Have you ever watched an advert that stopped you in your tracks? Did it make you pause scrolling or hesitate to skip to your YouTube video?
The likelihood is that all of us have come across THAT video advert that demanded our attention.
In a digitizing society with increasing visual stimulation, video advertisements have become one of the most effective ways to seize customer attention.
Wistia recorded an 85% increase in minutes of video watched from 2019 to 2020, demonstrating that consumers have become more attuned to video content than ever, primarily due to the pandemic. There are many ways to integrate video content into your brand, website, and marketing output, from a focus on TikTok to integrating pay-per-view streaming service. They all have unique audience-building and cost-saving elements.
Whether your company specializes in software, such as an IVR phone system, or physical items, such as vacuum cleaners, seizing a prospective customer's attention is only the beginning of their journey to the end of your sales funnel.
To maximize the number of people completing this journey, video ads must be strategically tailored to each stage of the funnel.
A sales funnel conceptualizes an individual’s journey from their first awareness of your brand to committing to your product and remaining a repeat customer.
The 3 standard stages of a sales funnel should include:
The bottom of the funnel can also have a 4th ‘Retention’ stage.
The most successful applications of video ads to a sales funnel will use all 4 stages as a baseline guide to strategically deploy the most effective content at different points in your customer journey.
Considering when and why to use certain videos is just as important as the content itself.
Don’t forget that it is vital to maintain a consistent brand message and experience to avoid confusing customers and undermining their trust.
The first stage is arguably the most important as it is your one chance to make a good first impression - you have to get this right, so the customer is not lost before they even begin their journey.
This is where video ads come into their own.
Inherently punchy, authentic, and visual, video ads are the most effective way of fixing consumer attention in a sea of digital information.
In a 2022 report, 88% of customers wanted to see brands using more video content.
As such, video ads must be central to stage 1 of your sales funnel to maximize the number of customers clicking on your content and starting their customer journey.
Types of video ads suitable for stage 1:
The videos must be, at the very least, exciting and engaging, but should also offer information about relevant topics to your target audience.
Introducing your brand without pushing your product too hard will make them aware of your brand without being too aggressive.
For example, suppose your brand specializes in providing VoIP for business purposes. In that case, you might release a pre-roll YouTube advert that outlines the issues facing small businesses while introducing your product as a counterpoint.
Initializing that first interaction is challenging, but there are steps that you can take to boost your click-through rate.
At this point, you have successfully informed customers of your brand and sparked their curiosity.
You must continue to kindle their interest by presenting your product as worthy of their attention and the best solution for their needs. This means video content should build on their education from the top of the funnel by offering a clear and attractive resolution to consumer issues.
Establishing good customer relationships at this point is critical, especially for direct-to-consumer brands, but it requires video ads not to be too pushy.
That said, it should be the aim of your video ads that viewers finish watching the content and are in no doubt that your brand is an industry leader and the most equipped to satisfy consumer needs.
It’s a balancing act between establishing brand familiarity and customer empowerment.
Product Demos
Product demo videos are an excellent opportunity to showcase your product and demonstrate why it is a market-leading solution.
Demoing your product's specific features and unique benefits will allow the customer to imagine themselves using the product, thus making their curiosity a reality.
According to Wyzowl’s 2020 video marketing survey, two-thirds of participants stated that a short video would be their preferred way to learn about a product or service.
This changing public perception has spurred a significant increase in video content budgets and a growing reliance on the video marketing agency sector to provide expert insights and content creation.
Thus, demo videos are a crucial stepping stone to more in-depth educational content such as webinars or live Q&As.
They are also helpful for products that consumers are less familiar with. For example, if you were a business offering a new video conferencing platform, a demo video would be an ideal way for consumers to appreciate its usefulness fully.
How-to Tutorials
How-to tutorial videos are a strain of demo videos more relevant to physical items than software or an app.
Even if your product may not be complex, detailing its specific features and different uses will make consumers feel that they can derive more value from their purchase.
The video needs to emphasize what the product can achieve by showing the result of its use; before and after comparisons are sometimes helpful.
Now is the time to capitalize on the attention the customer has given to you thus far.
Video ads should:
This is crunch time, and any video ads should reflect this by filling customers with confidence in your product and the benefits of establishing a relationship with your company.
Directly comparing the results of lesser products can be an invaluable way of building brand authority and trust.
Having laid the foundations of good customer relations and belief in your product, it is ok to be more direct and personal with these video ads.
Webinars
Remember that customers in stage 3 of your sales funnel are very interested in your brand and so webinars can be more detailed.
Webinar video content should:
But remember…
Webinars are also important to address customer concerns that may prevent them from committing to your brand, so be sure to accommodate questions.
There are many free video conferencing platforms that can support the delivery of your webinars.
Customer Testimonials
Customer testimonials are all about demonstrating the real-life application and success of your service so people can imagine a future life with your product.
A 2020 study on video testimonies found that 9 out of 10 respondents do not trust what a brand says about itself as much as what a customer says.
To ease skepticism and indecisiveness, customers want to see evidence that a product works, and hearing this from a satisfied customer can be very persuasive and inspiring.
It is a balancing act between promoting your product as extraordinary while simultaneously showing its ordinary application.
Personalized Videos
Personalized videos are a more unconventional form of video ad but, if done well, can be one of the most effective forms of video advertising.
For example, using an individual’s name in writing or a voiceover can immediately capture your customers' attention and make them feel unique.
Finding a personalized video in their inbox may just be what wins over a potential customer.
A retention stage is often not included in sales funnels, but landing a sale is only half the battle if you want long-term success.
To keep churn rates low, you must keep existing customers engaged.
Video content is an excellent way to do this, but the content must be less orientated toward pitching your product and more focused on brand consolidation and customer relations.
Types of suitable video ads include:
The benefits of producing content for existing customers is that you have information about these individuals and can make video ads as personalized as you like.
Video ads are proving to be one of the most effective methods of digital marketing and are now actively preferred by consumers. Your sales funnel must reflect this by incorporating video ads into each stage of your marketing strategy.
Strategically plan different content for each stage, produce the videos and let the results take care of themselves.
There are a number of platforms that can help you produce video content that is right for your sales funnel.
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