Everyone knows how important video content is for marketing your product or service, but how do you get started? Some of the most obvious video topics for businesses just starting out are unboxing videos to showcase new products and how-to videos.
How-to videos are an excellent starting point and can be extremely helpful for many types of companies, no matter if they sell products or services. They’re informative on the basics of any product or service and can showcase uses and functionality that may not be as well-known to the general public.
With how-to videos , you’re able to do a few things:
- Educate your customers on how they can use or interact with your product
- Increase how often customers use your product (typically through swarming audiences who want to learn how to properly use the product)
- Teach how to use your product in a way that is going to save anyone who watches how to get the biggest benefit — whether it’s saving time, saving money or simply how to be more efficient.
There are many other benefits, but these three alone should provide you with what you need to get started thinking about how how-to videos can be beneficial to your own video marketing campaign.
But, how do you make a successful How-To Video that really stands out against other similar companies’ video marketing campaigns?
Some how-tos are how-to guides that show the viewer how to do something; while others are how-to reviews that tell the viewers how well a product or service works once it is used correctly. Then there are how-to compare videos that help customers to see how one product or service is better than the competitors’.
Having great video content like this on your website, social media channels, and blog is a powerful draw that will keep people coming back to you for how-to help as well as any other informational videos you create.
So, how does one begin making a how-to video?
A Great Title is a Great Start
But how do you make sure your how-to video captures the viewer’s attention from the beginning?
First of all, it must have a good title in order to get viewers to click on it. You want a title that is quick and to the point about how to do something or how well a product works. Keep it simple with the most basic of information and keywords so that it can easily be pulled up in a search. Searchable content will bring more attention to your other marketing efforts, too.
Presentation is Everything
The most important aspect is how you present your how-to video. For example, an unboxing how-to video should have a clean background with the camera placed correctly so it doesn’t focus on anything but the object being unwrapped.
No matter how you are presenting, whether it is how to use a product or how-to review, show that you are trustworthy and knowledgeable about your how-to guide. If the viewer follows along with how you present the video, they will gain faith in what you have to say which will make them much more likely to follow your advice.
Another way to help gain viewers’ trust is making sure your how-to video doesn’t feel too long or drawn out. Viewers have short attention spans and they need a how-to guide that gives them the information quickly without feeling like a sales pitch.
A how-to video should never sound like a commercial, so focus on how to make it informative and how-to focused rather than on how well a product works or how it can benefit the customer.
An Engaging Closing is Key to Successful how-to Videos
No matter how how-to video is presented, one of the most important aspects is how it ends.
Ending your how-tos with a call to action will help drive potential customers to your website where they are more likely to make a purchase.
You want how-tos to be an informative and educational video marketing campaign, so calls to action should not include deals or discounts. Instead, they should engage the viewer and motivate them to make a purchase without feeling like you are trying too hard.
Calls to action can include contact information, interactions such a polls for your next videos, or how-to subscribe. The how-tos should not be overly salesy as how-tos are meant to drive potential customers back to your website rather than try to make a sale from how-tos themselves.
Including calls to action helps you maintain subscribers and followers who will continue to engage with your content.
Interactivity Can Be a Game-Changer
Another aspect that can make how-to videos stand out is how interactive they are. You can do this by creating how-to polls or how-to surveys, which will help the viewer gain more ownership over the how-to video content and make them want to participate in it even if it is how-to reviews. Interactive how-to reviews will make your how-to guide a more engaging video marketing campaign and can help you to rank higher for how-to keywords as well as other search terms because the how-to videos are interactive.
You also gain engagement from potential customers when you ask for their opinions on what they want to see and learn about. This can be how-to advice that is specific to the viewer’s how-to guide or how-tos that are not about any one how-to video in particular.
Adding an interactive component really shows your potential customers that you care about their wants and needs out of a product or service. It will also gain you how-to followers and how-to subscribers who either want to participate in how-to polls or how-to surveys or just share the how-to video with others.
And because your how-tos engage and inform your potential customers, they will be more likely to make a purchase from you rather than any of your competitors.
