Creating a perfect marketing video takes a lot of time and effort. However, even if you’re creating the best content in the industry, it doesn’t matter if nobody takes the time to watch it. You need to spend just as much time convincing your audience to stop and pay attention as you do making something worth paying attention to.
Even if you’re able to grab your audience’s attention initially, you need to hold it. Once somebody has started watching an online video, they navigate away within 10 seconds about 20% of the time. By the time 20 seconds has elapsed, over a third of your audience is gone.
It’s clear that grabbing and holding your audience’s attention is tricky. In order to have an impact on your bottom line, though, you need to make sure you’re taking steps to do so. Here’s exactly what you need to do to grab and hold your viewer’s attention with your video marketing:
Set Clear Expectations
Your headline and description do a lot of things for you. A good headline demands attention, intriguing your viewers enough to stop scrolling and take a look at what you’ve created. A good description is full of descriptive keywords, making your video a lot easier to find. If you want to fight against users abandoning your video quickly, you need to use them to set very clear expectations as to what your content is about.
Here’s what your audience needs to know:
- What’s included? Potential viewers need to know exactly what they can expect from your video. If there’s a mismatch between expectations and what you deliver, you can expect them to navigate away quickly.
- What’s in it for them? Most importantly, tell your audience why it’s important that they watch your video. What benefits are they going to take away? Make sure that you’re always giving your audience a compelling reason to look at your video.
- What do they have to invest? In other words, your viewers want to know how long they’re going to spend watching your video. In general, you want your videos to be no longer than 2 or 3 minutes. The shorter your video is, the more people will be inclined to see it all the way through.
Make the Beginning Count
The first 10 to 20 seconds of your video sets the tone for the entire thing. This is when viewers make the decision whether to settle in and finish it out or find something else to check out. Don’t waste their time by including a lengthy introduction. If your headline and description are written strongly enough, they’ll already know exactly what to expect. You don’t need to start the video off by going over everything again and possibly boring them.
Begin your video by delving into exactly what benefits your viewers are going to take away. After that, start off with your most gripping points. By then, your audience should be hooked enough to finish your video and take the next step.
When you’re trying to hook your audience, make sure to start at the beginning!
Use Your Audience’s Emotions
Once your audience is emotionally invested in your message, they’re going to finish your videos and be more willing to convert. On the other hand, if they’re not emotionally invested it’s going to be tricky to convince them to pay any attention or remember what they viewed.
There’s no magic formula for evoking emotion. You simply need to be strategic about it. You need to target one of the four core emotions: happy, sad, surprise, and anger. Clearly, trying to make your audience angry or sad is a bad idea, so that leaves happy and surprise.
Surprising your audience is as simple as exceeding their expectations. Push the boundaries with humor. Make promises and build the suspense throughout your video. Use a personal touch to nurture a connection that most brands don’t bother to build.
Making your audience happy is easy, too. Here are three easy ways to build a connection and make your audience happy:
- Use descriptive language that resonates with your audience.
- Make sure your content is relatable by stripping away confusing business jargon and talking to your audience in a conversational way.
- Be true to your message and brand.
Take Advantage of Animation
Animation is one of the best tools you have to hold and grab your audience’s attention. You can create animated characters to easily identify with your audience. Animated characters are bright and easy to identify with. Make sure to create characters that specifically resonate with your target demographic. It shows your audience that your video marketing is tailored towards them.
Another way to use animated videos effectively is by using plenty of bright colors. Use the colors specific to your brand throughout your video. A great example is how Coca-Cola decided to depict Santa Claus as red and white to match their brand’s colors. Today, Santa is rarely seen wearing any other color and Coca-Cola has a stronghold on Christmas marketing!
Finally, animated videos are the perfect way to really explore your creativity. The more creative your videos are, the more you’re going to grab your audience’s attention. Standard marketing videos are hampered by limitations on the actors you have available, affordable locations, and props. Animated videos, on the other hand, don’t have any limitations at all. You can take your audience anywhere you want without having to worry about costs. The attention your video grabs will be limited only by your own imagination.
If you want to get creative with your
video marketing, animation is your best tool!
If you need help creating marketing videos that grab and hold your audience’s attention, make sure to reach out to us here at Blue Wave Marketing. We have decades of experience helping our clients connect with their audience in a meaningful way. Our team has the necessary video expertise to take you from ideation and planning all the way to launching and tracking your campaign.
You can find some examples of how we’ve helped other clients connect with their audience by taking a look at our case studies here!
