So you’ve got a shiny new explanatory (explainer) video. What are going to do with it? That promotional powerhouse will only do good if you put it to work. So you should be asking the question: “How do I biggest return on investment for my Explainer Video?”
In order to harness it’s potential you’ll need to think about the things listed below. Even though it seems complicated and a lot of work, don’t worry! We’ve already done the footwork and have a range of articles about each of these subjects prepared. We suggest you start at number one and work you’re way down.
Getting the Most from Your Video Content
1. Hosting
“Hosting” your video means choosing a provider who will store your video and make it available to viewers. For example, YouTube.com is the best known video hosting platform. Of course, there are other options (you can even do it yourself), and most offer you increased control over the various aspects of your video – we highly recommend you check these out (this is really important).
For more information about this, check out the article: Where’s the Best Place to Host Marketing Videos?
2. Promotion
It important to help people find your video content and get interested in watching it. There are lot’s of way to do this, but consider these basics:
- Positioning
Don’t make people work to find your video. Make sure a visitor can see it when they land on your page without having to scroll down or navigate to another page. Make the video big, make it prominent, give it a big idiot-proof play button!
Embedding your video directly onto the page is the best idea – this means people can access your content without having to jump to other pages. Viewers are put off by having to follow obscure links to content, the extra step will cost you views.
Putting the video at the top left of the page is good as this is where people’s eyes are naturally drawn first. If you can’t put it there, at least position it above the “fold” of your page (the point where people have to scroll down to see more).
Finally, for maximum effect, make sure the content of the page is relevant to the content of the video. If it’s not, users will become frustrated and leave – damaging your search ranking as a consequence.
- Customized Thumbnails
The video thumbnail is the still image that is displayed in the video player before a user clicks play. It’s incredibly useful and powerful and very often overlooked as a marketing tool.
Not only can it draw viewers and provide them with a reason to watch your content, it offers a free way to keep your content looking fresh and match seasonal holidays.
For more information check out: How to Optimize Video Thumbnails
Both email and video are incredibly powerful, so imagine what they could do together?
Video can be used in your everyday emails as part of the signature, or they can be used in dedicated email campaigns that direct recipients to view custom content. Both are really great ways to boost viewer numbers!
Check out this article to find out more: How to use video in email
- Events
Why limit your video content to the online world when it can do serious business offline too? Many of our clients have had great success using their explanatory videos at trade stands, conventions, proposal meetings and other situations.
It doesn’t have to be online for the message to get across to people!
3. Monitoring & Optimisation
Like any marketing tool, you have to have goals in place so that you can monitor the performance of your video against them. Monitoring and adjusting your video for optimal results is a continual process as market conditions change and marketing focuses shift.
Remember, videos (much like puppies) are not just for Christmas – they need constant monitoring and optimisation to ensure and sustain the best return on your investment.
Also, like most advertising techniques, there is guesswork involved, so it’s important to change things up regularly to ensure you’re getting the best return on your investment.
For more information, check out the following article: How to Measure your Video’s Success
4. Follow-up
After someone has watched your video, you want them to take action.
Obviously, them carrying out the video’s final call to action is ideal, but your video can do even more!
Depending on your hosting provider, you can use the actual video player as an email capture device, helping you to more efficiently turn page visitors into viable leads.
For more information, check out the following article: Turnstile – Email Capture in Video
Of course, these are just the basics, but we hope you find them useful for your new explainer video!
If you would like more information, let me know and I’d be happy to help you out. Just leave a message or comment below.
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Kenny Simpson is a Creative Producer at ExplanatoryVideos.com
If you would like to have an explainer video produced or would like more information, click here to drop us a line and get a FREE CONSULTATION and QUOTE.
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