Video on a website does not work miracles. Communication works miracles. Once we realize that nobody goes to a website to be impressed, or be entertained, the notion of using video takes a different path. As business owners, we become so obsessed with our own story that we forget the cardinal rules of advertising; what’s in it for me (WIIFM). If we can discipline our message or video script to answer the question “So What?”, then we might stand a chance that people will watch the video all the way through. Our video scripts usually have a good completion percentage. The average watch time in our scripts is often 80-90% of the length of the script. Since this is an average watch length it tells us that basically everybody who is watching the video at all, is watching the entire video.
What’s the secret?
Keep thinking about that question, SO WHAT? You want to say “we’ve been in business for 20 years”. I say SO WHAT? It doesn’t mean that you can’t make that statement it means that you need to tell them how this directly benefits them as customers.
“We’ve been in business for 20 years, and that means we are good at making you more money.”
So forget the idea that video is going to impress anybody in your site. Nobody went there to be impressed. They went there to get information, fast and efficiently. Your attempt to impress will only annoy.
Dr. Joe Schaefer, 3/12/2012