Producing high-quality videos is a lot of work – but it's often worth it.

When people see your awesome videos, they'll think more highly of your brand, they'll be more likely to buy from you, and they'll be more likely to be loyal to your brand well into the future.

But what if nobody sees your awesome work?

If you're just starting out with video marketing, or if you're just interested in growing your existing audience, generating more visibility for your videos is likely your biggest obstacle to success.

You have the great videos necessary to accomplish your goals, but you can only accomplish those goals if people can find, discover, and watch them.

Amusingly, video ads are one of the best ways to promote your brand videos. But why is this the case? And how do you properly harness video ads to promote longer videos on your website or social media channel?

Videos About Videos: The Power of Video Ads

Video ads to promote videos sound like an Inception-themed gimmick, but there are several reasons why video ads are so powerful when used this way:

·         Audience targeting. Market research and audience targeting are perhaps your best tools for sculpting an ideal video ad. By using the right platform and the right strategy, you can make sure your video ads reach the perfect demographics to watch your longer videos. You can find people in a specific geographic region, of a specific age, with certain specific interests, and you can make sure those people see the most persuasive sneak previews of your core video content.

·         The perfect medium. Perhaps unsurprisingly, video ads are the perfect way to advertise videos because they utilize the same medium. This is the same principle behind movie trailers being played in a movie theater before movies; in addition to targeting the same demographics, the environment and presentation style is perfectly aligned with the core product. If you want to appeal to people potentially interested in your best videos, the best way to reach them is with a bite-sized video.

·         Ample available channels. Video ads are also powerful because there are many available channels through which you can syndicate them. You can pay to have your video ads featured on dedicated video channels like YouTube. You can organically promote video ads on social media. You can even pay to have your video ads placed on TV or other more traditional video channels.

·         Multiple means of persuasion. Video ads give you lots of messaging wiggle room, and plenty of different ways to persuade your audiences. You can use visuals, audio, on screen messaging, and secondary calls to action (CTAs), or any combination of these to motivate your viewers to watch your videos, buy your products, or visit your website.

Key Challenges for Video-Video Ads

However, there are a few key challenges in promoting your videos with video ads. You'll need to overcome them if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your advertising.

·         Placing effectively. Placement matters. If you put your video ad on the wrong channel or appeal to the wrong demographics, the ad isn't going to be effective in any way. Conversely, if you choose the right channel and the right target audience, you can instantly multiply your effectiveness. So, what constitutes the right channel or platform? And how do you choose the right target audience? Hopefully, as a business, you already know who your ideal video consumers are. If you don't, you can figure this out with a thorough round of market research. After that, you'll need to review all the options available to your business and choose the channel or platform that seems to be the best fit, both in terms of demographics and in terms of tools and resources available to advertisers. When in doubt, go with the channel or platform with the broadest reach and the most robust controls for audience targeting.

·         Capturing initial attention. Most people tune out ads after a few seconds of disinterest or apathy. Once you recognize that something is an ad and that it's not relevant to you, you're not going to engage with it any further. Video ads are often very short, so you only have a few seconds to capture initial attention. Doing this can be quite challenging, even if you have something interesting or compelling for your target audience. Figure out a way to pique interest immediately, such as by revealing something surprising, teasing a big reveal in the future, or promising some kind of valuable offer that your demographics are going to love.

·         Appealing to chronic skippers. Most people skip most video ads, if able. The moment they get the opportunity, they'll click a button to stop watching your ad. How do you prevent this? The simple answer is that, in many cases, you can't. If a person is so annoyed by ads that they can't stand watching one, there isn't much you can do to persuade them to act differently. However, you can be cognizant of the skipping options available on a certain platform and tailor your video ad around them. For example, if you know that users will be able to skip your ad after 5 seconds of it playing, you need to make sure those first 5 seconds are so interesting and powerful that users will be compelled to keep watching. You can even bring attention to the fact that the ad is skippable, directly appealing to viewers and giving them a reason to stay.

