3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Make a Video Ad
by Brad Witbeck • March 7, 2017
With 87% of online advertisers using video marketing, the question isn’t really if you should make a video ad, it’s how you should do it.
In order to put together a solid video marketing strategy, you’ll need to ask yourself a couple of questions. I’d advise writing these things down so you can refer back to each of your answers and more easily share them with members of your team.
Here are the questions:
1. What is My Goal With this Video Ad?
Every business is different and will have slightly different target audiences, so there is no real rule of thumb for what your goals should be for your video ad.
For example, if you’re making a video advertising your consulting services you’re going to have very different goals than you would if you were making a product video for an eCommerce business.
Maybe you’re only concerned with the number of views you get. If you’re a nonprofit organization that’s looking to raise awareness about a cause, the more views you get, the better.
Additionally, you’ll want to pay attentions to metrics that lead to more views, like shares. Shares will grow your number of views a ton, so you’ll want to monitor both of these if you’re just concerned with the sheer number of times your video is watched.
If you want to make sure people are watching all the way through your video, you’ll want to consider just how long the video is, and how engaging it is throughout. You probably don’t need a 10 minute video to introduce people to your business.
Knowing what you’re planning on getting out of your video ad will help you streamline everything about your video, from how you plan it to how you will measure success.
Setting goals for how many views you’ll want to be getting, what you want your view through rate to be, and how many shares you want your video to get will give you a point of reference for whether you’re doing well enough or not.
2. How will my video set me apart?
Knowing what your goals are will help you decide what sort of video ad to make, but if you really want your ad to succeed, it will need to stand out in some way.
The question is, how?
To begin with, it’s a good idea to look at what your competitors are doing. Then, pay attention to what your competitors aren’t doing.
If they’re making simple videos that explain their services, you could just do the same and get similar results, or you could try adding in humor and stand out a little bit more.
Next, take a little time to think about what is unique about your company. Maybe you could tell a truly heart-wrenching story about people your company has helped and use that to help your video stand out.
As you brainstorm video ideas, keep the “shareability” of your video ad in mind.
People share what they can relate to. If it makes them laugh, makes them cry, makes them learn, or even just makes them proud.
Whether or not people can relate with your video ad will make or break your ad. So, if your idea doesn’t seem like something people will relate to, head back to the drawing board!
3. How am I going to make my video?
Once you know how to set apart your video, you’re almost ready to make it. There are a lot of different options here. You might want to do things in house, hire a new employee to make your videos, or you might want to completely contract the video out.
While deciding which route to take, consider these factors:
- Cost. This isn’t just straight monetary costs. If you spend your own time making a video, that’s a cost as well. It may take you a lot longer to edit a video than it would cost you to just pay someone else to do it for you. Especially if you have to learn how to edit.
- Equipment. This is similar to cost, because whatever equipment you don’t have, you’ll either need to buy or rent. From lenses to stabilizers, there’s all sorts of equipment you might need to make the commercial you want. For more info on filming equipment costs, check out this article.
- Expertise: If you know what you’re doing when it comes to video, things will run a lot smoother. That’s part of why video companies are able to charge what they do. It’s a skilled labor. Without the expertise, you may not get the right shots, or you might lose your audio and a lot of time can end up getting wasted.
In any case, you’ll need to determine what you will need to make your vision become a reality, decide what you’re willing to spend and then find the most effective way to put your plan into action.
Say you have a camera, but you’re going to need some sliding shots. It might be in your best interests to simply rent a slider for the shoot you’ll be using it for. However, if you don’t know what a slider is, you might want to consider hiring someone on who knows how to use that sort of equipment.
The more specific you are with what you want, the more pleased you’ll be with your results.
Lastly, it’s important to make sure everyone is on the same page, and storyboard and shot list everything so that everyone knows what’s going to happen when you actually go film.
Conclusion
When it comes to making video ads, there are 3 basic questions you need to ask yourself:
- What is my goal with this video ad?
- How will my video set me apart?
- How am I going to make my video?
Your answers to these questions will have a big effect on how you choose to approach making your video ad. You might end up doing the whole things in house, or you might end up doing the pre-production on your own while hiring out for people to do the production and post production.
As long as you ask yourself these three questions, in the end, you’ll have a video ad that you can be proud of. You can look forward to increased engagement from your target audiences.
Best of luck with your video endeavors. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know here or in the comments.
What do you think of these questions? What sort of questions do you ask yourself before you put together a new video ad?
