According to Hubspot statistics, 93% of businesses claim that the promotional video they shared on social media helped them attract new clients.

And nearly 61% of businesses claim that video content is the key component of their marketing strategy.

After all, who doesn’t love to see a promotional video like this? 😉

However, we all know that the process of creating of promotional video can be very complicated.

This article will cover the topics of what a promotional video is and how to create an effective promotional video with best practices, successful examples, and easy-to-use tools. 

What is Promotional Video

A promotional video is a business video intended to promote your products and services to customers and prospects.

As more people consume videos in Malaysia, a well-designed video will help you drive more conversions and enhance your brand awareness.

Your promotional video can be used in many different ways, such as on the company’s website, email campaigns, social media channels, or TV.

Secrets of Creating a Good Promotional Video

Now that you know what a promotion video is let’s look at the 8 great tips to create an effective promotional video from ample brilliant examples and ideas.

1. Know Your Audience

Creating a promotional video without first knowing your target audience is like shooting an arrow in the dark. You might hit your target, but more likely than not, you’ll miss it.

That’s why it’s so important to spend time (and even money) researching who you’re making your promotional video for.

Your target audience is the group of people you want to reach with your promotional video. It can be helpful to think of your target audience as a specific person rather than a generalized group. It will help you better understand what they want to see in your video.

When you know your target audience, you can create a video that speaks directly to them. This makes your video more effective and more likely to achieve your desired results.

Here are some things to consider when thinking about your target audience:

• Who are they?
• What do they want to see in your video?
• What will resonate with them?
• What will make them take action?

Keep these things in mind as you create your promotional video, and you’ll be well on your way to success.

2. Tell a story

It’s nice to get wrapped up in the idea of making a video that sells. 

But the truth is, if you’re too focused on the sale, your viewers will see right through it. 

Instead of thinking about how to make a hard sell, focus on creating a story that your viewers will want to watch.

After all, people are more likely to remember a story than a sales pitch.

So how to create a story that will resonate with your audience?

Think about what you want to achieve with your video and who your target audience is (That’s why secret #1 is so crucial!). 

Still trying to find your target audience effectively? Here are the four simple and quick ways to find your target audience.

Once you have a clear idea of this, you can start to craft a story that will engage your viewers and promote your product or service in a way that feels organic and natural.

Take a look at how Nike uses the short story of Alphonso Davies to promote its brand. 

Remember that you don’t always need to use your brand story.

In fact, sharing your customer’s stories is way more effective as they allow you to build an emotional connection with the new audience, gain their trust, show authenticity, and finally form meaningful relationships. 

So if you’re thinking about creating a promotional video for your business, concentrate on creating a story that will act as a positive association with your brand. You can include information about your product or service, but make sure that the story is the star of the show.

3. Create a Hook in the First Three Seconds

Have you heard of the “3-second rule” in video marketing?

According to research, it takes three seconds for your viewers to decide whether to stick with your video or go on to the next one in their social media stream.

Your promotional video’s initial few seconds are vital in determining whether or not viewers will stick around.

If you don’t have a strong hook, you risk losing viewers before you even start. 

You must create a hook that grabs their attention and compels them to keep watching.

When creating a hook for your promotional video, you must remember that the aim is to make the viewer want to watch more.

Some tips on how to create a hook or use the first few seconds of your promotional video wisely include:

• Start with a question that will make the viewer curious about what comes next
• Include footage that is visually stimulating and catches the eye
• Tease the viewer with information that will pique their interest
• Make a bold statement that will leave the viewer wanting to know more
• Create an emotional connection with the viewer by including relatable content

You can also start with a surprising statistic, an interesting fact, a powerful quote, or a short, action-packed scene. Whatever you do, make sure it will grab the viewer’s attention and make them want to see more.

Here’s an excellent example of a Meta Quest Pro teaser video. Notice how the video creates a “hook” by using upbeat, energetic background music to create an exciting vibe and animating the VR headset according to the vibe of the music. This first hook establishes curiosity about what’s so special about the VR headset. 

So take the time to create a strong opening for your video, and you’ll be more likely to keep viewers engaged throughout the entire video.

4. Focus on the benefits

Your customers are always looking for more value for their money. 

When you focus on the benefits or values you give your customers in your promotional materials, you are more likely to get their attention and interest. 

By highlighting your value, you can show your potential customers that you are worth their investment.

So what are some of the benefits you can highlight in your promotional video? It can be anything from your product’s quality to your service’s convenience. 

No matter what method you use, make sure you are clear and concise in your delivery. Your customers will appreciate your efforts to show them the value you provide.

I love how Framer made this awesome promotional video introducing its new features. Notice how they slowly unfold the benefits of their products by showing their new features. It makes the video full of surprises that keep people watching until the end. 

Therefore, always remember to focus on the benefits you offer. You’ll be able to promote your business and attract new customers more effectively.

5. Use testimonials

Testimonials are one of the most powerful tools to inform, persuade, and sell your products.

According to BigCommerce, 72% of consumers say positive reviews and testimonials make them trust a business more. Consumers look at testimonials as a form of social proof that adds legitimacy and credibility to a business. 

