If you’re looking for an effective way to connect with customers and prospects, it’s hard to beat video. The best marketing videos use all the advantages of the medium — eye-catching visuals, a strong narrative, on-screen text, and music or other memorable audio — to express your brand and convey its value.
Before you invest in video production, however, it’s important to spend some time thinking about crafting your message to inform, entertain, and resonate. Whether you want to create awareness with a general advertisement or drive sales with a promotional video, you can use these proven tactics to tell your brand stories.
Connect to people’s feelings
Purchasing decisions are often emotional. Instead of just showing product features, it’s a good idea to create messages that appeal to feelings. For example, the photo-printing company Persnickety Prints created a simple, upbeat video that focuses on the emotional benefits of preserving family memories.
Think about how your products or services resonate with people’s feelings and values, and use that as a starting point to build your video ad.
Introduce the people behind the brand
The Persnickety Prints video ad shows the people who make the products. They look happy and friendly, which suggests that they’re committed to providing excellent products and customer service. And the camera moves in close to these subjects and shows their workspaces in ways that lend depth and authenticity to the video.
Consider creating a video that features some of your employees. It’s a great way to make a personal connection between potential customers and the people who make your business worth exploring.
Clearly show why your business is unique
Oh So Vivant created a social video ad that’s energetic and vibrant. It gets right to the point — and it gets its point across with or without music, which is critical if you want to grab attention as people scroll on social media. But most importantly, the video answers the question: Why is Oh So Vivant the best photo booth business out there?
By showing bold images of their customizable backdrops, the company makes it clear why you should engage them for your next gathering. When you create your video ads, use pictures, graphics, text, and narration to communicate what your business offers that others don’t.
Use your brand messaging and imagery
The Oh So Vivant video also weaves in the company’s tagline as the call to action, and it integrates messages from the company’s website and social channels. Notably, the ad shows that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you make a video for your business. Use your tagline, campaign slogans, logo, and hashtags to reinforce your brand and streamline your creative process.
Be the hero
If your small business, product, or service is a labor of love, if it came about in an unusual way, or if it’s the result of an inspiring personal journey, make that the focus of a video ad.
Everyone loves to hear about people who fought tough odds, discovered something new, changed their lives, or pursued their passions. These stories, like the one from author Jane Davis, can help customers connect with your brand. Creating a “hero video” can also give you a chance to position yourself as an expert or thought leader in your market space.
Ready to get started?
Use an app like Adobe Spark to create a small business video that explains your company’s value to investors, converts website visitors to paying customers at higher rates, or attracts new customers on social media. Here are a few more quick tips for compelling videos:
- On social, short videos are often best. Instagram has a one-minute limit.
- Strive to capture attention within the first 3 seconds. Strong visuals help.
- Since your video needs to be compelling even when the sound is off, consider using bold on-screen text.
