Creating attention-grabbing videos

No longer do small business websites have to exclusively rely on text to engage with consumers. Creating online videos has become even easier over the past few years and with the growing audience of sites such as YouTube, small businesses have an even broader reach than ever before.

However, many brands approach video marketing with the wrong mindset – they think “if I make them, consumers will watch.” While online clips can be an effective way to engage prospective customers and generate new leads, they need to be more than boring advertisements.

Some companies, such as Orabrush, get this right by embedding a sense of humor into otherwise informative videos. Others, such as car manufacturers, let their products do the talking for themselves, often showing vehicles doing intense stunts.

Standing out in a good way

Video portals such as YouTube have millions of different submissions, so it can be difficult to stand out. However, being unique is key to pushing a video into viral status.

“Today’s consumer loves quirk, something different that he can catchphrase or hashtag,” Stephanie Buck writes for American Express OPEN Forum. “The trick is finding that wacky hook that will turn your campaign viral.”

This isn’t always an easy task, but some companies have seemingly mastered it.

Take, for example, Chuck Testa’s Ojai Valley Taxidermy clip, which has garnered nearly 10 million views on YouTube. The commercial features a monotone putting his mounts in ridiculous scenarios, such as driving a car or ordering a drink at a bar, and people confusing them for actual animals. Testa’s flat, stilted speech combined with the outlandish situations creates a quirky commercial that caught on with many YouTube goers – even ones who weren’t interested in his services.

Another popular video campaign was White-Out’s interactive bear video. The clip starts by showing a bear sneaking up on a hunter and a camera man. The hunter then interacts with a White-Out strip outside of the YouTube video to enable the viewer to determine the outcome of the clip. Consumers can type in different verbs and see them played out – the bear and the hunter could get married, have a gun duel or eat dinner.

Both of these video campaigns worked because the brands took a unique approach to show off their products or services. Taxidermy might not usually be a humorous service, which is why Chuck Testa’s funny videos stood out. Conversely, White-Out took its product and integrated it into the video in an engaging fashion.

These are just two examples. The key is not to copy these companies but to look at what they did and try to tap into their mindset. Each one works because of the products and services they promote, and they can’t necessarily just be copied with the expectation of achieving the same success.

The growing audience of video

As more consumers watch online videos, the medium will continue to grow more popular among marketers. In November alone, more than 183 million consumers – approximately 86 percent of the total American internet audience – watched at least one online video.

Google-owned sites, including YouTube, continue to account for the majority of movie views. The average American spent 444.5 minutes watching 20.4 billion movies on Google websites in November.

Does your company use videos to engage consumers? What is your strategy for the new content channel?

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