Video has been around on the Internet since
broadband connection became commonplace, but its purpose was
strictly entertainment. More recently, it has begun appearing
as a substitute for printed User Guides and as either a substitute
for, or addition to, the traditional website sales letter.
It’s the author’s firm opinion that a well written
and complete printed User Guide is far superior to a video
and that those who use video as a substitute for writing a
guide are just being lazy. Once you’ve got the software,
adding a commentary while demonstrating the product is dead
simple. And the results are (usually) simply awful.
But … video
to sell a product, to demonstrate its features, that’s
a different story. After all, they’ve been
doing it with television commercials for years. Even so, some
commercials are stinkers. Here’s the next 10 tips to
make sure yours aren’t:
11. Keep your video professional
Nothing does more to turn off a consumer than a bad quality
video. You want to present your video in a professional way
that tells the consumer that you are a professional and not
some novice trying to sell junk. Your video is representative
of you and your product, so keep it professional.
12. Do not overwhelm the consumer
While you want to provide a good overview of your product,
you do not want to throw so much information at the consumer
that they tune it out. Keep it simple and stick to the basic
facts for the best presentation that won’t chase away
the consumer. One of the problems you face is that nearly
all products seem complex the first time you use them. Don’t
overwhelm your prospect with everything your product can
do. Stick to the main features.
13. Tailor the video to your target market
You need to always keep the consumer in mind when creating
your video. Do not use complex language that your target
market would not understand. At the same time do not talk
down to them or otherwise treat them in a way that is not
appropriate for the market you are in.
14. Get creative
While you want to keep your video simple, you still want it
to be exciting. Get creative and come up with ideas and slants
that will sell your product in a compelling way. You want
to present a video that is going to be fun to watch. Think
outside of the box.
15. Place it wisely
Where you place your video on your website can mean the difference
between success and failure. You want to make sure that you
put it where it will be seen. It should get prominent placement.
If you’re selling by video, your visitors expect to
see it front and center.
16. Stick with one basic message
You want to make your video very precise. You need to find
a single, powerful message and create the video around that
one message. Nothing will confuse the consumer more than
a video with multiple messages. You can make other videos
with different messages, but it is important that each video
has only one message.
17. Do not forget to edit
I am sure that anything you write gets edited. The same needs
to be done with video. You need to watch it and make sure
it flows and makes sense. You need to make sure that it comes
across the way you wanted and that it is overall a good video
that people would want to watch. Get others you trust to
critique it for you.
18. Test your video
You want to try out your video and keep tabs on how well it
is doing. You will need to come up with testing methods that
allow you to see if consumers are watching it all the way
through, getting enough information from it, enjoying it
and most importantly, that it is influencing sales.
19. Give options to the consumer
The consumer should be able to fast forward, rewind and adjust
the sound on the video. You want to give the consumer these
options so they can feel that they are in control. Additionally,
you want the consumer to be able to replay the video and
adjust the sound so they can hear it clearly.
20. Change your video on occasion
You should have a few different videos to present. You want
to try out different videos by changing them from time to
time. You may find that one video out performs the others
by doing this. Make sure all your analytics are in place.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Phil Lancaster is recognized as one of the
leading experts on getting new websites indexed and ranked quickly
and then driving free, targeted traffic to them. To get his very
latest resource and learn everything there is to know about getting
an unstoppable flood of traffic to your website, visit:
http://www.trafficfloodgate.com
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