Consider Filming A Series
When your how-to videos focus on the basic use of a product, it might be worth your time and effort to create a series to follow up that shows more specific features and how to utilize them. For how-to videos to be effective, you should aim for how-to series’. Having how-to guides that each talk about a different aspect of your product or service will keep viewers coming back to learn more about how well your items work and what other uses they may have.
If you show potential customers how a product works in a simple how-to video, it’s a smart idea to follow up with how it can be used to save time or money in a how-to guide, it will keep your viewers coming back for more. Showing them more than just the basics will show potential customers that you value their time and energy by making it easier to access information about the products your company sells and the services your company provides.
Shorter videos that highlight one aspect of a product tend to bring in more views by people looking for specific features of the product. With multiple shorter, specific videos on products, customers can easily search for videos they specifically need via keywords, but will also perk their interest in other aspects of the products by showing them that there is a series based soley on one product. By creating a how-to series, you are catering to your customers in a way that will keep them coming back for more how-to help.
Longer videos tend to lose a viewer’s attention if they aren’t finding the exact information they’re looking for quickly and easily. When their interest is lost, their business is lost.
If you have the time and resources to create how-to videos for all of your products or services, then go ahead and start with how to use your product or how well it works once used by the customer. These how-to guides will be the most helpful to your customers and they will bring more attention to how well your products work which will encourage them to buy from you again.
Customers Will Return to How-To Videos
Finally, how-to videos are watched and re-watched again and again by potential customers. This means that how-tos will be shared with friends, family members, clients, etc. because how-tos indicate value to the viewer. If how-tos tell them how well a product or service works then they can pass it along to their friends and family members. This how-to video marketing is how many companies began, and how-tos continue to be a popular way for marketers and businesses to gain more traffic and sales.
The focused content in these sorts of videos allows you to create trust with potential customers and provide them the how-to clarity they need to make an informed purchase. Focusing on one product or service while also making sure your potential customers have any and all information they need before making a purchase will create a trusting rapport before you ever meet face-to-face.
In this respect, you don’t want your information to be stale within a few months. Instead, you should be focusing on information and content that will hold true for a long time. Again, it’s not wise to talk about current deals or sales going on at the time you upload the video. Someone who views the video a few months later will be disappointed that they can no longer get that same deal and that will reflect badly on your company as a whole. Instead, ask them to contact your company directly to talk about any deals you may be hosting, have them subscribe to other marketing campaigns, such as a newsletter or your company’s social media accounts to see the latest and greatest sales.
Consider Hiring A Professional Video Production Company
We understand that creating videos can be intimidating if you’ve never done it before. We also cater to those who may be too busy to do every step themselves. That’s why if you’d prefer to have a how-to video created for you, C&I Studios offers video production services of all kinds to boost your video marketing footprint. Whether you want how-to videos or company overviews filmed from us, or you just need to rent the best equipment possible, we can and will do it all.
With our video production services we will take care of as many aspects of the video creation process as you need. We will create how-to videos for your products and services, help you to market your how-to videos both on and offline, and create how-to series’ that keep people coming back for more.
Professional video production companies take the guess work out of video content creation. We do all of the hard work for you, from writing scripts and finding the perfect filming location, to finalizing video production with professional editing services. Our how-to videos are guaranteed to be engaging, informative, and sure to help boost your overall marketing campaign for years to come.
In conclusion, how-to videos give a face to your business and a personality that is separate from the company itself. This is how how-to videos differentiate themselves from most other marketing formats and how they allow companies to connect with potential customers. How-to videos allow a company to become a brand that people can trust, and how they play a large role in creating one of the most important aspects any business needs: connections.
In this article you learned how how-to videos help businesses attract customers and how how-to video marketing helps companies gain traffic and sales along with establishing a positive reputation. You also learned the most important elements to consider when creating a how-to video for your company. From making your videos easy to find to making sure your potential customers can interact with your company through these videos, you now have the basic information to create your company’s own how-to video marketing campaign that will bring in many more potential customers.
So don’t wait any longer, contact C&I Studios today about creating how-to videos that can and will grow your business. We look forward to creating amazing how-to videos with you in the near future!