Since the 1940’s and the first TV commercial, video have been showing its efficiency in the field of advertising. In today’s ongoing digital era, video advertising is making a comeback.
In the world of digital advertising, the key to win the battle of conversion, is attention. At one point, marketers thought they could get users attention with flashy colours and blinking CTA. Sure, users noticed them. In the beginning, it was working, people were clicking and marketers were selling, but, oh boy it escalated quickly. It reached such a point, ad blockers have never been so popular. Advertisers are now looking for new ways to reach to customers in a smarter way.
That’s when digital video advertising made its entrance. Unlike display banners and interstitials, video is an interactive medium used to deliver a message. eMarketer’s predictions, are here to confirm it; digital video advertising is on the rise.
Simply making videos instead of banners, will not make your marketing strategy less annoying. To make it more efficient, video ads have to be tailored for digital campaigns and broadcast through the right channels. Remember, content is King and context is God.
Building smart video ads
In the good old times of TV, people sat obediently through TV commercial, giving brands all the attention they asked for. With the internet, the arrival of cross device behaviour, people switch from a screen to another in a glance. Video ads must catch the users’ interest and deliver their message before his attention gets caught by another cool content.
Here are some basic tips that will help you make performant video ads:
- Make the first 3-5 seconds count
Most of today’s video ads are skippable. Which means the video needs to capture the user attention early. Even if the video ads is not skippable, if the video is not catchy the user will look away and do something else while waiting.
A good example is Geico “Unskippable ad”. Geico is an insurance company well-known in the US. The concept of this ad is that since most user skip or don’t pay attention after 5 seconds, the ads need to say all it has to say in 5 seconds. See for yourself:
- Show viewers what you’re all about
Either you want to drive performance or awareness, your video ads need bring value to the viewer.
For performance campaigns, the video needs to focus on the product’s value proposition. Showcasing different contexts is a good way to increase engagement and helps the user picture himself using your product.
For awareness, storytelling is an efficient way to make the user watch the full video. The series of ads made by Cartier is a good example. They developed different length of video to show the brand and develop the brand identity.
- Give user time to take action
Especially if the video is meant to generate leads, it must inform users you are expecting them to take action. But if users have to do something the video should be short, 15 to 30 seconds. Marketers want users to learn more about their product, service. Don’t spoil their time by showing them a long video. The advertising will have more impact if the users engage with the brand and take action. Even if the users just look for more information on a website without taking concrete action, this will be more efficient than putting more information in the video.
Here is a good example that show what the product is about and tell clearly the user what to do:
Broadcast in the right context at the right time
Having a good digital video ad is one thing, knowing where and who to broadcast it to is another story.
If you follow Gary Vaynerchuck, you already know social networks are the best way to build your brand awareness. Indeed, social networks are a great way to make users discover your brand. Facebook is ubiquitous and offers great targeting options.
Using video ads on Facebook and Instagram are a great way to push your content to a global scale. They are networks were people are open to discovery; Facebook and Instagram users are more likely to click and discover the next product. Their other strength is their mobile version that are deeply rooted in our daily routine.
The other upcoming channel for video advertising is Snapchat. For now it’s mainly used by millennials, but as I mentioned it in a previous article, it is the next big app. It managed to combine social and messaging. But the biggest strength for marketers is the way the app capture the user attention. When you are watching videos on Snapchat, you are ONLY watching Snapchat videos. And that’s what all marketers dream about.
I guess that most of you are wondering, what about Youtube?
Of course Youtube is still the first in video. Even if Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are growing, Youtube is still the first place user go to watch video. Moreover, views are not counted the same way on different channels. When Facebook counts a view after 5 seconds with autoplay while the user is browsing his feed, Youtube counts one view after 30 seconds and letting the choice to the user to skip the ad. And even if Youtube is challenged, it remains the favoured video channel.
At the end of the day, video advertising is a great way to engage with users, but it will only be efficient if marketers choose the right channels.