Tanya Knowles
How many videos have you watched today, or will watch?
I bet it’s at least one!
The 2nd largest search engine, YouTube (you might have heard of them!!) is one of the most frequently visited sites on the Internet. And for good reason too – we love to watch videos!
The Motion Picture
The saying a picture paints a thousand words first came into use in 1911 and was introduced by Arthur Brisbane when he said, “Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words”.
The thing that’s great about a video is that you can easily see and follow what is occurring, whereas a flat picture is sometimes not quite enough. This is true especially when you are trying to figure out how to debone a chicken or tile a bathroom.
Video has been around a long time; in fact the first known recording of any kind wa made by Alexander Graham Bell on April 9th 1860. That’s a loooong time ago! It’s a bit scratchy of course, but you can still listen to the world’s oldest recording today!
And since then the use of video has dramatically increased.
According to YouTube, there are:
- More than 1 billion YouTube users
- Hundreds of millions of hours of video are watched every day
- 300 hours of videos are upload to YouTube every minute
So, with all these YouTube addicts out there it would make sense to capitalize on the info-rich medium and help boost your sales.
Landing Pages
Statistics show that use of video on a landing page can boost conversion rates by as much as 80%.
Why?
Think about the buying cycle and what occurs in the prospects mind. Let’s assume the person is in the market to buy a compact camera, the following cycle can be observed:
- Awareness of a need, or a desire
- Product research and product knowledge
- Investigation of solutions or availability of products
- Comparison of alternatives
- Decision
Steps 4 and 5 often rotate a couple of times, and in for indecisive people a lot of times!
Now, your marketing can provide all of these and nurture people through the different stages. One particularly well-known case study is Apple who being with the creation of desire for their products and seem to caress you until you buy their products (yes I own several Mac’s if you were wondering!)
Anyway, back to the compact camera scenario.
If your buyer hits your landing page and it’s just got a couple of pictures with some technical specs copied from the manufacturer it’s likely to perform just like any other landing page. I.e. if the person was at decision stage they might buy.
Here’s the trick: using a video can catch people at the product research stage and smoothly push them to the decision to buy all in a matter of minutes.
If someone is watching a video on your site and decides to buy, the quickest way of fulfilling this decision is to buy right there and then on your website.
What should the video include if you want to sell a compact camera?
- Clear and easy to understand information (no technical jargon)
- Focus on benefits such as speed, design weight
- Demonstrate how easy it is to use
- Show examples of the pictures you can take
- Have a real live person talking and showing off the camera
These are just a few tips you could use, and transfer to other products as well
Smile for the camera
A few weeks ago I talked about boosting the Social Proof of your marketing and how the use of another person’s opinion can strongly back up the credibility of your brand and product.
Well, the best way of doing that is by using a video.
Recording your customers giving a review of your product or service is a great way to demonstrate to a would-be buyer that it’s safe to do it.
Likewise, a case study of an existing client showing how your product influenced the company and saved them money, made them more productive or increased sales etc etc is not only going to persuade the prospect to buy, but it would also catch people at the Product Research stage of the buying cycle.
Aaaaaaand action.
Creating a video doesn’t have to be an enormous task with multiple takes and hours of editing.
A video recorded on a mobile or tablet is often more than adequate.
Of course, there are professional companies that will do a better job for sure, but those of you on a tight budget can get amazing results with your phone!
The key to getting a good video is to figure out what you want to achieve BEFORE you start recording.
This is my basic plan:
- Write down my purpose for the video
- Figure out who should star in the video
- Decide what props (if any) might be needed
- Choose a suitable location that is well lit or can be well lit
- Sketch out a “storyboard” that covers several key topics
- Flesh out the key topics with information
- Do a short practice run
- Start shooting
- Re-take if needed and apply any editing.
- Upload the video to your website and start using it.
You can do this today.
Just grab a piece of paper and get started!
P.S If you found this useful, please share it with your friends!
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