A selling video is a marketing tool that allows you to draw attention to a product, brand or company and motivate the viewer to take a targeted action.

In this article, we will tell you what a video that sells should be like.

Read also: Top 10 Sales Courses

3 important features of a selling video

What are the features of a selling video:

1. Video is more effective than text, as it interacts with multiple senses, which increases the level of audience engagement. When watching a video, the viewer is affected by the picture (video sequence), sound (music, voice of the announcer, audio effects) and text, if used in the video.
2. A sales video usually contains a call to action and sales triggers.
3. Video has a long-lasting effectbut the results may not appear immediately. Still, video marketing is one of the most effective marketing areas. So you can once invest in creating a video, post it on your YouTube channel and receive views (and then targeted actions) for several months or years. Or launch a creative advertising video that will be remembered, shown to friends, saved in the selections of the best videos for several years, even when advertising will no longer be shown on TV and on the Internet.

It is interesting: 50 ways to increase your sales

How to make a sales video: recommendations

Key points:

1. Define video goals correctly… What action do we expect to receive from the viewer – buying a product, registering for a webinar, downloading materials (books, checklist), registering on the website or in the application, subscribing to a newsletter, calling. The goal can also be to increase brand awareness.
2. Select sites for placement… The format and feed of the video depends on this. For example, if the video is for Tik-Tok, you need to watch what is trending there now and what is already out of date.
3. Write a video script… After choosing a site, we think over the content of the video:
   – introduction (what may be in it): greeting, WOW-effect;
   – the main part: an offer, a video sequence to raise loyalty and attract attention;
   – conclusion: a proposal to perform the targeted action.

4. Pick up selling triggers… Examples of:
   – deadline (the price is valid until April 1), a guarantee of the result (9 out of 10 women reached an income of 100,000 rubles a month after our webinar);
   – exclusive (3 best students receive individual advice on doing business until the first profit);
   – the client’s desire to save money (buy two bottles of wine and get a third as a gift), a quick solution to the clients’ pain;
   – the effect of novelty.
5. One video – one product / service… Videos overloaded with information or those where you are offered several products at once are rarely watched to the end – the viewer’s attention is scattered, and at the end it is generally difficult to remember what the video was about. Overloaded videos usually do not lead the viewer to the target action. An exception is a video about a unique WOW product that sells itself or a presentation of a company, where it is appropriate to show all or the most popular goods and services.
6. The first 5 seconds are the most important… You need to hook the viewer from the very beginning of the video. You can attract attention with an unusual character, a famous person, or editing techniques. Don’t waste the first seconds on a logo and a lengthy intro. This is especially important if the video will be advertised on YouTube – you have about 3 seconds until the viewer clicks the “Skip” button. For example, in this video we see a chicken that starts dancing just before the fifth second. Firstly, this is not quite usual, and secondly, there is interest and I want to watch the video in order to understand what the video is about, and what does it have to do with the chicken, what is being advertised and what kind of brand:

Important: The first 5 seconds are needed not only to hold the viewer’s attention, but also to show for whom this video was created and what value it has. During these first 5 seconds, you need to show either a strong offer or an interesting image and storyline that you want to watch to the end.

Example: An advertisement for a motorcycle driving school. From the first seconds it is clear what the video is about and what target audience is intended. There is also a dynamic start and an attractive image – a biker girl.

7. Use creative to grab attention… Due to the overabundance of content, your video can get lost among thousands of others, so a non-standard presentation is needed. And if the video is boring, they just turn it off. An example of a creative is an advertisement for MTS Spotify Premium with Ilya Prusikin and Gudkov:

8. Show product in actionand how he will solve the client’s problem. It is not for nothing that TV shops are so popular – they show the problem, the solution and the product in action from all sides. But there it is all too protracted and pretentious, your task is to show the product from the most advantageous position in a short period of time, without turning the advertisement into a short film. A good example is an advertisement for a Samsung vacuum cleaner with an Anti-Tangle turbine:

9. The video should be associated with the brand… In pursuit of creativity, dynamics and a beautiful picture, you can completely forget about the brand. As a result, the viewer will like the video sequence, but he will not remember whose advertisement it was. This does not mean that you need to shove the logo in the center of the screen or name the company in the text every 10 seconds. You can declare your brand unobtrusively – using corporate colors or an office sign in the background. For example, Beeline ads always contain yellow-black colors.

