Five, four, three, two, one. Skip Ad! It’s 2021, and consumers are watching more video content than ever before. If you aren’t gripping them in the first few seconds of your video ad, you have lost them for good.
No matter what your business goal is, video advertising or video ads allow you to get your message across effectively. Be it to promote a product, explain your services, or simply to convince people to visit your website – videos are one of the most powerful tools we have.
Look at these statistics:
• The average person will spend 100 minutes watching online videos every day by 2021, a 19% increase from 2019.
• In the U.S., 85% of Internet users watch video content every month.
• 93% of the companies can grow their customer base due to video content on their social media profiles.
In this article, we have rounded up some tips that can help your brand produce engaging and user-friendly video ads – ones that your audience will never skip.
Acknowledge the Skip Button
The first step of getting over a hurdle is to acknowledge it and stop running away from it. Understand there is a reason the viewers skip video ads. It’s simply because they don’t want to watch it. They’d rather spend their time watching the cat videos or kids-eating-lemon-for-the-first-time videos they came for. With this in mind, you will automatically push for content that is worthy of their time and benefits your brand at the same time.
Create Attention-Grabbing Content
If you can hook your audience in the first three seconds of your video, your odds become much better. No one wants to waste their time on a boring ad that fails to capture their attention. Try keeping it short and sweet to prevent your audience from moving on to other channels or videos. Engage them with relatable characters and plots to encourage longer viewings.
Tell Your Story
The best part about video ads is they allow you to tell your story, show your brand and explain your product better than text ads. So, if you are a startup brand, instead of just advertising your product, why not create a behind-the-scenes video for your audience? This makes your video more relatable, emotional, and shareable when you work on a theme and let the audience see the ‘human’ side of your brand. It also gives your brand a better recall value and encourages further shares by your viewers.
Make Humor Your Best Friend
According to a study by Google, humor takes the cake when it comes to keeping your audience watching your video for longer times. Funny video ads are often associated with higher view-through rates and do an amazing job in lifting your brand awareness. Think about the number of times you have seen a funny video and were tempted to share it with as many people as you could. If humor isn't right for your brand, consider a ‘suspenseful’ or ‘weird’ tone in the first five seconds. It can serve as clickbait for your audience.
Be Smart with Logo Placements
According to YouTube, when the branding appears in the first 5 seconds and throughout the video of a top-of-funnel awareness ad, it performs best. Whereas, for ads aimed at luring viewers further down the tunnel, you might want to brand later. Let the video content be about engaging with the audience and telling your story to drive higher watch times. Even if you plan to show your logo in your ad in the first five seconds, make sure it’s seamlessly tied to the product. Featuring it as a floating logo can distract the audience and be off-putting.
Use Creative Elements Wisely
The creative elements you use in a video ad for your brand can impact the brand metrics in several ways. For example, animation and doodles are known to pique the interest of consumers and result in a jump in your ad-recall and view-through rates. Or experiment with music? A study shows that people were more likely to watch video ads with mysterious, happy, and uplifting music. Test your ads with and without music and use analytical tools to see which one performs better.
Show People What to Do Next
Clear ‘calls to action’ or CTAs on your video can significantly bump your view-through rate. Or ‘find out more’ can tempt the audience to click and know more about your brand once you have managed to pull them in. If your video marketing campaign goals are lower-funnel actions such as conversions, traffic, clicks or sales, consider a TrueView YouTube ad. This gives you additional clickable elements to your ad for the audience to click.
That’s A Wrap!
By 2022, 82% of all web traffic is expected to be claimed by video content. Undoubtedly, this makes video marketing a tool well-worth getting to grips with. So, if you still haven't hopped on board the video content bandwagon, your brand will be missing out on mammoth opportunities. Not to forget, you will lose some serious ground to your competitors. It’s time to leverage the power of this brilliant tool.
If you are looking for a professional and experienced video agency in NYC, look no further. Melty Cone is a leading video production marketing company that can handle all your video needs and take your business to the next level. Get in touch for bespoke video marketing solutions TODAY!
