A beginner’s guide to video marketing (part 1)

A beginner’s guide to video marketing (part 1)
CrakRevenue-how-to-guide-Targeting

Webmaster

Written by

Papa Whale

PUBLISHED ON

January 29, 2014

Category

Webmaster

“An image speaks a thousand words” says the old adage. I'll let you guess the amount of words spoken by a 2 minutes video at 30 images per second.

Video marketing is an excellent way to explain a concept, convey an idea and, as your goal probably is, sell a product.

However, video marketing is definitely not the simplest thing to pull off; and it has to be done right to work well. But fear not my friend, we got you covered with this simple guide.

Why, what and how.

There are a couple of things you first have to ask yourself:

Your goal, “Why do I want need to create a video?”

The answer to this question should be really simple.

  • Inform
  • Explain
  • Sell

Your message, “What do I want to say?”

This should be a little longer than your goal while going further in the same direction. Here are some examples of messages well communicated:

  • “Buy our deodorants, they’ll make you awesome!” — Old Spice
  • “Look at our new redesigned profile page, isn’t it beautiful?.” — Facebook Timeline

Your style, “How do I want to say it?”

The style is probably the most important part of the process. And by style, I not only mean the visual signature of the video, but also the tone, rhythm, length, etc.

Storytelling 101

From the questions outlined above, you'll probably be able to easily answer the why part. Let's assume you answered it with sell. The message and style should be decided in accordance to your brand is and audience.

In the aforementioned Old Spice ad, the choice of message and style was smart since they sell deodorant to guys. A not-so-serious subject. Picture the same ad trying to sell a fannypack? Or that same guy, with the same tone speaking for Amnesty International? Not sure that would work out...

First things first, words.

Write it first. Even the simplest form of video project will benefit of a good writing. Describe both the visuals and the voice over (if there's one).

Keep it short

If you find yourself wondering if it's too long, it probably is. Once your text is written and clearly communicates your message. Read it again and ask yourself not what you could add, but what you could remove.

Choose your style

As said previously, the style should go in the same direction as your brand.

The color palette is directly taken from the website, the message is confident and concise, and it's packed with clear flat iconography of things such as whales and money signs. Just as our brand dictated us to.

Get inspired

There a lot of really good content out there to seek for inspiration. Unfortunately there is also a lot of noise on places like Youtube and Vimeo. So here's a list of good places to find inspiration for video marketing.

  • Sandwich Video: Filmmaking company (couple of overlaps with startup-videos)
  • Vat19: Funny products, cleverly explained.

In the next-part, we will  look at the different software choices available, how to wrap up your video in order to close the sale effectively, and your publishing options. So stay tuned!

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