow them to show off and spread their message in the shortest amount of time. In today’s world, this is exactly what you need to pique interest in a certain event, service, or product.
Here are the top three reasons why a promo video is so effective.
It Hits Right in the Feels
Video content lets you appeal to the emotional side of your customers or prospects. We all like to believe that we’re rational decision makers. However, science suggests that this is not the case. When we’re about to make a decision, our choice is largely based on our emotions. Although we believe we’ve made a logical decision, we’ve actually gone with our gut.
Advertisers are well aware of this. That’s why they put a stress on emotionally charged promo videos. Just think about it. How many times have you been compelled to take some action after watching a moving video? Probably a lot. So, it’s not surprising that marketers use this to their advantage.
It Introduces the Product Before Customers Buy It
Most people do extensive research before they commit to buying something. It’s quite understandable. If they’re about to spend their hard-earned money, they want to know that a product or service is worth it. To convince them that your brand can help, you should use videos. This content type is all over the internet, with 55% of people watching it every day.
A promo video, in particular, allows customers to visualize what it would be like if they were to purchase your product/service. It removes any doubt they may have and moves them down the sales funnel.
It’s Great for a Short Attention Span
The marketing world relies on so many content types to plug a brand. None of them are able to get a message across as quickly as videos are. In fact, the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. No wonder that many companies became popular after employing video marketing!
A promo video is particularly suitable for short attention spans. Marketers and advertisers have only ten seconds to engage and attract a customer before they leave a website or scroll down on social media. Therefore, short, attention-grabbing video content is what you need today. You want to excite your audience and show them that your promo video is worth their time!
How to Make a Promo Video?
When you’re new to the marketing world, it’s hard to make your first videos. However, practice makes perfect and you’ll quickly find your feet in the industry. If you’re yet to make a promo video, here are our tips on how to go about video production.
Establish a Goal
Don’t go creating videos without setting a goal. So, what do you want to achieve with your video? Want to raise brand awareness? Increase conversions or click-throughs? Whatever your objective is, it will affect all of your decisions during pre- and post-production.
If your goal is conversions, then focus on adding a strong call-to-action to your video. On the other hand, if it’s brand awareness, think what kind of storyline will stick with viewers even after the video ends. And if your objective is click-throughs, make sure to pique your viewers’ interest.
Choose a Video Style
After setting your goals, it’s time to decide what video style you’ll use. A live-action video can help you create an emotional bond with your viewers. You can show off your product with an animated video that reflects your brand’s personality and style. Also, motion graphics are great if you want to convey details that are hard to grasp otherwise. Our point is — opt for the style that best suits your narrative.
Prepare a Script
Writing a script is important for a promo video if you want to stay short and concise, and also be attention-grabbing. Every second counts with videos, therefore, make sure you devise a plan to get your viewers’ short attention span on your side.
Because of their focus on emotions, promotional videos let you be as creative as possible. You should aim to capture attention in the first five seconds and put all important information in the beginning. A good idea would be to use visuals to make every piece of information clear.
In essence, the script is the foundation of promos. To get the most of it, you can hire professional writers. After all, the success of the video depends on the script. So, you have to ensure it’s top-notch. Whatever your ultimate goal is, the script will communicate that to your audience.
Start Producing
This final step is the most important one. It can make or break your promo video. Regardless of your budget and experience, we recommend that you get a crew together to produce your video. Devote time to each aspect of that video and determine whether it’s suitable for your target audience, i.e. think from their perspective. If you’re satisfied with your end result, you can start formatting the video for each channel. After that, you’ll be ready to show your golden child to the world!
Where to Use a Promo Video?
After creating your promo video, you need to show it to the world! Specifically, you need to present it to your target audience. Ask yourself the following:
- Who is your target audience?
- What age group are they in?
- Where can you find them?
Once you understand your customers and their behavior, you can choose the right channel for your promo video. Brands tend to use social media for their promotional videos. So, these networks should be your go-to platform as well. After all, 500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day. Imagine your video reaching just a small portion of these users — you’d meet most of your marketing objectives!
But social networks aren’t the only place where you can share your videos. Consider featuring promotional videos in the following places:
- Website and landing pages: This is effective because customers reach these pages to learn more about your product, asset, or event.
- Emails: Send promos to your contact list because videos increase click rates.
- Digital ads: Allocate a budget for ads so you can reach a wider audience.
Top Promotional Videos
Promo videos are one of the most creative, emotional, and entertaining content available in the marketing world. If your video goes viral, your brand will gain traction while your product or cause will get global exposure. Just ask the below companies that created top promotional videos. Check out what they did!
Airbnb: The Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse
Who would have known that Airbnb and Barbie would make such a dream team? No one, that’s for sure! In late 2019, Airbnb released an ad featuring Ibtihaj Muhammad, a famous American fencer. The ad quickly snatched attention on social media because of its stunning visuals.
The footage shows a real-life Barbie Malibu dreamhouse available on Airbnb. The viewers are given a tour of the house whose design is out of this world. When Muhammad is done talking, Airbnb informs the audience when the house is available for rent.
Dollar Shave Club: Our Blades Are F***ing Great
No list of top promotional videos would be complete without our next ad. Dollar Shave Club was the talk of the town in 2012 with its “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” commercial. What’s unique about this promo video is how well the company knows its target audience and their problems.
With this ad, Dollar Shave Club wanted to attract young, professional men who usually buy razors at local stores. The company emphasized how ridiculously expensive razors were in those stories. Therefore, it appealed to the emotional side of its viewers to prove its point. Take a look at the ad and see why millions of people were compelled to buy from Dollar Shave Club!
Google Assistant: A Million Things Made Easier
Google knows a thing or two about creating successful promo videos. The one on our list was released back in 2018, quickly capturing the viewers’ attention.
“A Million Things Made Easier” features a number of celebrities, including John Legend and Kevin Durant. All of them face problems that Google’s Virtual Assistant can easily solve. Forgot your alarm code? No worries, just use your Virtual Assistant and you’ll be good to go.
The simple one-shot method Google used is effective and visually pleasing. This simplicity makes the video fun to watch.
Add Promo Videos to Your Campaign!
Promo videos are an effective and powerful way to introduce your product or service to the world. They don’t beat around the bush, but get straight to the point which the audience loves. And they prove to be one of the best mediums for generating sales. Plus, you have the freedom to use any style you want and be as creative as possible.
Lastly, video marketing is the future and shouldn’t be neglected by any company. If your brand is using video as a tool, it’s important that you post your content on a reliable online video platform. You want to have a powerful player that allows you to monitor the performance of your videos while giving you extensive monetization options. Brid.TV is just what you need!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
