6 Ways to Sell Better with Video

As this Business Insider article observes, in recent years consumers and companies alike have made a clear turn toward video as the preferred medium. Back in the good old days of 2014, consumers were watching 52 billion online videos a month. Imagine where that number is today.

Plus, publishers have been turning to video because of its high ad value; a video ad will cost twice as much as a banner ad on the same website.

So how can you leverage our culture’s video-lust to boost your business? Here is a six-step approach to make video content a central pillar of your strategy.

Step 1. Create a Landing Page with a Compelling Explainer Video

This page will be the end-goal of several campaigns, including an email promo, social media outreach, blogging, and linking from other pages on your site.

Your video on the landing page will be what’s called an “explainer video.” An explainer video can gain attention quickly and hold the visitor’s attention longer than other mediums, and it is the first thing a visitor sees.

It’s crucial, however, that your landing page, and its explainer video, commit to one goal, one call to action. Don’t try to do too many things with the landing page. Everything on it should be focused on getting the visitor to do one thing, whether that’s give you their email address or make a specific purchase or download.

Your explainer video should also provide value. Perhaps it will answer a common question or provide some helpful tips. Or this value might be as simple as providing some entertainment or inspiration while efficiently informing them of your landing page’s purpose.

Scrapd offers an excellent example of where/how to place your video in your landing page’s design and what a wonderful explainer video looks and sounds like. In this case, the video features Scapd’s founder. It creates a compelling human-to-human personal connection with the company while also fueling the urge to do their one call to action: download Scapd and use it.

Step 2. Create Custom Trackable Links for Each Campaign Source

Before you begin creating the different campaigns that will send people to your landing page, it’s smart to create a way to track each campaign’s performance.

Custom trackable links can be done easily through services like Bitly.com; you simply cut and paste your landing page’s link into the box provided on Bitly’s homepage. It will then create a new link with a unique identifier.

When you create the campaigns in Steps 3-6, create unique Bitly links for each one. Bitly, or other tracking link sites that do a similar service, will keep track of how each link performs. This will allow you to see which sources are more effective and which sources need more attention.

Step 3. Create a Branded Email Promo with Special Discount Pricing

Ideally, you will divide your branded email promo into segments—i.e., groups of customers based on common factors—to make your promo as relevant and useful as possible as you alert customers about special discount pricing.

If you’re new to segmentation, you can use a simple formula such as RFM, in which customers are grouped by:

• how Recently they purchased from you,
• how Frequently they purchase, and
• their Monetary Value (i.e., how much money they spend when they purchase).

This email promo announcing your special discount pricing will point recipients to your landing page using a custom tracking link as explained in Step 2.

Step 4. Link to the Landing Page from Services Page, Sidebar of Blog, and Homepage of Your Site

Once you’ve created a landing page with a great explainer video, link to the landing page from critical sections of your website:

• services page
• sidebar of block
• homepage (where the processing area would typically be)

Step 5. Use Social Media to Increase the Reach

Create posts on your social media channels with clear calls to action that link back to the landing page. You can use your video content as inspiration for the post content so that your social media mirrors your landing page.

Step 6. Create Blog Post That Mirrors Your Email’s Content and Sends People to the Landing Page

Use your email promo as the template for a blog post. Imitate the branding and content of the email and make sure you have a clear call to action that sends the recipient to the landing page.

Photo Credit: Niccolò Caranti via Compfight