Video is a powerful tool for engaging busy customers. 75% of senior executives watch video at work and share video with colleagues. Videos integrated into emails and press releases dramatically increase click-through rates.
What Is Promo Video?
Video marketing goes by several different names including “promo video,” “promotional video,” “corporate video,” “product video” and even “explainer video.” But regardless of the name, videos used for marketing and sales purposes have rapidly grown in popularity. According to a recent study by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, 70% of content marketers are now using video as part of their marketing arsenal.
The Benefits of Good Video
Video has quickly become a popular tool for telling compelling brand stories and engaging busy customers. In a world with busy schedules and varied learning styles, video is particularly effective at communicating, especially when you’re targeting the C-suite. According to a Forbes article, video has “evolved from a novelty into a mainstream method for [senior] executives to receive business information. Younger executives in particular appear more inclined not only to view video, but also to create it and share it.” One example of a video shared among colleagues is our “B2B Marketing [r]Evolution”.
Competition for Audience Attention is High
All that traffic means the level of competition for an audience is high. Audience attention is a precious commodity, and you can’t afford to squander it with poorly executed promotional videos. Your video has to instantly capture and then hold your audience’s attention. But the benefits are compelling.
- According to a Forbes study: 75% of senior executives watch work related videos at least weekly
- Audiences retain 50% more information from watching video
What Qualities Do The Best Videos Share?
Effective promo videos share a number of important qualities that make them effective:
- Voice of the Customer
- Compelling business issues
- Entertaining story
- Expert graphic design
- Quality audio production
The Importance of Being Customer-centric
Your company has a unique story to tell about how you bring value to your customers. You need to demonstrate to your customers that you understand their business problem and can help them find the solution. A well-crafted video series focused on telling stories that educates customers through each stage of their buying process and adapts the customer’s voice creates a connection with your brand, facilitates the customer buying process, and improves sales effectiveness.
The Power of Storytelling
While the price of producing a high quality video production has gone down, you just can’t get away with overly promotional videos of talking heads making boastful claims. Today’s B2B buyer is sick of commercials and expects more from your video content. To rise above the noise, your company video needs to make an emotional connection with your target audience. That’s where good storytelling comes in.
More Emotion, Less Promotion
In a 2012 survey sponsored by IDG Enterprise on customer engagement found that sales pitches dramatically reduced perceived trustworthiness of content. In a study by eMarketer, 81% of B2B technology marketers said “compelling and engaging storytelling” is the most important element of successful content. We humans are hard-wired to be drawn to stories. It’s in our DNA. Stories are a part of our everyday lives. We respond to stories, because we see something of ourselves in them. Your customers have business problems that they are highly motivated to find solutions for. What if they could see something of themselves in the stories your company videos told?
Make no mistake; video for business is still a promo video. But in today’s customer-centric content marketing climate, video producers need to be less advertorial to create a human connection with buyers. After all, we’re dealing with human beings, not statistics. Promotional video provides an invaluable opportunity to connect with customers.
How To Write A Video Script
Writing a good video script is not easy. The content should focus on important industry and business issues that will resonate with your target customer, while taking a journalistic or educational approach. Writing for spoken word is different that writing for readers; the tone is more conversational, sentences are shorter, and good soundbites are important. It needs to tell a story and not be abstract. You also have to get the voice right. The script should adopt the voice of your target customer and make the customer the hero of the story.
Quality Audio Affects Viewer Perception of Overall Quality
The audio track plays a very important role. It’s critical to have a clean audio track with clear voice-over using an experienced voice actor who is easy to understand, even by people who are not fluent in the language of the video. Background noise, echos, inappropriate music scores or distorted audio can seriously damage the perception of an otherwise high quality video.
Promo Video as Part of the Continuum of Content
Many companies expect one piece of content to do all their lead generation work. But a Forbes/Google study of senior executives found that most executives like a mix of text and video. They might watch a video at the beginning, but then they want to obtain additional information through infographics, articles and other text-based content. According to the Forbes study, 65% of executive-level decision makers visit company websites after viewing a video. Promo video can also make an overall campaign more effective. For example, 76% of senior marketing executives say that integrating video into email campaigns increases click through rates. Your promo videos should be part of a continuum of related content that helps prospects step through each phase in their buying process.
Here’s an example of a video we produced for Progress Software (part of their FX aggregation series based on a white paper and podcasts):
We Can Help
At PropelGrowth, we are focused on customer-centric content that supports a solution selling process. We can help your company to capture audience attention with high-quality animated video production, as well as advise you on how to craft compelling stories that engage customers.
*If you choose a package where you’re doing the script work, and you find that you need our help writing an engaging script, we may charge by the hour or move you to the next level, which ever is less expensive depending on the amount of support you need.
**If you need longer promo videos, we can discuss rates. Additional costs will depend on length and the sophistication of the animation work.
***We can also provide custom music composition. Contact us to discuss pricing.
Stock art is not included in the package price. If we need to purchase stock art or music, we will pass on the costs to you.
These options do not include studio or camera work. However, we can make those services available with a network of partners who can shoot video at or near your location. Contact us to discuss pricing.