E-commerce marketing is the act of driving awareness and action toward a business that sells its product or service electronically. Product (or explainer) videos are a big part of this. With mobile phones in every pocket, marketers have been looking for the most engaging ways to reach their audience and have decided that video is the answer. The numbers speak for themselves. Figures produced by marketing and consumer data company Statista show that the number of digital buyers worldwide has increased from 1.32 billion in 2014 to 2.14 billion in 2021. That's a lot of buyers.
We all know that video is a great way to communicate your message. Product videos are proven to keep people on your website for longer, boost your SEO and increase conversion rates. There are also a number of tools out there that can help you incorporate product videos into your website. WooCommerce product video is a good example. So how do you create a professional product or explainer video? Here are some useful hints and tips:
The first place to start is to have a proper setup. Here's a quick rundown of the equipment you'll need to get started:
You don't want anything to distract viewers from your product. Shooting your product in front of a plain background will ensure they don't get distracted. White backgrounds are great because they provide a clean and professional look however a black background can sometimes help certain products pop. It's also a great help if you have a basic understanding of professional photography techniques.
Lighting is key. It can make or break a product video. You want your viewers to see every detail of your product. You'll need both key lights and fill lights to eliminate dark shadows and the skills to manipulate the angles and distance of lights until you get soft, evenly distributed shadows.
To capture all the angles of your product you'll need a turntable often referred to as a Lazy Susan turntable. This will slowly rotate your product, allowing you to capture smooth, professional shots of your product in motion.
You don't need to drop thousands of pounds on a high-end camera. Anything that can shoot 1080p HD will do. You will also need a tripod to make sure your shots are smooth and steady. Avoid camera shake at all costs! It's crucial to master the technical and creative skills needed to get the most out of your camera. If you are new or relatively new to all of this you should enroll in a professional digital video camera techniques course. The skills you learn will make a huge difference to the quality of your final video.
Product videos should be less than 2 minutes long. In rare cases, it may be necessary to produce a video that's longer than two minutes but it's not really desirable. Start with a script and practice it to get the timings right. Be ruthless about keeping it under two minutes. Your clients will thank you.
Use the advantages that video gives you over stills photography. For example, rotate your product on camera, show it from top to bottom, and hold it in your hands if possible (or have a model do it). This conveys more information in less time than it takes to read text or browse through lots of images.
You need to tell a story to explain why your product is so great. As it's simplest this can be done by just showing the product being used. Whatever the story, keep it simple and compelling. If your video can be repurposed then that's great. A video that can be used in your social media or other marketing channels is worth its weight in gold. You can also get some more inspiration and use an explainer video company to produce professional animations.
Your video should help your customers relate to your brand. The best way to do this is to connect with people on an emotional level - video does this a lot better than text or images. There are strategies and techniques such as Social Listening that help you to engage with your audience. Professional training courses such as Advanced Social Media Marketing explore these strategies to help you take your social media marketing to the next level.
Make your videos easy to find. It's much better to embed videos right on your product pages. You don't really want people clicking on links to YouTube to watch your videos. If you use a website builder that lets you place videos right on the page, your customers will stay with you and not get distracted.
No matter what your ultimate goal is ‐ whether it be SEO, engagement, conversions, or brand awareness ‐ video can help you make it happen which is why choosing the right e-commerce platform is crucial for your business.
As we've seen, video is an increasingly essential tool for product explainer videos and for marketing e-commerce services. Simple product videos are surprisingly easy to produce compared to other types of video content and require a minimum layout for the camera and equipment. If you have the skills, you can produce great pieces of communication which will really engage your audience. What are you waiting for…!
by Motif Creatives | 27 Sep 23