Videos are memorable—that’s the most important reason to have a promo video. Who reads
anymore? Well, I do. And you do too if you’re reading this, but seriously, videos are the best
way to capture the attention and ensure retention of information.
Think back on all the great advertisements and promotional media that you have seen. What
stuck with you? Maybe a piece of text (such as a billboard) caught your attention with some
catchy slogan, a funny joke, or a bit of confusion, but the most memorable will always be video promotions.
Videos are unique compared to other mediums: they affect multiple senses at once. A print
advertisement or promotional material only has sight to go off of (unless it’s a scratch-and-sniff, in which case smell too, I guess). A video, however, has visual and auditory information for our brains to latch onto.
In the modern world, stimuli (stuff of interest) constantly bombard our brains, demanding
attention. Each of us is constantly bombarded with different stimuli (stuff seeking our
attention). For example, right now, I am sitting at my desk. I can hear the dog barking
downstairs, I can see birds flying out my window, I can smell my coffee calling for another sip,
and I can feel my back hurt because I haven’t been sitting with a good posture for the last hour.
You probably have a multitude of stimuli or distractions demanding your attention as well.
When we look at a print promo or ad, it grabs our attention through only one of our senses:
sight. But videos pull on both of our sight and hearing, making us more likely to pay attention.
That’s how video promos capture their audience’s attention, but how do they ensure that the
audience retains that information? By incorporating memorable material (types of content) and utilizing specific strategies (methods of delivery). Let’s discuss the various types of content and delivery that you can incorporate in your promo ads:
Content
Like video advertisements, promotional videos inform the audience (your potential customers) about your business. The type of content you put into your promotional video will depend on your promo video’s purpose. There’s a wide range of kinds of videos that you can produce for promos.
Product/Service Demonstration: These videos showcase your product/service to the customer. It’s a great way to show them how beneficial it can be to do business with your company.
If your business sells products, you can show the product in use and its effectiveness. Let’s look at an example: say you run a business that sells mops; a great promo video for this business could be showing off one of the mops, letting the customer see how well it cleans and how easy it is to use. If your business sells a service, you can show the service in action as well.
For example, say you run a lawn service company; a promo video for this business could be a time-lapse of a lawn being worked on, complete with side-by-side before and after photos.
Company Culture Video / Employee Spotlight Videos: I’m grouping these two because they can fill a similar niche in your content. They both seek to humanize your company. However, a company culture video aims to showcase your company overall as a group; meanwhile, an employee spotlight video (or set of videos) shows an employee’s individuality.
People are more likely to work with your business if they feel a human connection, and both of these types of videos can build that rapport.
Critical Issues / Essential Values Video: These videos showcase the core values that your company stands for. These are my personal favorites, mainly when they are shot as a short film or mini-documentary. Some of the most memorable promo videos come from this category.
The beauty company Dove does a lot of these types of videos, and here is one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk.
These videos also establish rapport and brand awareness with your audience, but these do it through positioning your company as a force for good.
Delivery
There are many, many ways to deliver your company’s message in the promo video, but here are some general guidelines for best practices.
Tell a story. We remember stories better than anything else. Incorporating some story (start-middle-end) into your promotional video will entertain the audience and teach them who you are for an overall more enjoyable experience. Stories don’t have to be particularly complicated to be memorable, and most of the best aren’t. There’s a reason a story can be written in just six words.
Try to stand out. The most memorable promotional videos have some form of aesthetic. Your company’s brand is an excellent place to start with the aesthetic, but I recommend building the videos feel from there. It can also be helpful to go larger than life to stand out. Many advertisements and promotional videos utilize surrealism to confuse the audience just enough to pique their interest.
Keep it simple. When I say keep it simple, I mean the message, the story, what you want the audience to walk away with. Cognitive overload—forcing your audience to think about too many things at once—will encourage them to turn off their brain, look away, and stop paying attention. We don’t want that. Whatever goal you had when you set out to make this promotional video, stick to it. For example, if you’re going to showcase a specific employee, only focus on that employee.
Lastly, it’s best to stick to the fundamentals of video storytelling: show, don’t tell; incorporate background music; make the video visually appealing; pull on some heartstrings.
Crafting the best promo video for your business or project can be challenging, but it is also very worthwhile. It connects with an audience in a way unlike any other media. We hope this short guide helps you to create your promo video. And if you would like assistance in creating the perfect promo video for any occasion, please reach out to us. We would be delighted to help.