Written by: Seth Wingate – Owner
Over 10 years of providing videography and video production services we have been in hundreds of video marketing meetings. I’ve personally met with marketing professionals, agencies, owners, startups and nonprofits – they are all asking the same questions as you probably have as well.
These questions boil down to WHY and HOW.
As Napoleon once so eloquently put it…
Why and how are words so important they cannot be too often used.
– Napoleon Bonaparte
So with that…let’s jump in
THE NUMBER 1 QUESTION I HEAR IS: HOW LONG SHOULD MY VIDEO BE?
Another way of saying that might be – what is the ideal length for my video?
“Short attention span!”
“15 Second Social Media Videos.”
“MICRO CONTENT!”
“SHORT SHORT SHORT”
Believe me…I get it. Most of what we see on our social media feeds is indeed short form content. And because of that most of the time the clients who ask this question are the ones who market for or own a business that isn’t “cool”. Apparel companies, energy drinks, travel and adventure companies…those are easy to make short social media videos for.
It’s my clients who own construction companies, design firms, manufacturing companies, or even less sexy businesses like B2B technology and security, accountants or law firms that really get stumped by this.
How can non “cool” businesses fit into this “short format world?”
I hear you.
I have a unique take on the matter.
Ready?
THE LENGTH DOES NOT MATTER.
You heard me right = the length of your video does not matter….or at least shouldn’t be the first question you ask.
What matters is what part of the sales process they are in.
I’ll prove it to you.
You hop on YouTube.
Find a video you want to watch…and what happens?
An ad like this one.
And you can’t even wait 5 SECONDS to skip this ad.
5 SECONDS!
Why? Do you not like burgers? I bet you do.
Is the ad not SHORT enough?
Sure it is.
It’s all about where you are in the sales process.
Many people (including me) will be frustrated waiting 5 seconds to get to a 20 MINUTE video on something they care about. This might be a video on video equipment for me or bonsai tree shaping for you…I don’t know.
My point is – I always reframe this question into: At what point in the sales process is your customer?
SO HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOUR VIDEO MARKETING EFFORTS?
First identify what stage of the sales process your audience is in.
I typically suggest using several different video lengths for different stages of the sales or marketing process.
My clients have had great success using videos that are 5 to even 7 minutes in length at live events where you have a captive audience.
For online advertising many times long format videos work very well as long as you provide enough value in the first 4 seconds to allow the audience to opt in or out. Then shorter awareness advertisements are used to re-engage the brand.
In order to use video as an effective marketing tool you need strategy as well as creativity. Connecting with an experienced video production company that has a proven track record in video marketing services is a great place to start.
To find out how you can use video to grow your business or brand click here
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