Storytelling is the essence of advertising – and it is arguably truer still when we consider the impact that video advertising and corporate storytelling can have an audience. The five Cs are Circumstance, Curiosity, Characters, Conversations and Conflict. Whether your production is a sales video, a recruitment video, a non-profit call-to-action or an explainer video, yours should have all five elements. Circumstance This is where you set your scene, your attention-grabbing headline. A good introduction tells the audience the basics of what it needs to know in the first few minutes or even seconds; it doesn’t leave them hanging but gives the audience enough to know whether the information will be relevant to their needs. Even if relevant, you still…
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There is a long-running debate in video advertising about whether the message of a video should target rational decision-making or attempt to engage the emotions of the audience. Emotional or Rational? Both have their place, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that the consumer prefers a more emotional connection with media than simply being bombarded with facts and figures and claims about scientific proof; yet it is the rational approach that is the most common. Making the Right Decision for Your Business Video How you intend to pitch the story of your video should be the first consideration of the script. Some advertising analysts and consultants recognize that appealing to rationality has become the default position. It certainly has its place, but studies in…
When any business or individual considers possible pathways for marketing video content, one platform that many rarely consider is Twitter. YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook business pages and LinkedIn are all well-known ways to promote video content but now the microblogging site is hoping to seize a share of the market. Few people, however, consider using video with Twitter in promoting their business beyond links to text-based pages. Video Content on Twitter There has always been great potential on Twitter but this year has seen a greater push towards video content. In May 2015, the microblogging site overhauled its platform to include a number of changes concerning how the platform and its users interact with video content. Most importantly, it began offering…
It is important to present videos for your business to the broadest audience possible. The web is not the only place where you should attempt to reach out to your customers. In order to maximize impact, consider using other outlets. Email Promotions & Direct Marketing Uploading your business video to a site like YouTube, hoping people will see it, is passive marketing and should be only part of your promotional strategy. If you offer email newsletters to your subscribers, then it’s certainly a wise move to promote videos in your marketing emails. This is a more focused strategy than good SEO in that you are informing already-interested parties that you have uploaded content that may be of interest. And, when the email reader clicks your video…
We’ve discussed before on the Top Pup Media blog about the pros and cons of using YouTube or Vimeo. With recent developments on the Facebook platform, the social media site is now a force to be reckoned when it comes to uploading, storing and sharing videos. The choice between dominant video platforms like Vimeo and YouTube is no longer your only options.Over the last year or so, Facebook has been working hard on its video sharing capabilities. And now, embedding Facebook video on your site is a viable option. Here, we present the pros and cons of using the Facebook video platform for your videos. Pros of Using Facebook Embedded Video Interaction: Research demonstrates that Facebook videos get more comments and likes on average than…
Whether you use video as a recruitment tool, to sell a product, as a demonstration video for a new product or simply to add a human face to your promotional material, video messaging can be very powerful. Telling an effective business video story is as much a science as an art, and it is important that yours have these four core elements: Purpose This should be the very first element to consider, long before you release the video to its intended audience. In advertising, the chances are you already know the purpose in terms of “advertising”, “recruitment” or “product promotion”. However, there are deeper issues to consider beyond these – concepts such as whether you want to encourage (to purchase a…
As a small business, you know you will not get very far without a web presence. A website is essential, but it’s just as essential that people want to stay and engage with you – that means responsive design, navigability and great visuals – and inevitably, that means video. Here are a few ways you can effectively use small business videos both affordably and effectively. As An Introduction Search engine statistics show that video is more effective than your landing page at introducing your business or service. When video is a website option, most people will choose to watch your “About Us” video than read the page. You will still need text for SEO purposes, but the presence of a video increases the…
Your landing page is effectively the front door to your product or business – the means by which most traffic will first access your website. It should be designed with effective SEO strategies while being both welcoming and informative. Increasingly, businesses are using video as part of this “front door” experience. If you want people to stay on your site, watch your video and buy your product or service, here are a few landing page video strategies. Grab and Keep Their Attention You have just fifteen seconds to get the visitor’s attention. This means you must immediately hook and compel your visitors to want to watch the entire video before looking at anything else on your site. It’s very tempting to engage in self-promotion, but video viewers…
We have seen more startups in the last few years than in the previous few decades. As these startups continue to grow in number, we’re expected to see some great innovations. You may be one of these small business owners looking to expand and get noticed. If so, have you considered using video to promote and help your startup? If not, here’s why you should. It’s a Great Way to Engage People We’ve said it before but it always needs repeating – video makes up 1% of web content but it’s around 75% of the viewed material on the Internet. That means video is far more powerful than your typical website content in promoting your product or service. You can embed it…