In 16 seconds: In this article, I will walk you through the latest in best practices to make sure you’re in the know on how to produce the best videos for your company. (Spoiler alert: It has nothing to do with buying thousands of dollars of equipment no one knows how to use) In brief, the best practices are: 1) Really get to know your audiences and where they feel pain, 2) Be interesting, 3) Get to your point quickly, 4) Include captions so viewers can absorb your content without the need for sound, 5) Optimize for search engines, 6) Don’t forget that call to action, 7) Go slow, 8) Keep reading for the bonus best practice…
There is no better way to showcase your products and brand than through video.
And it’s easier to do than many people think. If you believe otherwise, you’re overthinking it.
Because videos are becoming easier to produce, more industrial companies are producing them well.
Beyond the increase in production quality, more companies are learning how to optimize their videos to ensure they appear prominently when buyers and end-users search for select keywords and key terms.
Suffice it to say that there are new standards and benchmarks to meet.
Whether you are producing videos for product demonstrations, tutorials, answers to FAQs, product specifications, company overviews, or sales, consider dialing up your video game with the following best practices.
Best practice #1: Get to know your audiences and where they feel pain.
Some people watch videos out of curiosity while others watch to solve a specific problem. So who are your buyers and end-users? You’ll need to create videos for each based on how they interact with your company and products. If you haven’t done so, you’ll need to create buyer and end-user personas.
- Job titles
- Job responsibilities
- How their job performance is measured
- What causes stress in their job
- Common misperceptions and misconceptions
- Income bracket
- Age
- Gender
- Education
- How they learn about information
- How they make decisions
- Buying criteria
- How they use and interact with your product
- Pain points that push them toward investigating solutions
- Associations and groups they belong to
- Industry events they attend
- Publications they read
- Influencers
- And more…
Once you create your buyer personas, you’ll likely be inspired with ideas for creating richer and more engaging video content.
Best practice #2: Be interesting!
If you’re a manufacturer, you’re most likely in the same boat as many other industrial companies wondering how to make their products seem more appealing, interesting, and exciting. After all, most products companies produce can’t compete with the allure of the latest iPhone or a Devel 16. (Yeah, I want one too.)
Respectfully allow me change your mind.
You can make your products seem more appealing, interesting, and exciting, and the way it’s done is through video.
For the sake of argument, let’s agree that people buy your products and services because they have a need or a problem to solve.
A well-produced video effectively demonstrates how your products satisfy specific needs and solves specific problems. This type of content is in much higher demand and more appealing than a video on a new tech device or supercar. In some ways, your video could save the day of someone in need, which makes you a hero. (No, I’m not taking this too far – if you’ve ever searched for a video to help you solve a problem, and it helped, you know exactly what I mean.)
Also, when I say interesting, I’m not necessarily talking about being entertaining – not everyone is a performer. Instead, I’m referring to the value of your videos’ content. Do your research to ensure you’re covering all territories relevant to the subject matter of your videos.
Best practice #3: Get to your point quickly
A “Best Practice” metric has been floating around for quite a few years (especially in the B2B environment) that videos shouldn’t be longer than 45 seconds. Many claim it’s because “No one will stick around longer than that.”
Why?
The reason is obvious – people only give videos roughly 45 seconds to determine if the content is interesting. I believe it’s closer to 15 seconds!
Let’s put this into perspective.
Time is your viewers’ most precious commodity. If they search for specific content or a solution to their problem and see three different video options – one that is 8 minutes, another that is 6, and one that is 3 – you know where they’re going.
BUT…if they see that the 8-minute video has many more views than the others, it is a sign that the content of the video is higher quality and will likely take the time to watch.
Here are two tips you can use to keep your video efficiently short:
- Keep your introduction to one sentence. If it’s too long, many viewers will click the bar below the video to skip through it anyway because it’s preventing them from getting to the subject matter of the video.
- Consider using YouTube chapters for longer content videos so viewers can immediately skip to the specific content they wish to see.
Best practice #4: Include captions so viewers can absorb your content without the need for sound
You see it all the time – at the airport, in hotel lobbies, at trade shows, at the library, sometimes at church, and during boring family get-togethers – people watching videos on their smartphones. Most people will watch videos at a low volume when ear pods aren’t handy so as not to bother others. The trouble is they struggle to hear it, which is why captions are so helpful.
My favorite place to get my videos captioned is rev.com.
Best practice #5: Optimize for search engines
This is the most important part of the video process and also the most forgotten. Like any other content you post online, like articles for your blog, your video needs to be optimized for the search engines so that it will appear when people head to Google searching for solutions to problems you solve.
You’ll do this by:
Entering the transcription of your video into YouTube or Vimeo
Optimizing your video file metadata with related and user-intent keywords on the video’s title and description
Create a video sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console
Best practice #6: Don’t forget that call to action
As with any marketing effort, you need to tell people exactly what you want them to do and why and don’t be shy.
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Best practice #7: Go slow
I know – in #3, I encouraged you to get to your point quickly.
However, when you get there, take your time and talk at an average, relaxed pace so that viewers can easily comprehend and understand your content. Remember – they are watching your video because they need explanations and instructions. Your content is news to them, and they will become irritated if they need to keep reversing the video to relisten to or re-see what you are doing and showing.
Be thorough with your content covering all details so that what you provide has maximum value.
So that’s the magic 7, and here’s your bonus…
BONUS BEST PRACTICE: Don’t be overly critical of your videos!
It’s a well-known fact that we are much, much more critical of ourselves than other people are of us. This is one of the primary reasons companies either don’t produce videos or did produce some but decided not to go live because something wasn’t perfect.
Yes, some companies spend thousands of dollars producing videos professionally. Granted, they look great, but shooting with an iPhone is perfectly acceptable in many circumstances as long as the lighting is good.
If you’re looking for something more professional, you can purchase, for under $1,500 (new) or roughly $1,200 (used, but still in great shape) equipment. Here is the gear I use, which works incredibly well:
Fuji X-S10 Mirrorless APS-C Camera ($999)
Fujinon XF16mmF2.8 R WR Lens ($399)
Lavalier microphone ($22)
We’ve covered a lot of ground, and you may feel overwhelmed. If so, Seroka Industrial Branding can help. Reach out to us, and we’ll make sure producing videos goes smoothly for your company.
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