Four Tips to Create Compelling Video Advertisements
Whether you’re a small-scale startup trying to break into the business world or a long-established company with a dedicated social presence, video advertising is one of the most effective means of advertising a new product, initiative or showcasing the human side of your business. No matter the aim of your video advertisement, there are a number of underlying best practices you should implement in your ad to ensure that it has the best chance of success. Here are a few of the biggest lessons we’ve learned about video advertisements from The Adaptive Imagination.
- Keep it brief!
Advertisements are vying for the attention of web browsers who could become potential consumers, so any video you put together should be significantly edited for time and its message should be communicated in 90 to 120 seconds. Video affords you the opportunity to tell a story or illustrate information in an in-depth manner, so utilizing a quick pacing that gets across your message quickly will resonate with your audience.
- Utilize personalization
Ideally, your video ad will showcase the human side of your business venture, and this is a great way to instill confidence with your audience that you have their desires in mind. For instance, utilize customer testimonials, showcase a consumer utilizing your product or service and even bring in your employees as well. Fostering this personal connection can strengthen your advertisement and generally consumers will trust this type of messaging.
- Write a script
Video advertisements can be a significant investment, so make sure this is a collaborative effort with everyone on your team by creating a script that can be reviewed by everyone on your team. Scripts can help you work within your time constraints, incorporate additional graphics and editing techniques and open up the collaborative process to make your advertisement as effective as possible. The worst thing you can do with a video ad is wing it, so make sure your team has a clear plan in place before moving forward.
- Include a “call to action”
If you’ve managed to capture a consumer’s attention, the next step is to close the deal and give him/her something to actually use. A clear call to action at some point during the advertisement that redirects consumers to a special coupon or offer, a separate landing page that corresponds with the video or anything else is an extremely effective means of helping consumers take the message of your video to heart and take the next step. From there, consumers should be able to easily navigate to other products and services you offer, and just like that, your advertisement is paying dividends!