Don’t worry if you’re a small business owner or just getting started. You don’t need a huge marketing budget or video production skills in Malaysia in to get started with testimonials. Follow these simple steps to create a testimonial video:

1. Find someone who has been impacted by your product or service and ask them to share their story
2. Prepare and send engaging questions to them beforehand. 
3. Find a spot that is quiet and has good lighting to do video shooting.
4. Record the testimonial and edit it to the best parts (5-10 minutes).
5. Upload it on your website, social media channels, and YouTube channel.

To help you understand better, look at this smart example from Codeacademy on how to use a testimonial video to promote their brand.  

 

6. Create a Super Interesting Thumbnail

Undeniably, a video thumbnail is one of the most crucial aspects of increasing your potential viewers and making them click on your video. The thumbnail can be a screenshot of the video, an image representing the video’s topic, or anything that looks interesting.

See how Samsung created the thumbnail for its new S22 Ultra by opting for a minimalistic style and using bold text to highlight the word “ultra”.    

Don’t worry. You don’t need to become an expert to create engaging thumbnails. Follow these five simple tips to make your thumbnails look like they were created by a professional:

Use the Correct Size

Your custom thumbnail image should be as large as possible since it will be used as the preview image in the site’s embedded player. If you plan to upload your promotional video on YouTube, YouTube recommends your custom thumbnails:

• Have a resolution of 1280×720 (with a minimum width of 640 pixels).
• Uploaded in image formats such as JPG, GIF, or PNG.
• Remain under the 2MB limit.
• Try to use a 16:9 aspect ratio as it’s the most used in YouTube players and previews.

Select Relevant Images

A relevant image will attract more attention and thus lead to more clicks and views. 

For instance, Samsung uses the word “ultra” and replaces the letter “l” with the new smartphone to show that this promo video is about introducing the latest smartphone.

If you plan to create many promotional videos in the future, you can create a branded thumbnail template like Minecraft. It is one way to generate a consistent style that reflects you and your business.

Include keywords in your thumbnail to provide context

Depending on the intent of your promotional video, adding keywords to your thumbnail can give better context to your target audience about the video. Xbox adds the model name in the thumbnail so that the audience knows about the new Xbox series.

Make sure your text contrast with the background

Always use pleasant-looking contrast so that the viewers can see your topic. Both thumbnails above are great examples of the contrast between the text and background.

Use designing tools with ready-made video thumbnail templates

If you’re not good at design, you can always make your life easier with easy-to-use designing tools and a vast template of video thumbnails. Here are two good free designing tools for you to try out:

Canva –  An easy-to-use web-based image editing software application. They provide tons of templates, including a thumbnail maker for YouTube. It also lets you choose from thousands of images and many special effects. 

Price: Free with fewer features or $12.99/month for more features

Snappa –  Another quick and easy graphic design software. Snappa lets you choose a stock photo from their library or upload a snapshot. 

Price: Free, but limited to 3 downloads per month. Unlimited use from $10/month

 

7. Don’t forget to Optimize for Silent Playback

Research from Facebook shows that 85% of videos are watched on mute.

While there are a few reasons people watch without listening, we can take this as an advantage to communicate the message without sound. 

One of the most straightforward ways is to add captions to your video. Some findings also show that adding a caption helps to increase viewership, accessibility, and reach.

Take a look at this 1-minute video from Starbucks. By employing captions, Starbucks took advantage of the fact that people were viewing videos without sound. There is no narration, but if you activate the sound, you will hear heartwarming yet positive background music.

It can be time-consuming to manually add subtitles to a video for content creators who are already busy, especially if the film is longer than 20 minutes. To save you time, here’s a list of auto-generated captions (paid tools) that you may try.

8. Make a call to action (CTA)

CTA is crucial as it serves as a signpost for instructing viewers on what to do next. Without a CTA, viewers could find it challenging to understand the next step or how to purchase your product. 

Unlike normal CTAs, viewers cannot click a button in your video except if you’re creating YouTube Ads. Therefore, you need a different type of CTA for your promo video. Here are three creative call-to-action video examples I’ve rounded up for you:

Promoting your products or services 

Perhaps this is one of the most straightforward and common types of CTA. Showing your brand along with or at the end of your video is a great way to promote your brand. Check out this example from Cut Media. You can further promote your brand by asking them to watch your other product or service videos. 

Ask viewers to contact you

Before you ask your viewers to contact you, make sure your video has the elements to attract, engage, and convert your potential customers into leads. Check out this promotional video from Maxis, created by Bold Media to ask viewers to contact you.

Driving traffic to your landing page or website

One of the difficulties with using YouTube is that it’s easy for users to become distracted by other alluring videos. 

Therefore, it’s best to use a CTA to direct them to your landing page or website to get their attention and have a chance to turn them into leads.

HdE, for example, uses an end-screen call-to-action in which they list their website’s address. 

Conclusion

Promotional videos can seem very simple, but getting them right the first time isn’t always easy. 

I hope this article gives you the keys to creating an outstanding promotional video. 

If you’ve felt stuck with video marketing, this is your chance to get started the right way. You can contact us as we are a leading Malaysian video production company. We have produce different kinds of video for our clients so that they can get more people to visit their businesses.

If you wish to discover more about video marketing, drop a contact form and speak to one of our video production strategists in KL or Penang about your solutions today.