·         Nailing the hook. Good video ads have a hook, or some compelling reason for a viewer to keep watching or be persuaded. The hook can be the promise of a compelling offer, some uniquely appealing piece of content, or almost anything else that your target demographics would find valuable. If you're not sure what your viewers might find valuable, consider asking them in the form of surveys. Once you figure it out, present it concisely and directly for best effect.

·         Breaking from the norm. People are forced to watch video ads on a nearly constant basis. We've all been bombarded with video ads throughout our lives, and we've seen many of the persuasive ploys that brands use to appeal to us. It's all old news. If you want to stand out and persuade your target audience effectively, you need to find ways to break from the norm. Conduct competitive research, figure out what your rival brands are doing, and come up with a way to do things differently.

·         Incentivizing action. Finally, make sure your video ads have some way to incentivize action. Is there a specific video you want them to watch? Is there a specific website or landing page you want them to visit? Do you want them to subscribe to your YouTube channel? Whatever it is, you need to convert it to a compelling call to action (CTA) and give people a legitimate reason for taking that action. What are they going to learn? What are they going to get for free? How is this going to benefit them? If you can directly call your viewers to action and give them a concrete, believable value statement, your ad is going to be much more effective.

How to Make Better Video Ads

These tips can help you make better video ads for your video content.

·         Start with the goal. Before you write a script for your video ad, come up with a specific goal. What do you want people to do after viewing this ad? What are the main messages you want to convey in the ad? How do you define success for this video ad and what is the path to get there? The more specific you are with this concept, the more focused and complete your video ad is going to be.

·         Pin down a specific niche. You also need to cater to a specific niche. Hopefully, you already have target demographics in mind and you already know them well because of your previous market research. If you don't have that nailed down already, now is the time to do it. This is going to help you determine the best platforms and audience controls to use in your advertising efforts.

·         Review your placement options. Don't assume that one channel is better than another just because it's more popular or more accessible. Thoroughly review your video ad placement options and consider multiple channels as part of your comprehensive video marketing strategy. Consider conducting a cost-benefit analysis for each of your options – and compare them apples to apples so you can make a smarter determination.

·         Pull your best clips. Remember, one of the strengths of using video ads to promote your videos is the similarity in medium. Accordingly, you'll likely benefit from pulling some of the best clips from your best videos and integrating them into your video ads. Giving people a sneak preview, even if it's only a few seconds, may give them a powerful reason to watch your video in full.

·         Tease your audience. That said, you don't want to give everything away. If you give your viewers the final punch line or the most important piece of information in your video ad, they won't have any reason to watch your video. You need to tease your audience, making them aware of information and benefits that they'll receive by watching your videos, without actually giving them the substance of them. Hint and allude to the value without giving it all away upfront.

·         Perfect the first few seconds. The average human attention span is a mere eight seconds. For some people, it's even shorter. And even if you have a longer than average attention span, you might have little patience for ads, skipping them every chance you get. Accordingly, you need to make sure your video ad is attention grabbing, compelling, and persuasive in the first few seconds. This can be challenging, but it's necessary if you want your video ad to land. Give people an immediate hook that they can't say no to.

·         Keep it short. Even if you have the opportunity to make a longer video ad, you should strive for conciseness. Attention spans are limited, even for a convenient, highly engaging medium like video, so you shouldn't include more information than necessary and you definitely shouldn't spend more time than necessary articulating your most important points. You'll win more respect from your viewers and be much more likely to persuade them if you keep things relatively short.

·         Experiment. Finally, be willing to experiment. Even if you have a nearly perfect understanding of your target demographics and a prodigious ability to create high-quality videos, there are hidden, complex variables that can influence your results. It’s hard to know exactly which types of video ads are going to be most effective until you put them into practice. Try a wide variety of different messages and approaches to see what resonates most with your target audience – and use the resulting data to shape your subsequent efforts. You can't force a video to viral, but you can certainly coax it toward something close! 

Making good videos is hard. Making those videos visible and popular is potentially even harder.

We can help you with both.

Our team of video production and marketing experts have the knowledge, experience, and resources you need to launch the best video marketing strategy possible. If you’re ready to get started, contact us today!

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