The Newbie’s Guide To Video Content That Converts

The-Newbie’s-Guide-To-Video-Content-That-Converts-550x367  You’re ready to jump on video, right?

In a recent post, digital marketing expert Becky Brooks said more than half your audience is consuming content on a mobile device, and video is king when people are on the move.

The problem is you don’t quite know where to start, because there are different types of video content, and selecting the ones that would most attract your target audience and help increase engagement and conversions is a difficult task.

The challenge is that not all video content fits in with a company’s marketing plan. For example, a dentist would probably want to avoid using 360 video content because one of the major patient barriers of visiting a dentist is lying on a chair surrounded by scary-looking instruments.

That’s why we’re going to look at three different types of video content based on what stage of marketing you’re working with, including the awareness stage (audience doesn’t know your business well), consideration stage (audience knows your business but hasn’t fully engaged), and decision stage (audience is ready to buy).

1.  360-Degree Videos (Awareness Stage)

360-degree videos are all about giving viewers an immersive experience that captures their imagination and creates a desire to see or experience more.

These videos don’t work well for every business, but they are effective for a lot of ecommerce sites that want to give viewers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of an event or of how a product works.

The videos are useful when you’re trying to brand your company and draw attention to its existence.

For example, a skydiving business could create a 360 video from the point of view of someone who dives from a plane, providing viewers with a complete circular view of the dive.

This is a powerful and exhilarating method of placing the viewer directly into the environment and experience of a diver, with all the dizzying and fast-moving motions that skydiving entails.

But it can also communicate how the skydiving business is different. Remember, this is still the awareness stage, so the video could include something unique.

For example, if the skydiving company focuses on giving senior citizens the experience of a lifetime, older people should be heavily featured in the video.

2. Interactive Video (Consideration Stage)

Interactive video is effective because it requires viewers to perform tasks, which can increase their engagement and interest in what your business is offering.

The key of course is to build something within the video that either captures the audience’s contact information, directs them to your website, or actually persuades them to perform a call-to-action (CTA).

For example, a charitable organization that places abused children in loving homes could create an interactive video of a boy who is lost in a maze that represents a big city where he is searching for a safe place to stay.

Viewers could click on the maze to help the boy find his way to a home at the end of the maze, or they could also click a CTA donation button that gets the boy closer to the dream home based on the amount of the donation. A maximum donation would help the boy skip the maze entirely and arrive at the home.

Notice how the video engages viewers and allows them the power to change the little boy’s fate? That’s the kind of interaction that can stir emotions, and persuade viewers to perform a CTA that is one of the keys to converting a prospect into a customer.

3. Instructional Videos (Decision Stage)

When your target audience is on the cusp of making a purchase, instructional videos can seal the deal.

These videos explain in simple, clear terms how your core product or service works, and how it would apply in a real-life situation so that viewers get an idea of its practical applications.

If you own a business that lets customers build and customize their own stuffed animals, you could create a video that shows the different facets of building and customizing stuffed animals.

You could also incorporate the interactive elements we spoke about earlier, giving viewers the option of seeing how different stuffed animals can be customized with different items.

The goal with an instructional video is not simply to show viewers how your product or service works, but how easy it would be for customers to use the product.

Marketer Susan Finch has talked about how technical and how-to videos can solve problems and keep viewers entertained.

It’s also important to provide options for how things can be done so that viewers understand all the features your product or service offers.

You can also create a series of additional videos that viewers can only access after they have purchased a product or service. In other words, once viewers have become customers, they can enter a code that you provided when they bought their product or service, enter that code in a video form field, and get access to more helpful videos.

Make the Content Fit Your Goals

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is creating video content for the wrong marketing stage of their business. Similar to written content, there is no one-size-fits all type of video content that will work for every business.

That’s why you have to understand where you are in terms of your marketing funnel, and how to best attract your target audience based on that stage.

It’s also important for you to measure the impact of your video marketing. Whether that means metrics such as social media engagement, clickthroughs from video content to your website, or number of views a video earned, you have to quantify your efforts to determine what’s working and what isn’t.

If you are looking for more marketing advice, please contact us today.






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