Entries Tagged 'Video marketing' ↓

The internet is jam packed with videos these days.

Bloggers, would-be musicians and companies are all at it vying for your attention.

That means if your video is going to cut the mustard and get noticed it’s got to be something pretty special.

Granted, the production, initial idea and storyboard will have a lot to do with that, but so too will your video’s script. After all, you need powerful words to make the most of the action.

Making an impact

The first thing to remember is that your script must be written in spoken English.

Written English, as you would use for web copy and other marketing materials, will come across as stilted, so it’s important to write as you speak.

Whether you have a storyboard to fit your script to, or you’re writing freestyle, it’s important to start with the most important person – the customer.

Every word must be directed at them and what they need, so think about:

• What are they looking for?
• How does the product/service help them?
• How will it make their life better?

These should all be addressed early on (and recapped at the end) before you talk about any features.

Pain and pleasure

Once you’ve worked out what you need to cover to answer the question above, finding the customer’s pain (i.e. the problem they have and the reason for them looking for a solution) should be fairly easy.

Your next stop is to highlight this issue in your script and show how the product/service will alleviate it and make their life better.

Speaking

Going back to the earlier point of using spoken English – now’s the time to ignore (some) grammatical rules and write as you speak.

Don’t get me wrong, it still has to be good English, just not as straight-laced as written English.

The best way to make sure you’ve captured it is to read the script out loud and adjust it until it sounds like natural speech.

The length of the script

Remember this is a video, not a feature length film.

The video isn’t there to answer every question the customer has; it’s there to tempt them into finding out more.

Ideally, your video shouldn’t exceed 90 seconds.

Call to action

Yes, your script does need a call to action.

If you don’t include one, it will just fizzle.

Recap your main points (especially the benefits) and tell them how to get in touch. The final visual should be of the web address, phone number and email. Let’s face it if you forget that they’re not going to get in touch.

So, a quick recap:

• Write for the customer
• Write in spoken English
• Keep to 90 seconds or less
• Finish with a call to action

Author – Sally Ormond, Briar Copywriting Ltd

It’s been a long hard slog, but finally it’s finished.

You’ve shown it to the Board and they love it, but will your audience?

Now the hard work begins. Now you have to make sure your investment brings in a healthy return.

Maximising your investment

It’s time to unleash your baby and send it out into the big bad world.

Your initial thoughts are probably to get it loaded up to YouTube, get it on your website and optimise it for SEO (search engine optimisation) to grab a bit of traffic.

That’s a good start, but there’s so much more you could be doing to get a better return on your investment.

Website

 Of course you’re going to use it on your website, but why only use it once?

Let’s say it’s a video demonstrating your new product. Don’t just hide it away on your product pages, put it on your home page too to highlight your latest offering.

It goes without saying you have a blog (how else will you build your brand identity?), so write an article about it and embed the video.

Here’s a thought, how about creating a resource section on your website? Over time it will become a useful resource where your customers can view all your videos to learn about your products and how they will help them.

Using the video widely across your website will generate traffic and boost your customer service levels because you’re taking the time to educate your customers.

Social media

Never underestimate the power of social media.

All the channels you use, such as YouTube, Vimeo Facebook and Twitter will push your video out to a wider audience. Create a number of tweets that focus on different aspects of the video and post them at different times of day. You could do the same on Facebook and, assuming you do your job well, your viewers will help you get your message out by sharing and re-tweeting.

When you’re posting your video its well worth taking the time to post different thumbnails and headlines to draw in different audiences.

Shows

Do you exhibit at a lot of trade shows and exhibitions?

They are so crowded it’s important to make your company stand out.

Showing your videos is a great way to draw people to you and creates a talking point. Whether they show your latest product, or an overview that explains what your company is about and what it does for its customers, a video will make an impact.

Of course, it’s worth remembering that it’s likely to be noisy so adding sub titles is a great idea.

Summary

Repurposing content in this way will extend its longevity and help get the information out to a range of audiences.

There’s a lot of potential in a corporate video if you use it wisely. Using it in multiple formats, using social media to spread the news and repurposing its content will make your investment go a long way.

Do you have any other ideas about how a corporate video can be used? I’d love to hear your ideas – the more inventive the better. Leave a comment below.

With over 30 million visitors a day, YouTube is the second largest search engine. That’s why it makes sense to house your videos on the platform.

Millions of businesses are making the most of YouTube’s popularity by using it as a repository for their videos that they can then embed within their own website.

Not only do they benefit from YouTube’s search capabilities, but they can also use it to create a channel to which people can subscribe.

It sounds great, but its popularity also has drawbacks – namely competition for rankings and the need for an SEO strategy.

