Use Compelling Video Content to Connect with Your Audience
Connecting with your audience through compelling video content assures increased visibility, customer loyalty and brand favorability among a host of other positive outcomes. Videos are one of the most powerful mediums that marketers have available because they can engage viewers on an emotional level. Telling consumers a relatable story, highlighting your services with testimonials or presenting a documentary-style inside look at your business are just a few way that videos can help you create a connection with your target audience.
Videos Enable Your Business to Connect with Millions of People
Content Marketing Institute explains just how important compelling video content is becoming to the marketers and businesses owners alike. “Video is taking over the world, with more than 4 billion hours of video viewed each month. In fact, YouTube is now the second most used search engine, right behind Google.” It’s clear that video is essential for building your brand, but how do you do it?
Compelling Content Has an Arc
Unfortunately, creating compelling video content isn’t as easy as simply shooting a video and posting it on YouTube. If your video is lackluster, you may turn off potential customers, or worse, bore them. Your content must motivate your audience to act, whether that action is submitting a form to request more information or buying your product. Good videos result in favorable actions.
To produce a good video, you need compelling video content, including a story arc – a beginning, middle and end. It also should express a “pain point” or need. This helps make your content relatable. Once your story has presented a problem or need, show how your brand, product or business can solve that need as the climax. End with a call to action, or CTA, that directs the viewer further down the sales funnel.
Specific Calls to Action Are Crucial
Just as you want to illuminate a relatable issue or problem at the beginning of your video, a specific CTA is essential at the end. Get creative with your CTAs. A simple “call today” or “act now” can leave the audience feeling let down or deflated, especially after an emotionally charged story arc. A great example of a dynamic CTA is Best Buy’s 2015 holiday campaign, which suggested that we could all “win the holidays” the way “Steve” did if we shopped at Best Buy.
Consider, as Best Buy did, using a voiceover to convey your CTA instead of presenting a traditional screen image. A combination of both has also proven to be effective. Regardless, creativity is the key to helping you stand out and get your audience moving on those CTAs.
Keep It Simple
Your may have a great idea for a multi-part video campaign that involves high end licensed music, stunts and exploding cars, but keeping your content simple (and affordable to produce) is a good rule of thumb. Remember, Hollywood movies and national ad campaigns have huge budgets, and their content still misses the mark sometimes. A realistic sense of expectation based on your budget is paramount. That being said, for us production value has nothing to do with cost. Its the level of expertise, professionalism and knowledge that is brought to every shoot regardless of scope or budget.
Creative juices mixed with audience research and practical assessments of time, budget and planning is a surefire recipe for stellar video content with compelling, engaging messaging.
