Landing Page Video Formula Secrets
Making an explainer video for your homepage that viewers want to watch
There’s really nothing worse than a poorly produced video on a landing page. All of those wonderful video statistics you read about are thrown out the window while your viewers impressions of your company are oddly reminiscent of those late night legal commercials. Producing and incorporating videos on your website is not an overnight process, it takes strategy, planning, and, of course, quality production. No matter how or where you acquire your video, you need to follow the basic guidelines, as you would any project, in order to achieve the engagement results you read in those marketing blogs. Here’s my four-step formula to adding an effective video to any landing page.
1. Get the right style video
The style of your video must flow with your company’s culture and aesthetic. To choose a video style such as animation, real-life, or motion graphics you need to consider your resources and how you want to engage with your audience (serious, personal, friendly). Take your time and don’t get caught up in the trends you may see on other sites, but do research videos and thoroughly think about the experience that you want viewers to feel when they visit your landing page.
Rule of Thumb: If you have a charismatic, camera-friendly member on your team, then throw them in front of the camera because there is nothing better than building relationships with real people. If not, then that’s what animation is for.
2. Say the right thing
You’ve seen these blogs before and I guarantee that all of them will tell you the same thing, that you need to have a solid and actionable script. You would be amazed at how much you can express in one minute, so make sure that every second is getting you closer to a new customer. Here are the three key points that your video should express:
- State the Problem: What problem does your company solve? Why do people need to use what you offer? What problem afflicts your audience that you solve? When you start with the problem, you immediately hook the viewer by appealing to their needs.
- Offer your Solution. Now obviously your company is going to be the solution, but explain how you can alleviate this problem to your viewers. Talk about how your company directly addresses the stated problem; how your company saves the day!
- Call to Action. Now that you have your viewer hooked, make sure to tell them what to do next. Should they go to your website? Should they call a number? What do they need to do? This is also a great time to offer promotions — maybe 20% off to users who watched the video or who use a special link.
3. Focus on the Experience
If you are redesigning your house and the contractor asks, “Would you rather have pre-fabricated fittings or custom,” what would you say? Of course, custom. In this example you may be comparing prices, but fortunately with video there are ways to get custom videos for an affordable price (pssst Wideo). Don’t just plug and chug information into templates, take the time to find the ‘thing’ that makes you different than your competitors and make sure that your video highlights that.
4. Video placement
This is where I have seen the most mishaps. Companies work so hard on their videos and then just embed them into their existing web designs, creating clutter and confusion to the landing page. To create impact, you must design the page around the video, since it is supposed to be the focal point. Keep the page simple, remove the clutter that takes away from the video, such as sidebars and exposed Twitter feeds. The landing page has a specific goal, to attract and engage the viewers to your products or services, so make sure that it does that.
Bonus Round
Also, don’t embarrass us video makers by making these mistakes.
- Never produce poor quality videos, spend the extra time and money to ensure that your video is crisp and clear.
- Don’t run more than 2 minutes! Viewers like short, sweet, and to the point, so 60-90 seconds is ideal.
- Remember your target: think about who you are communicating with. If Obama knows to use Tumblr to communicate to the younger generation, then you need to have an idea of your demographic.
- Use concise and simple wording — now is not the time to through in fancy words to seem smart.
By now you should be ready to get going on your homepage video. While the script can be hard to write, just think about why your company was started in the first place to help get your creative juices flowing.
Here’s the landing page video for my company, Wideo:
This blog is by Agu De Marco, Co-Founder of Wideo, a DIY animated video production platform.
