Video marketing is increasingly becoming an essential part of a successful brand strategy. Its effectiveness and potential for return on investment are both high, especially for businesses in the B2B and tech spaces.
Marketers have realized that simple blog posts and social media images aren’t enough anymore. They need to use video to engage their audience and capture their attention.
That being said, creating these videos can be a lot of work. It’s hard to know where to begin. But don’t worry. That’s what we’re here for—to help you learn everything you need to start using video in your marketing strategy today. While you can easily outsource promotional video services elsewhere, it is also good to know how to create the video ads yourself.
We’ll go over the basics and give you some tips on how to create content that will engage your audience and drive results. Let’s dive in.
When you create your video ad, you’ll want to make sure it reflects your brand and provides a positive customer experience. Get started with the information below.
Set your goals
Before you begin creating your video ad, you need to know what you want it to accomplish. Create a list of objectives and goals for your marketing campaign. For example, maybe you want to do more than just drive traffic to your website. You might also want to encourage users to sign up for your email list or download your app. Or maybe you want them to buy something from your store.
Whatever your goals are, write them down so that you can refer back to them throughout the video creation process.
Target your audience
Now that you know what you want to accomplish, it’s time to target the right audience. Your ad will be useless if it reaches people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. Identify who is most likely to benefit from watching this ad and who is most likely to purchase from you in the future based on their behavior and demographics. For example, if you have a product that helps people lose weight, then target people who are already interested in fitness, dieting, and losing weight.
Write an Eye-Catching Title
The title of your video is the first thing that potential viewers will see. Don’t make it long, boring, or unoriginal. Keep it short and sweet—preferably less than 60 characters. Try to incorporate some keywords as well.
You should also include a preview image with your title. This image should tell the viewer what they can expect from your content and why they should watch.
Set the stage
We recommend uploading a video in .mp4 format that’s between 30 seconds to 240 minutes long, as long as the file size is less than 4GB and meets these technical specifications. We also allow you to upload multiple videos that can run across devices and formats, like mobile and desktop news feed, right column, Instagram and Audience Network.
Engage with your audience
The best video ads create an emotional connection with people through storytelling — but stories can be told in many different ways. For example, you can use animation to tell a story in just a few seconds or choose an episodic format that tells a longer story over time. There are no limits on who can create an engaging story — take inspiration from other businesses in your industry or outside of it.
Include call to action
A video ad should also include a call to action. It should tell the audience, preferably at the end, what they should do next i.e., visit your website, sign up for a newsletter, etc.
Keep it short
A 30 second spot is a lot longer than we think. Keep your video between 15 and 20 seconds long—this will keep viewers from getting bored or distracted. If you have more than 20 seconds worth of content to share, consider breaking up your video into multiple segments so viewers can easily digest each piece of information that’s presented to them.
Conclusion
A video ad should be entertaining. The audience should like it enough to share it. The audience should be curious to see what happens next. On top of that, it should have excellent production value. This means great sound, great lighting, and above all great images. An experienced video marketing professional can provide you with promotional video services that will help your business grow.