10. Consider mobile users… Your video can be viewed on mobile devices, so the main details should not be too small, also try to avoid small fonts.
11. Subtitles for YouTube and Stories… If the video is being created for posting on YouTube, it is worth adding subtitles in case of viewing without sound. For stories, text should be overlaid on top of the video.
12. Emphasize video and audio… As we have already said, videos can be watched without sound, but subtitles are also not appropriate everywhere (for example, in YouTube they can be turned off, but if you overlay text over the video sequence, the viewer will not be able to remove it). Therefore, focus on the picture so that it clings even without sound, and add subtitles where they are appropriate. At the same time, there are people who often listen to video without a picture, that is, at this moment they perceive only the audio sequence (for example, a phone in your pocket , while wearing headphones). From the audio, the main theses of the selling video should also be clear.

    You can conduct an experiment after creating a video: turn off the sound and see – is it clear from the video what the video is about and which brand is associated with? Then turn off the video and leave only the sound. Similarly, are the main theses clear from the audio, do they catch the listener?

13. Dynamics… The video to be sold must maintain its original rhythm. That is, if you have a dynamic beginning, and then a slow video sequence to music without voice acting, during this abrupt change part of the audience may leave.
14. Clickability… It’s not enough to create a good video, you need to be wanted to open and watch. If hosting on YouTube and social media, create eye-catching covers and an eye-catching video title.

8 mistakes when creating a selling video

Do not do like this.

Too much information in the video… We already wrote about this above. This mistake is most often made by marketers who are used to working with text.

Highlight key messages… If there are too many of them and all of them are important, split them into several videos. As an example, you can put mobile operators – they make several short videos for different tariffs and services.

Too long video… Since we are talking about selling, not informational videos, the optimal timing is no more than 2 minutes, but it all depends on the semantic load of the video and the placement site. For stories, the optimal timing is up to 15 seconds.

PS Long videos (for example, 4-5 minutes) can be made only if you manage to maintain the dynamics of the video sequence and keep the audience’s interest throughout the entire time, but this is risky. And in terms of paid placement, the choice of options is reduced (basically, pre-roll format on YouTube is chosen for such videos).

Little specifics, lots of water… A selling video is about USP. Common phrases that can be attributed to any business, not only do not distinguish you from the competition, but also reduce the involvement of viewers in the video.

An example of a successful video is an advertisement for the TOPGUN barbershop franchise. Despite the fact that the video is about 3 minutes long, everything is in order here with the presentation, and with the USP, and with the mention of the brand (see how often, but at the same time, the TOPGUN logo and name are displayed).

Poor picture quality. It is trite, but true. We are not talking about special processing and effects in order to deliberately reduce the quality (for example, for video ads in a retro style), but about poor lighting, editing with bloopers, low resolution, poor sound.

Aggressive selling… People are tired of constantly trying to sell them something. But we’re talking about selling videos, right? The task of a high-quality selling video is not to sniff out the product from the first seconds, but to arouse interest in the viewer and subtly push him to buy.

Video is not associated with a brand… Everything is beautiful, but it is not clear whose video the viewer has just watched. How to avoid this – wrote above.

Video does not match the site… You need to know the features of the site on which the video will be posted and, if necessary, create several variants of the selling video for each. For example, on Facebook and in stories, videos are most often watched without sound (which means you need text in the video), long videos are more likely to be watched on YouTube, and Tik-Tok needs a creative, catchy editing.

The video is not optimized… It is relevant if the video is posted on social networks and on YouTube, and is not promoted using paid methods. Although adverts at least need a clickable cover and headline. What’s the use of a video if it doesn’t get clicked on and doesn’t show up in SERPs? To avoid making a mistake, read our YouTube video SEO guide.

Conclusion

Creating a sales video can be a long and expensive process, but if done correctly, the result will not be long in coming. Before you start creating a selling video, it is worth analyzing the videos of competitors in order to understand what exactly hooked their target audience – a beautiful picture, creative techniques, USP, the product itself, or all together?

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