The big challenge of every e-commerce business working to promote their work online is to increase its visibility as a brand.
The harsh truth is that people find many, many products that, at first glance, might not be that different from yours. So, if you want your prospects to understand how your product’s unique features and superior quality is a better fit for them, you need outstanding content.
There’s a wealth of media you can produce to showcase your product: Landing pages, PPC ads… Most of which you are already familiar with. But perhaps what’s still missing from your promotional efforts is a video marketing strategy to create engaging and dedicated pieces around your product!
It’s not surprising, really.
There are many aspects involved in producing the right type of product video: What features to highlight? What’s the best video style out there? What can you do to promote your product to maximum engagement? It can, in all honesty, get a bit overwhelming. Especially your first time around.
Hopefully, this guide will help you navigate those questions and find the perfect answers! So that you can start overhauling your product’s marketing and communication campaign right away.
Identifying your product’s key value propositions
On the surface, a product video is just that: a recorded piece displaying your product’s looks. But the difference between a standard and uninteresting video product and informative and engaging one lies in your approach to two crucial issues.
- Who you are talking to: By producing a video, you will embark on a project that will take time and investment. You don’t want your efforts to go unnoticed by others, so it’s important to get to know your audience beforehand.
- Your product is aimed at a specific buyer persona, not just about everyone without distinction. It is important to know their needs, interests, and aspirations so that later you can take advantage of it.
- You can do social listening analysis to gather useful information about your targets. Do they follow certain channels? Are they particularly inclined to a music genre? Then try following those cues and incorporating them in your videos.
- Your distinctive mark: Does your product withstand extreme heat? Is it waterproof? So be sure to display that special feature in your video.
- If you want your video to do its job, you need to show your customers what makes your product a one-of-a-kind option. It’s important not only to mention the qualities that make your product distinctive but to demonstratelive how they can be used to greater advantage.
Choosing the right type of product video
Defining your target audience and the issue to address is the first step to producing a fantastic product video. Now, you must choose the right type of video to deliver your message. Based on your target’s needs, there are several creative options you can go for.
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Animated explainer videos
As product videos are a great resource for distinguishing your brand’s solution, you also want to use them to approach broader topics.
This is what animated video advertising is perfect for. By introducing relatable characters and powerful visuals, you can immerse your prospects in a concrete story, which gives them a real picture of the challenges they face daily and how your solution helps to overcome those problems.
The idea is to focus the video more on a journey, rather than a direct solution. This will help viewers better understand their pain points and see how your solution can be a viable option to address them.
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How-to videos
You want to take advantage of video to demonstrate how to get the most out of your product.
Typically, a how-to video is used to showcase the product’s features, period. Some of them go one step further, giving viewers useful instructions on the product’s installation. So far, this is fine, but you also want to teach customers how to create something unique.
For instance, if you sell grilling accessories, your clients will benefit from knowing how to cook special recipes or what to do to keep the product in optimal condition. Putting this emphasis on the creative possibilities of the product is what will make your customers not forget about it.
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Close-up videos
Does your product have a special design? Perhaps it is handcrafted? Then a ‘close-up’ video will come in handy for giving customers a closer look at it.
A short close-up video showing a 360° view of your product is perfect for jewelry, luxury goods, and handicraft products like leather goods. Before buying these items, prospects are interested in seeing the littlest details of their design.
With these videos, you can give them just that: a nice exhibition of your product in all its lights, which works better than photos to give a true image of the product.
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Unboxing videos
‘A recording of someone unpacking a product?’ ‘Who wants to see that?’ You wouldn’t believe it, but unboxing videos are among the most popular types of brand content on YouTube.
These videos are well-liked by people interested in fashion and tech, but other products such as toys, decorative items, and cosmetics also fare rather well.
The key advantage of unboxing videos is their ‘homemade’ feeling: they let prospects recreate the experience of what it’s like to receive and enjoy that product for the first time. If you want to give a fresh, non-overly commercial presentation of your product, then you should create this type of content.
Making your video production run smoothly
Nobody knows your interests and communication goals better than yourself. For this reason, before delegating your work, you need to take the time to plan the core aspects that you will include in your video. This will give you guidance and reduce stress when shooting your video.
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Think creatively through a storyboard & script
What’s on your mind? Do you have a big idea for showcasing your product on video? Then the first thing you must do is to set it down on paper.
The idea of creating a script and storyboard is to mark the general direction of your story and how it will unfold. There’s no magic formula applying equally to everyone: some people prefer drafting a detailed script while others are good enough with a short outline and improvisation.
If you want to take our advice, start by creating a rough structure of what needs to be included in your video and what’s dispensable. Then start thinking visually: use services like Canva to create a representation of your video’s progression.
This will help you nail down what’s truly essential and what other elements you should incorporate.
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Give customers actionable next steps
What’s the takeaway of your video? What can interested customers do to get more value from your brand? It’s important to be explicit about the next actionable steps you want your viewers to take.
By the end of your video, set some time and a frame for your CTAs. Useful cues include ‘Get Started,’ ‘Join the Conversation,’ or ‘Limited Edition’—whatever that concisely states the way forward for your viewers.
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Make room for your branding elements
When you decide to use all your resources to produce a video, it’s very important to be consistent with your other brand content. You want people to watch a video that they can easily identify with your content elsewhere.
So, if you have brand colors, logos, slogans, or jingles associated with your company, be sure to add them to your video. Just be careful not to make it too intrusive and distracting.
Take your new product video everywhere
Now that you’ve put a lot of effort into planning and producing your product video, you need people to watch it!
There are plenty of avenues nowadays for you to get your video’s worth in terms of attention and engagement. However, there are at least three places where you should definitively upload your video as a priority.
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Landing pages
People engage more with video content than with long description pages; they usually leave the latter to learn something very specific. But before digging into the details about each solution, people need content that motivates them to learn more.
For this reason, your video should be front center in your landing pages. This is the key place to embed your piece, as this is where interested prospects come to when researching and comparing options.
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Email newsletters
You should be taking special care of your email audience since they tend to be more dedicated than the occasional website visitor. The problem is that they receive dozens of newsletters daily and it’s really exhausting for them to read everything; most of the time, they don’t.
Now, a video is something they don’t expect to see in their inbox all the time, so take advantage of this opportunity to introduce your product to them. You can either choose to add the full video or short and sweet teasers.
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Social media
People are increasingly using social media to discover new products. Whether your brand is tweeting, posting on Facebook, or sharing Instagram stories, social platforms are a great medium to interact with people and to address their questions directly.
Be sure to adapt your pieces for an optimal viewing experience. For starters, always try to upload native, as not everyone scrolling down their newsfeed wants to go elsewhere to watch content. Also, strive for bite-sized content people can consume in a short amount of time.
Summing up
A compelling product video can be a great addition to your company’s communication efforts: due to their entertaining and informative format, this type of content is excellent for enhancing your visibility before your audience.
The crucial aspect of creating a memorable product video is to precise your communication goals: the audience you want to speak to and their needs and problems. This knowledge will help you select the best type of video for you, as well as the most profitable communication channels.
All it takes is a pinch of creativity and the confidence to do it. Are you ready to go?
