The 3 “Musts” for Every Video: Part II

Needless to say, to work, a video needs to have a clearly defined goal—but whatever that goal is, your video needs to do 3 things to achieve it:

1.  It Has to Cut Through the Background Noise

There’s an old story about a guy who buys a mule.  The previous owner tells him the mule will do whatever he wants it to—but when he tells it to do anything, it just sits there.  So, the seller comes over to help.  He hits the mule in the noggin with a 2 X 4—the mule responds.  He tells the buyer, “Oh, I forget to tell you:  first you have to get his attention.”

Marketers know how effective video is, so they produce a lot of videos.  This year, for example, video will reach an important milestone, accounting for a whopping 74% of all online traffic.  That’s a lot of competition, and it means, to get your viewers’ attention, you need to do something they didn’t expect.

That’s what Google Android did with its “Friends Furever” video. It shows different types of animals doing unexpected things together, like a parrot giving pasta to a husky, or a chimp riding a horse.  Those videos went viral because they defied viewer expectations.  They also met Android’s goal of polishing their brand—the message of shared experiences is what Android is all about.

2.  It Has to Connect on an Emotional Level

Think of the best videos you ever saw.  What they have in common is that they touched your emotions in some way—and when you make consumers “feel,” you create an instantaneous bond with them, a bond that creates credibility and trust.

Think of Dawn dishwashing liquid’s videos about saving ducks covered in oil.  What if Dawn had instead had a narrator simply telling you that Dawn cares about the environment.  The impact would have been lost.  In deftly combining moving images and sound and doing something viewers didn’t expect, Dawn created a powerful emotional connection with consumers.  They added credibility by announcing substantial donations to wildlife groups—and they increased sales.  In the 52 weeks following the release of their first wildlife video, sales increased by 5%.

3.  It Has to Pack a Lot of Punch into a Small Space

Generally speaking, when it comes to meeting your goals with video, less is more.  When asked how long a video should be, Yoav Hornung, an award-winning filmmaker and CEO of Veed.me, gave 2 answers.  The first was “as short as possible.”  The second was “it depends.”

It depends on what kind of video it is, according to Hornung.  Explainer videos, for example, should be no more than 90 seconds long.  Testimonials shouldn’t push past 2 minutes, and crowdfunding videos should stop at 2 ½ minutes.

The point is that videos are able to do more for you in 1 or 2 minutes than long-winded eBooks, white papers and case studies do in 10 to 20 times that a amount of time.

Facebook understood this simple concept when the produced a series of “tip videos” to explain various aspects of the social media site’s functionality (things like how to turn off notifications, or use stickers).  Notice how this tip on stickers gets the job done in under 20 seconds—these videos were successful because they got right to the point, with no padding, no fluff, and no excess verbiage.

Work with a Video Production Company That Gets It

Perhaps the single-most important predictive factor of whether a video works or doesn’t is who produced it.  The best production companies know how to create videos that connect with viewers to help you meet your key business objectives.

To learn more about the ways our video production services will help you articulate your creative vision, polish your brand and grow your business, contact us today.