Here are 5 more ways to make better technology videos than your competitors.
1. Skip the intro
Interactive video expert Randy Tinfow contributed this to our LinkedIn discussion group: “if we break a 3:30 video into chapters, and call one of them INTRO, 47% of viewers skip it entirely, assuming it’s boring and useless.”
Start with your best story or most significant benefit or coolest diagram. People are used to watching TV and movies that plunk the audience down in the middle of an event. As long as the things stay interesting, we keep watching.
2. Count every word and make every word count
In two minutes a narrator can speak about 250 words. Of course, he or she can get in more words. The fast-talking world record, 603 words in 54 seconds, extrapolates to over 1300 words in two minutes (if you could keep it up). How fast a delivery needs to be before it becomes an unbearable hard sell is impossible to say. You should be headed in the opposite direction, regardless.
The best way to control the word count is to let the pictures do the talking. Instead of saying things the viewer can see for himself, tell viewers what you want them to see.
3. Make every picture count
If you can illustrate a real instance of the value your solution achieves with numbers — especially numbers of dollars — you gain credibility. “Follow the money” is something people in business generally like to do.
4. Don’t be boring
This is so obvious I wouldn’t mention it — except that we have ample experience of clients who honestly feel that some gust of hot air simply must be included, however boring.
You watch TV. You know what you do when video is boring. Trust your instincts.
5. Don’t be funny
Engaging. Emotional. Storytelling. Explainer video producers tell you these are good things to aim for — and they are. But you can’t be sure of achieving any of these — let alone funny. You can’t count on the world’s best storytellers and comedy writers to score consistently. You can’t count on people having a sense of humor, either.
But you do know what’s interesting about your solution. Make your video about that. If it takes the form of a story, so much the better. What’s really important is that your video makes prospects take some action to get more information.
