How to nail that promo video you’re thinking about making
You ever watch a really beautiful video that clearly cost someone a lot of money and looks stunning and when it's over think "WOW. That was amazing. What was that a video for?" Yeah me too.
I have a lot of friends who are incredible videographers, have all the best new gear, spent years and years studying and perfecting their craft, and I'm super proud of them and the work they do. Their job is to make beautiful videos, and they're very good at that.
What a lot of videographers don't know how to do is create effective messaging that captivates customers, and how to structure it in a way that helps them understand what you're selling.
A promotional video should promote your business, product, or services. Here's a simple structure to follow when creating a new promotional video for your business:
Start with the problem.
Think about the best public speakers you've seen or watched on a TED talk or something. They all follow a few sneaky secrets that help engage their audience. All the tricks are backed by research and there are tons of studies you can read about this stuff. It's super fascinating. One of the things great speakers do is they never start a speech by introducing themselves. They know that doing that will cause an audience to shut themselves off right off the bat. We've all heard it before, and we're over it. So they start by introducing an interesting problem that activates the audience's curiosity.
I know it might seem counterintuitive to do this in our new video. Our very first instinct is to start everything by blabbing about ourselves, how much we know, and how awesome we are. Everyone wants to tell their story, but your customers don't find that super helpful. "My grandfather started this business in 1946 after he came back from the war and..." I'm sorry. No one cares about your grandpa. What they want to know is that you have what they need to thrive in life!
Your customers want to know what you can do for them! What problem is your customer experiencing in their life? Bring that up right away. You can do it sorta poetically or tell a story, but you have to make sure the problem you're showcasing is CLEAR. This will hook your audience and get them invested right at the beginning of your video, and you definitely want them to watch the whole thing.
Also, keep this idea threaded throughout your entire video. You want to keep coming back to whatever your customer's problem is, and how you can solve it.
Talk about what life could look like
Nancy Duarte is a world-class expert on giving presentations. Seriously. She literally gives presentations on how to give a great presentation, and they are amazing. She talks about a pattern that emerged from her research on the greatest speeches in history. In this video, she shows how both Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and Steve Jobs' iPhone Release speech follow that pattern. The basic idea is that great speeches start with "the way the world is," show you "the way the world could be," go back and forth between the two a couple of times, and end with "the new bliss" of a world that has been changed by the idea being presented. You want to do this with your promotional video.
We started with our problem (the way the world is) to captivate our audience, and now we gotta hit them with our awesome solution (the way the world could be). In the biz, this is called "creating an aspirational identity." Help your customers visualize what life could look like in a way that gets them to think "THAT'S who I want to be!" This will keep them hooked and help them relate to your message on an emotional level.
If you make furniture, talk about how good quality furniture can turn a house into a home and bring a family together. If you have a restaurant, talk about how a great dinner can make the big moments in your life unforgettable. Whatever your "way the world could be" is, make it hit them right in the feels.
Talk about yourself...kinda...
Okay NOW that we've hooked our customers and shown them what life could be like, it's time to talk about yourself. But you're not ACTUALLY going to talk about yourself. You're gonna pull another sneaky on them.
The secret here is to pretend you're talking about yourself when, in reality, you're talking about them. You're the awesome person with the knowledge and experience to SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM. I've been doing this for a long time, and I've gotten it wrong a bunch of times, which is why I know exactly how to make a promotional video that will grow your business. See? I just did it right there. In that one sentence, I talked about your problem, showed empathy for you, established my authority in solving your problem, and showed you what life could look like. That's how you want to talk about yourself. Your knowledge, awards, and accolades are awesome, but your customers don't care about any of that. What they want to know about you is whether or not you can solve their problem.
Hit'em with more value
Here we can do a little back and forth between "how it is" and "how it could be" like Nancy Duarte told us to. Emphasize the problem, show the solution. Nobody should waste a ton of money on creating an ineffective promotional video. A promotional video should captivate your customers, convince them to buy your product, and grow your business! See? I just did it again.
This back and forth further proves the point that you have the solution to their problem, and that life will be better after they buy your product.
Show off all the mind-blowing value you're bringing to their life. This is where you get them hyped up and emotionally connected to the wonderful idea you're presenting right before the grand finale.
Call to Action
This is the grand finale. The call to action. What do you want the audience to do with everything you've just told them? Ask a powerful question. Give them something to fight for, and then give them a battle plan. Inspire them right before you pull the trigger and ask for the sale.
At the very end of the video, you want to give them a big "buy now" opportunity. Something like "Go to evandias.com to start your project today." Make it clear, simple, and direct. Don't mess around with vague and confusing stuff like "learn more" or "get started" because they'll only make things worse. Don't assume your audience will know what to do with what you've just presented to them. Spell it out. Make it as obvious and clear as possible so they know exactly what they need to do next.
People will go where you tell them to go, so ask for the sale! If you don't ask, they won't buy. It's that simple.
After all of that, throw up your logo and maybe a clear slogan or one-liner and fade to black. That's how you make an effective promo video.
Bonus tip! Keep it simple and short! People don't have the attention span for videos longer than like 3 minutes. They'll skip right by it. Use your time wisely. Hook them with that problem within the first 10 seconds. Seriously.
Let's review our awesome formula:
Show them the problem with the world as it is.
Show them how awesome the world could be.
Pretend to talk about yourself, but really talk about them.
Deliver as much value as possible.
And give them a solid call to action to help them change their world.
If you follow this formula, you'll create an amazing video that legitimately helps you grow your business, builds trust with your customers, and makes a ton of sales.
If you need help creating an awesome video script that captivates your audience, I'd love to work with you! We'll work together to make sure your promo video, website, and all your messaging say exactly what you need them to say so that your customers buy your product, and your business grows. Just hit that big button to start your project today!