Benefits and Pitfalls of Promo Videos for Web

Benefits and Pitfalls of Promo Videos for Web The article focused on design for the promotional videos used on the web for various products and brands: types of videos, benefits and pitfalls, practical design cases.

A video is an effective marketing tool that never gets old. People got used to watching video adverts on TV since the beginning of the past century. Now is an era of the Internet and a big part of the marketing and advertising is concentrated on the web. Internet users are in love with videos and joyfully spend hours watching them. Marketing community couldn’t ignore such an opportunity and many companies already use a promotional video as a creative and effective way of product marketing. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into details of custom promotional videos covering their essence and profitability.

What’s a promotional video?

Don’t want to sound obvious still there is no better explanation than to define a promo video as the one created to promote a company or its product. This type of videos is made that way so it could encourage people to buy a certain product or use the services of a company. They are usually small catchy videos showing all facets of a promoted object in the best way to prove people it’s worth of their time and money. Since promotional videos are popular and widely-used, everyone tries to find ways to make their videos original and creative. That’s why designers offer businesses promo videos created in different styles that stand out among thousands of the others because they are unique and catchy.

UI-Animation-design

Types of promo video

Promo videos can serve many business purposes so there are different types each created to achieve certain objectives. For example, one of the most commonly used types of promotional videos is an introduction video. Its aim is to tell people about a business, its offers, and reasons why someone should care about it. An intro promo video works best for startups willing to present themselves and interest their potential clients. This type of video needs to be informative still short and entertaining so that it could catch the viewer’s attention.

Next type having popularity among companies is a product presentation video. Many businesses are looking for creative ways to tell about their products and a custom promo video is a trending tool now. The video can shortly present product features and tell about its value for users. Another type combines features of the two previous. These are landing page videos which aim at driving users to take expected actions such as purchasing or signing up. They usually are meant to present some unique offers which people can get by taking certain action like leaving contacts or else.

To gain people’s trust, companies often share testimonials from satisfied clients on their websites. Video testimonials are an effective way to show that a company is trustworthy and can bring values. One more approach to product promoting is short entertaining videos. This type usually doesn’t seem like promo videos because it isn’t centered on a product or a company. The videos are meant to catch people on the emotional level by showing funny, heart-moving, or thoughtful video pieces having a short plot and a promoted product can appear as a secondary element. Quite often, if done and introduced originally, the videos of this sort get viral and present additional support to the brand.

All the types of promo videos can serve as effective marketing tools. However, a company needs to choose the type accurately according to business tasks that the video is meant to accomplish.

Product presentation video for Toonie Alarm

Is a custom promo video profitable for businesses?

Custom promotional video creation requires time, money, and effort to spend, so obviously many companies are concerned with the question “What benefits will we receive from it?”. Here is the answer.

People perceive video faster than copy. Psychological research shows that human brain processes video material much faster than text. It means that people need to take more effort to read a copy of company’s offers rather than watch a video. That’s why, by placing a presentation promo video on a website, a company increases the chances that more people will know about their product. Also, a quality video can accurately transfer the message which a company wants to tell to its possible customers.

Video increases conversion rates. Since people perceive video better than text, they are more likely to be influenced by it. It is easier to gain users’ trust when they are able to see how the product works in a real time. If people trust a company and are interested in their offers, they more willingly take action such as signing up or trying a demo. What’s more, a powerful promo video is an effective way to retain users longer rather than a great amount of copy.

Good search engine results. A major part of the Internet content consists of text data. Video content has less competition so the users searching keywords are more likely to find a video on the first page. To achieve even better results, a promo video needs to have well-thought SEO with the appropriate keywords in the headline, tags, description, etc.

Better social sharing. People are crazy about nice videos and the thing they like even more is sharing these videos with their friends. Videos are mobile and easy to share, the reason why it can be easily spread across social networks. Businesses should keep in mind that buyers are the best marketers they have, so it’s vital to encourage users to share the links.

Video receives real-time feedback. Internet users like commenting videos and discussing it with the others. It allows a company to see what people say about them and their product. Analyzing the feedbacks, a company can make significant improvements.

Better branding recognition. If a company creates an interesting and original video, people are more likely to remember them. The thing is that video has the influence on the visual memory as well as the echoic one so the chances that users will recognize a brand increase twice compared to elements that are perceived only visually.

Creative video helps to stand out from the competition. Video marketing isn’t a new approach, even more, it’s been a top tool for decades. However, technology is evolving and so do approaches to video creation. Original and quality video can help a company stand out from competitors.

Promo video for PassFold project designed and animated by Tubik team

Promo video pitfalls to consider

Certainly, there is no ideal approach to product marketing: considering video as a promo tool, you need to keep in mind possible pitfalls it may bring. First of all, the creation of a powerful promotional video requires spending money and time. To make an effective video, professionals need to handle many processes: from scripting and video recording to video and sound editing. Original video will need unique graphic material and high-quality animation, so if a company wants a quality video, it must be ready to invest in it.

In case a company decided to make a promo video, they need to make sure it’s done right. Bad quality video can affect brand reputation almost as hard as a bad quality product. Also, promotional videos have to be useful and interesting otherwise the users may consider it as disrespect to their time which is also not the best thing for company or brand image.

One more thing you need to think about once you’ve applied a promo video is that not all people would like to spend their time watching it. It means that there must be another way for buyers how to learn about a product. It can be a short piece of copy that users could quickly scan and decide whether they’re interested or not.

And, finally, we shouldn’t forget about the technical side. High-quality videos can overload the server of the website so it works slowly. When you include a video as a content element, it should be thoroughly tested on different devices and conditions. It helps to make sure there will be no technical problems that may make users frustrated.

Case Studies

In the end of 2016, Opera, a web browser developed by Opera Software, presented their promo video devoted to their achievements over the past year. It was a short animated video called «Opera 2016: Year in Review» with illustrations showing their acquirements. To make this project done, Opera Software collaborated with the Tubik design team.

The main idea of this project was to create a positive and cheerful video presenting the fresh innovative features the company added in the web browser during the past year. It was agreed that the video must consist of illustrations accomplished in the 3D flat style and lush colors. Each illustration would present lifestyle object composition devoted to a specific month when a feature was delivered. The accent was made on the typography since Opera wanted to emphasize the useful opportunities their users have now. That’s why designers come up with the decision that animation of the elements should be minimalistic so that it couldn’t distract users. Here is the result.

Welcome to read a detailed case study on Opera video production.

Another case study to remember was participation in video production process for Binned, a USA-based service supporting cleaner and healthier environment for the local community by washing and deodorizing the trash bins outdoors. The idea to support the brand promotion with the short, bright and catchy animated video was absolutely logical for this case: trashbins cleaning is not the topic to which people are ready to devote their precious time and read about all the benefits. Meanwhile, the promo video with funny and friendly characters could become a good way to inform the potential users of the service about all its advantages in short seconds. Moreover, activating multiple directions of perception, video was found impactful in stimulating positive emotional appeal which was to the client’s liking. Here’s the final video.

Welcome to read a detailed case study on Binned video production.

All in all, videos have taken a big part in our life, the reason why we should take all the benefits from it. Stay tuned!