Video marketing can be very powerful and persuasive, especially if used properly in your website, social marketing or as a follow-up tool after a sales meeting.
But what kinds of video marketing best drive sales?
Should you focus on animated videos or personal videos?
Both of them have their purpose but many misunderstand their application.
Find out in the podcast or article below how to capitalize on both animated and personal videos in your video marketing to drive more sales.
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Video Marketing is All the Rage! How Can You Capitalize on Animated and Personal Videos?
Video marketing is all the rage… Live video, animated video or just regular video; which should you do for marketing?
Last week I covered live video marketing and I shared that I believe for the majority of businesses it may not be the best marketing endeavor to pursue.
Recently, Joan emailed me about an animated video that I recorded and uploaded to Facebook.
She asked if she should be doing them as well and how do I create them? She also wanted to know if she should exclusively create animated videos or if they should be addition to her regular videos?
The simple answer to her question is yes and yes.
Video marketing is evolving and today it requires you know how to communicate to your audience in varying ways.
Both animated and personal videos have their roles to play and I’m going to share with you how to capitalize on both the drive more sales on your website (and on social media).
How Do Animated Videos Powerfully Drive Sales
Video marketing through animated videos are a great way to introduce solutions to problems or to simplify complex ideas through a quick, entertaining and educational means.
There are some great resources out there to create animated videos.
I just recently started using Powtoon.com and it has quickly become one of my favorite sites. It is so easy and so intuitive.
What I love about animated video is how you can explain things in a very graphic and illustrative way that is user-friendly to the viewer.
However, there are even more benefits to as an animated video creator.
One benefit is that I’m forced to think through complex ideas, systems or processes and simplify them for a short animated video. The benefits go way beyond the video itself. Imagine you’re asked about it in person… you no longer have to stumble through a long, drawn-out, complex answer that leaves the person on the other end wishing he or she had never asked.
Video marketing is all about how easy, fun and informative you can make it for the viewer!
In some ways, animated videos that are well done take me back to Saturday mornings in the late 70’s and early 80’s as a kid.
School House Rock
Remember School House Rock?
The video was fun, musical, and entertaining. It was also highly educational.
In recent marketing trends, infographics have been highly helpful for website and blog owners.
Think of animated video marketing as an infographic that is animated.
I mentioned Powtoon.com early on as my source of creating animated videos. It is an extremely easy-to-use and powerful tool for animated video marketing.
Over the last year, I’ve tested several different animated video websites and software. Powtoon was by far the best one.
My son, Andrew, owns TheAuthorBlog.com and he has become a master of animated videos.
When he introduced them on his website he immediately saw a 10 to 15% increase in new business.
He was able to present a non-threatening, fun way of tapping into the emotions that highly gifted but struggling authors experience when it comes to formatting their books digitally and preparing them for Amazon Kindle.
Andrew’s animated videos graphically illustrated more about the “why” and the process than he could have done with a boring video of him standing in front of the camera trying to explain things or in a long text format that people don’t want to read.
If you want to boost your video marketing, your audience will love animated videos and you’ll enjoy a massive uptick in conversion rates; and that’s what we’re all after.
Personal Videos are Still Important to Drive Sales as Well!
Video marketing should also include you, the business owner or face of the business.
People don’t want to stop seeing you just because they love your animated videos.
Creating video that you are in has some great benefits of its own.
First, it enhances your competency in the mind of those who consume your video marketing. In turn, that leads to people feeling like they know, like and trust you.
Competency in the mind of the viewer is created when you’re able to deliver content that your viewers want to consume because they feel you’re the real deal.
Competency is created when the viewer believes that you know what you’re talking about.
If you think about it, you can create text context (which you should) and make your readers believe you’re the most credible person who’s ever lived. But, how does someone know if that’s really you who wrote it?
People steal content from all over the web and make it their own all of the time.
In web design, I occasionally run across businesses that like other websites and want exactly what they have, almost word-for-word. That’s never a good idea for a lot of reasons. Check back tomorrow as I’ll have an article on this subject.
Videos Full of Competency are Powerful!
In contrast, when you make a video marketing piece, you have to know your material so well that you can rattle it off. You can say what needs to be said with an incredible amount of inspiration. When viewers are listening and watching they know you’re not making it up.
They know you that know what you’re talking about.
Text alone cannot create or buy that type of authenticity.
That’s what a personal video does for you in video marketing.
When your viewers see you, they see your authenticity, genuineness, competency and they see that you know what you’re talking about.
That allows them to feel as though they know you better than if all they did was read text.
When to Use Animated vs. Personal Videos in Video Marketing
Video marketing can be very powerful and persuasive, especially if used properly in your website, social marketing or as a follow-up tool after a sales meeting. If you’re interested, here is an article I recently wrote titled “Closing Sales: How to Use Video to Close the Deal.”
Animated Videos
Animated video is like a big infographic that takes complex ideas and simplifies them. It allows the viewer to passively enjoy the learning experience and feel your passion at the same time.
Animated video marketing allows for a step-by-step illustration in a way that people can digest and understand easily and quickly.
How much more fun and entertaining is it to see an animated cartoon over a long, drawn out explanation in a personal video or in text?
I think you will discover that you can get a lot higher conversion rates on your website, sales pages, blog, and social media.
Animated videos can open doors of opportunity.
Personal Videos
On the other hand, personal videos with you in them create a highly personal touch. Your viewers can see and hear you, and they can discern quickly if they feel you’re competent or not.
Personal videos will help you more meaning connect with your viewers and audience, creating the feeling that you are genuine, authentic and competent.
How is Competency Created in Video Marketing?
Video marketing, and marketing in general, is about creating competency that leads to trust and a sales opportunity.
But how do you create competency?
Competency for our purposes is a function of relevancy and clarity.
Relevance
Relevance asks the question; does your understand feel you understand their problems, needs, wants and desires so personally that they say to themselves;
OMG, How Did You Know…?
In a recent article titled “How to Create a Powerful Voice for Your Business” I went into more detail on how to create content that is so relevant people ask themselves; OMG, how did you know…?
Find Your Message and Relevance and Your Video Marketing Will Catapult Your Business
If you’re finding that the message behind your videos is non-exist or confusing, or if you’re viewers are not engaging with you or contacting you, we need to talk.
The hardest part of video marketing, or all marketing really, is identifying what business are you “really” in.
When you understand how your audience sees your business as it relates to their problems, needs, wants and desires, you can create relevant content through your videos that talk to your audience.
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