There once was a guy named Bob. He was a nice guy. He had a small business and coached little league baseball. He was happy. But one day, when he was walking to the baseball field, he noticed a lot of people looking down. Now Bob, he always liked to look at the Sun so he was perplexed. Why are all these people looking down? So he went up to his Assistant Coach, Anne, and asked her what was going on? “Bob,” she said, “I’ve been telling you to get online. That’s the place to be. Everyone uses their phones these days. Watching TV, chatting, shopping, learning, you name it.” Bob, scratching his head thought, hmm...I guess I better create a video if I want to keep it in front of my customers..but how do I do that?
We’re here for you Bob! Since 2018, over 85% of internet users in the United States watch videos online. Video is an effective element in a marketing strategy, with people finding videos more engaging than other media. And the competition is using video, too. According to Hubspot, 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. And recently Cisco projected that by 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. The statistics are convincing; a video is no longer a nice option, it’s a requirement for your business. So, like Bob, you can dive into the video marketing game using the following 5 steps:
Get to the Point. There is a lot of information thrown at people daily, 23 words per second during waking hours, roughly 12 hours. There is no reason to overload what is already overloaded. So the simpler the better. Since the average speaking rate when presenting information is between 100 to 150 words per minute, you really only have 75 words to tell your story! There is no time to dawdle. 75 words will fill quickly when telling a story. Bob’s story was 138 words and there isn’t even an ending yet!
Create A Script. Now that you know you have 75 words to tell your story when shooting for a 30-second video. The best approach is to start writing it down.
Create A Story. When creating your script, take a moment to think about what you want your story to be about and what will happen in the story. Think of your story as a roller coaster - there needs to be an up and a down and a central character that experiences the ride. Focus on your complicated main character. Every good story needs to have a conflict, where the main character has to deal with an issue or problem. You also need to think about the scenery. Where is your story going to take place? It’s best to stay in one place, remember, you only have 30 seconds. It’s what you do in that 30 seconds that matters.
Change It Up. While you only have 75 words and roughly 30 seconds, you can still communicate a lot in that time. Change it up every few seconds using any secondary footage such as additional images, different video angles, or use b-roll video footage. This keeps your audience’s attention as you walk through your story.
Add The Right Music. There are a lot of free resources for music like YouTube’s free audio library or Audiojungle or simply record yourself telling your story. When choosing music, be careful! Think about how the music might tell your story with its tempo, beat, and pitch. Is the story a happy story? Then make sure to have music that sounds happy. The great news is, there are many video platforms out there that have music categorized by themes.
Once you have completed your 5 steps, you are ready to create your video. There are a lot of great free video tools including Climpchamp Create, Typito, Biteable, Animaker, and iMovie. These are just 5 in a long list of options, but since we gave you and Bob, 5 easy steps, we thought 5 suggestions would keep things consistent.
Next week we’ll discuss the ABCs of A/B testing, but for now, grab an apple, a piece of paper, a pencil and seek inspiration under a tree...it’s time to write your story and help Bob finish his.