How to create a sales video

If you are planning to create video reviews for your business, this article will be useful for you.

Personal experience confirms what people believe. If you want to demonstrate the value of your services or products, you can create a series of sales videos featuring examples of your clients' success.

What is a case study video and why it works

A video testimonial is a video that shows examples from practice. Videos gain authenticity through reviews.

For the video testimonial to work, make sure to meet these 4 conditions:

record an interview with the client, where he talks about his experience;
back up this opinion with statistics and other facts available for verification;
show in the video how you solved a specific problem of the client;
focus on the benefits.

Almost any type of business can benefit from making video cases. There are at least three reasons to use them in your marketing strategy: they are compelling, emotional, and versatile.

Potential customers can make purchasing decisions based on your customer success stories.

A video here is much more effective than text, since when reading a person only retains 10% of the information. Regardless of how well the text is written.

What is the video retention rate? According to Wordstream statistics, it is 95%.

Want to increase engagement? Make a video review.

According to Biteable's survey of 694 small business owners and marketers, 72% prefer videos for receiving information.

Videos depicting customer experiences create an emotional connection with the viewers.

If you think that emotions are unreliable, here's another statistic for you to think about - according to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman in his book “How Customers Think: Key Ideas about Market Consciousness”, 95% of buying decisions are made subconsciously and are influenced by emotional factors.

It's more important to sell the sizzle than the steak, as the old saying goes.

Video review is also universal content. It can be cut into shorts, used in specific campaigns, and uploaded to websites and social networks.

Videos that will convert you new customers

Reviews. This is the easiest video to make. It requires minimal editing. Ask clients about their experience. How has their life changed after using the product/service?

It can be either one client - one review, or a selection of clients combined in one video.

Description of a specific case. This video will require work, both in terms of editing and strategy. Not only will it be necessary to interview clients on camera, but also to add visual effects and B-rolls. You will need to prepare graphics and visual materials, add subtitles where needed to provide the necessary context for the viewers.

How to make a sales video

You do not have to overpay a specialist, you can try to create a video on your own.

First, think about the key points you’d want to cover.

Having decided on the topic, proceed to planning.

1. Put yourself in the client's shoes. You already have a portrait of your target audience, which means there is also a portrait of an ideal client. What does he think?

The more detailed and specific you describe your ideal client profile, the easier it will be for you to plan, shoot and edit your video.

This will also come in handy when you start targeting.

2. Ask yourself these four questions to help you get your key message right:

What does your customer care about?
How are you different from your competitors? What do you offer unique?
Why do people like your products and services?
What goals does your product or service help the user achieve?

3. Decide who will be the face of your videos. Rely on the matching dots between your target audience and your ideal client: demographics, general pain, or other characteristics.

Your client's personal story should be interesting and captivating.
Choose people who are comfortable in front of the camera.
To motivate the client to participate, you can offer a discount or something that may be useful to them.
Try to calculate in advance how long the shooting will take, and plan the process with this person.
If the person is far away, you can ask them to make a review themselves.

4. Video script.

Every story has its own story structure. To make your video easy to grasp, place the story between four points: getting to know the character - conflict - decision - call to action.

Character is a client with a compelling story who is confident in front of the camera.

A conflict is a situation, a pain that your product or service helped them overcome.

The decision is about facts and statistics. This information is important to make your story more credible to your viewers.

Make your call to action look like the viewer made the decision himself.

But give him every opportunity to do this - a callback form, a CTA button, etc.

Background interviews: what are they and why are they important?

This step is most often skipped because its effectiveness is not obvious.

But the point of it is to do a series of test interviews to see from the outside how the script is being implemented and how the chosen character behaves. Plus, you can test the person's reaction to your questions. And if somewhere there is an inaccuracy in the wording, then you’ll have a chance to make it clearer.

If it is not possible to conduct such an interview in person, use video conferencing software. If your character gets used to the camera, he or she will look more natural in the video when the shooting time comes.

8 questions to the client from the review that will help you stay on track:

-What do you do?

-Who are your clients?

-How long have you been in this business?

-What obstacles along the way brought you to us?

-Why did you decide that our product / service will help you eliminate them?

-What makes us different from others?

- What are your impressions of working with us/using our product?

-What benefits stand out the most?

Write the script yourself

Do you think a professional could do a better job? Not in this situation. No one can write this script better than you. Your business is your expertise, after all. You already have a lot of interesting information about it, the details and nuances.

When you have outlined the storyline (we’ve discussed that previously in this text) and you did background interviews, this is enough to start writing.

Make sure you don't write too many words. Shorter videos are more likely to be watched by consumers.

Facts

Remember that you have great facts and figures. Be sure to add them. This is appropriate for parts of the video that talk about increasing sales, conversions, or other measures that are important for your clients.

Display numbers and facts on the screen. So they will be better remembered than if they are only read by a voiceover.

Charts and infographic work well. For example, if a client mentions statistics in your video, you can add graphics in post-production.

Shooting location

Make sure the recording location is quiet so there are no problems with the sound quality. Consider also the background. It should not detract from the main message.

The location may be related to the industry your client is in.

Frame list

When the text of the script is ready, you can think about what frames and angles will accompany it. Create visual interest by varying angle and size of pictures.

Tips for shooting day

Check the noise level and the light every time before you start recording;
Make sure the hero of the video answers the questions in full sentences. Excess information can be cut out pretty easily. However, monosyllabic and short phrases can ruin the video's impression.
Shoot the B-roll carefully: the client at work, the product, the product in action, the place. All of these elements will help build visual interest and provide context to your message.
Allow more time for shooting than you need to get everything done without fuss.