As with all content marketing strategies, every video you put out must be of a high quality and contain content that’s targeted to your audience. Then it comes down to good old-fashioned hard work to optimise your videos for maximum impact.

How to improve your YouTube rankings

1. Keywords

You can’t get away from them. Whatever form your online marketing takes, keywords will always have a part to play.

This isn’t a free ticket to keyword-stuff your videos, far from it, but it is important to make sure you use words that relate to your video’s content. A great tool to use for this is YouTube’s own keyword tool.

2. Video title

Just as with your articles and blog posts, your video title will have a big impact on your click rate.

Make sure it’s short, attention grabbing and uses one or two of your keywords. But you only have 120 characters to play with, so you may have to get creative (just so long as the title is relevant to the video’s content).

3. Description

Sadly, Google can’t watch your video so the only way it will know what it’s about is through your description. Again, use your keywords (sparingly) and, if it’s a long video, add a transcription to give your SEO a boost.

4. Tags

Video tags serve the same purpose as those you use for blog posts. They help YouTube understand what you’re video is about and, by using keywords (plus locations, categories etc.) they will boost it’s search-ability.

5. Links

Links back to your video are as important as links to your website. In the same way as they help your Google rankings, links back to your video will help its YouTube rankings.

6. Thumbnail

Not as obvious is attractiveness of your video’s thumbnail.

Find an image that will appeal to your audience to try and attract clicks.

How does YouTube ranking videos?

It’s also worth taking note of the factors that YouTube takes into account when it comes to rankings its videos:

• How many views the video has
• How long users spend watching the video
• How many appearances it’s made on a user’s playlist
• How many positive ratings and comments it’s received
• How many subscribers your YouTube channel has
• How many times the video’s been added as a favourite or to a playlist
• How many times the video has been embedded on the web

Popularity appears to be a recurring factor, therefore it’s worth adding another factor to help you improve your rankings – social sharing. Getting your videos out on social media regularly will boost your audience and have a positive impact on your rankings.

Author: Sally Ormond, copywriter at Briar Copywriting Ltd and cyclist (not at the same time).

What’s an explainer video?

It’s a great tool that quickly gets across the message about the benefits of your product or service to your audience.

Hmm…that sums up this whole post really. But as it’s a bit short, let’s have a think about how to make your explainer video as powerful as possible.

You already know how much Google loves video marketing, so the addition of an explainer video on your website, YouTube channel and social media platforms has to be a good thing.

A couple of examples

Here’s one I produced for my copywriting services business:

In about 90 seconds it shows the viewer the benefits of using a freelance copywriter.

This is one I scripted for a client:

Again, in 90 seconds the viewer knows what the service is what it can do for them.

How long should an explainer video be?

People have short attention spans, so you’re looking at anything between 90 – 120 seconds.

How should the video be shot?

It depends on your business and the product or service you’re talking about.

Both of the above examples have gone down the animated route because it’s a simple and effective way to get the message across.

You can also use a real person presenting, add music or even use slides.

The main thing is to think about your customers and would what appeal to them.

What about the script?

The scripting of your video is one of the most important elements of the whole process.

One mistake many companies make when writing their own, is they go into too much detail creating something that’s way too long and detailed.

The trick it to keep your script short, to the point and simple. Using only a few words, you have to get across the main benefits of your product or service in a fun and memorable way.

It’s important to remember that the images will probably come after the script, so it’s important to keep the visuals in mind when writing your content.

If you landed on a website would you rather see an entertaining and well thought out explainer video, or a screen full of text?

Of course, you can also use explainer videos as ‘how to’ guides to extend your customer service.

They are a valuable addition to your marketing strategy so why not give them a go? They don’t have to cost the earth and can produce some impressive results.

Video marketing is a must these days, which means it’s time to get to grips with YouTube.

And that means planning your YouTube strategy.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to create and share great video content that’s valuable and relevant to the audience you want to attract. That’s all well and good, but what kind of video content do you need?

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Social Media Examiner. Whilst researching this subject, I came across a post on their blog that basically sums up the kind of strategy you need to make a YouTube impact.

I’ll give you the link in a moment, but to give you a flavour of what to expect, they come up with 5 styles of YouTube video that will get you the results you want:

1. Trailer video
2. Videos that share stats that matter to your audience
3. Share a customer success story to establish a good reputation
4. Answer commonly asked questions to position yourself as an expert in your field
5. Create a ‘how to’ video to teach your audience a valuable skill

OK, here’s the link I promised you – Simple YouTube Strategy

It really is worth a look, so grab a coffee and have a read.