Want to get people excited about your new startup? There is no better way to do so than through video.
Not only can it build trust, promote authenticity, increase SEO potential, and encourage conversion, it’s one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd in an oversaturated market. Make a video that audiences love, and you are well on your way to establishing yourself as a serious trade contender. Remember, when it comes to startups, first impressions mean everything-so your video better be good!
Why video?
What makes video marketing better than traditional marketing like newspaper ads and billboards? A staggering 86% of businesses use video content as a marketing tool, this figure suggests that video, quite simply, works. It’s a long and ingeniously developed method to increase engagement, leading to a converted target audience.
When it comes to startup introduction videos, your main aim should be to get your target audience excited about your brand and the products or services it sells. A smart name, logo, and traditional marketing campaign are great for drawing attention to your new business, but is that enough?
If you are not harnessing the power of video, you can rest assured that your competitors will be.
Trust Builder
Trust is a force that should never be underestimated, it should be a key component in every brand’s relationship with its audience. In order to be successful as a business and increase sales, buyers must, before anything else, trust you. As a startup, without an existing client base able to give testimonial reviews, building trust can be difficult.
Video is a great way to build trust. Viewers tend to perceive it as a more genuine medium than marketing collateral such as brochures or newsletters.
Authenticity promoter
Video can express authenticity, unlike any other medium. It can feel more transparent to viewers than a piece of traditional marketing material, allowing them to glimpse into the real world of your business and the people behind it.
Never dismiss the power an authentic production holds – a staggering 86% of customers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support.
SEO champion
One of the biggest challenges for startups is increasing public or industry awareness. Search Engine Optimisation allows you to increase your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Ultimately, the higher your page appears on SERPs, the more traffic it will attract. People tend to click on the first pages that they see. This means more people will be exposed to your content, and more sales will be made. SEO has the ability to revolutionise your digital marketing strategy and can create an enormous number of conversion opportunities.
Conversion encourager
Video, combining all the above elements, has the power to:
- Drive more traffic.
- Convince customers to buy.
- Convince customers to buy more often.
These three points, when practised in conjunction, can exponentially increase the conversion potential of your business.
Conversion is the point at which a desired outcome is achieved. In marketing, this is most frequently when a potential customer turns into an actual customer through purchase, but can also be a lesser action, for instance, signing up for marketing emails.
How to make a great startup introduction video
Now that you know why you should create an introduction video for your startup, how should you go about it?
Make the startup video for customers, not your business
It is important to remember that a startup introduction video is for the customer, not for your business or staff. To avoid losing engagement, you should avoid:
- Complicated stats and figures
- Company profiles
- Brand guidelines
- Brand targets
New buyers care about what matters to them:
- Can you solve their problem points
- Brief description of company
- CSR policy
- Authenticity
- How to shop
To really form an understanding of your audience and to know what they want out of a startup introduction video, you must engage in customer research.
Customer research
You must be familiar with relevant ‘data’ before you start producing your video: who is your audience, what are their interests, what channels/media do they engage with, etc.
However, data isn’t enough – you also need to ‘get’ your audience more intuitively, and often that means engaging directly with them. This doesn’t need to be a series of focus groups, but can be as simple as a few video chats, or engaging in some social media sleuthing yourself, and ideally with your production partner, so you are building common ground for the creative process.
If you do not already have an established client base, undertake competitor analysis. This enables you to see what sort of content your closest competitors are using and how successful they have been in doing so.
Keep startup videos engaging
Remember your audience is unlikely to have any sense of brand loyalty toward your startup. To ensure that people watch the whole video, it is essential that your videos are short, snappy, and engaging.
To avoid boring the viewer, your video should be two minutes or less. In a recent study, 60% of people indicated that a video being too long would strongly deter them from watching it at all.
It’s ok if you can’t fit everything into one video, why not create several shorter, snackable ones? To avoid an overstuffing of information it’s important that the depth of content in your video is reflective of its length. An unnecessarily overcomplicated video will cause your audience to switch off too.
Invest in your startup video
Some types of video allow you the opportunity to scrimp and save, IT help videos, for instance, can be done through screen recording at a minimal cost. Startup introduction videos, however, are not something that should be done cheaply.
No matter how complex or simple your startup video is going to be, you must try hard to not sacrifice the quality of the production for its price. Remember, it’s likely to be the first impression your audience will have of your company, and you want it to be positive. If your video is boring and under-marketed, they may not even watch it at all.
There is money to be made from startup videos, 79% of people have been enticed to buy a product through watching a video. Increased conversion rates mean bottom-line growth. Video is proven to have great ROI potential.
Of course not all startups have thousands or even millions to spend on introduction videos, it is possible to deliver a high-quality production without a hefty budget. It’s time to get creative…
Production Quality
You can invest in the creativity of your production, even if money is tight. A 2017 study by Nielsen puts the impact of creativity at 47%, nearly double the 2nd-most important factor, reach. The same budget can produce an order of magnitude lift for key performance indicators such as engagement, response, etc.
Investing in creativity takes time. Follow these steps to ensure success:
Set constraints
Somewhat counter-intuitively, it is actually important that the creative process starts with some constraints, the right frame, and focus. A video brief that sets out what’s in scope and what isn’t. It’s essential that this brief establishes a clear understanding of the target audience: their likes, dislikes, tastes, aspirations, and so on. This is where it’s important to have the right production partner – a team that takes the time to understand your specific needs, audience, and other constraints – and who doesn’t push you to a particular template or their latest ‘cool’ idea.
Make it memorable and sharable
Perhaps more than any other type of visual marketing, startup videos are graciously rewarded for being different.
For the same budget, animation, or memorable live action, will demonstrably perform better. To make a production memorable and shareable, emotions have to be aroused in the viewer. Do remember not to place ‘virality’ above all else, you can drive yourself mad trying to create a viral video, and often these types of production come across as cheesy and inorganic. Startup introduction videos should focus on aligning with your brand values and key messages. To ensure this, it is helpful to have a video agency partner that truly understands your needs rather than trying to push what has been successful elsewhere.
Pathos, logos, and ethos
Big words, but Aristotle did really describe something that still holds true today. A great story is what makes a great video or animation. And great stories have a clear dramatic arc, as well as a balance of pathos (emotional appeal), logos (substance, data, logic), and ethos (credibility and sincerity).
End startup video with a clear purpose or call to action
You’ve started the creative journey with a clear definition of the purpose of your production, and it’s important that your audience is left with a clear sense of what’s next as well. Part of the art in the creative process is translating your purpose statement into a call to action for the audience.
Let’s explore this further…
Call to Action
CTAs are very important for startup introduction videos.
Call to action is a term used in marketing to describe any prompt designed to ignite an immediate and voluntary response from a potential customer, increasing the likelihood that they will interact with or purchase from your brand. Our introductory line above demonstrates what a CTA may look like. CTAs typically include imperative verbs (commanding words or phrases) that are subtly, or not so subtly, incorporated into advertising messages and are especially effective when used in video marketing.
CTAs are needed so customers have a clear idea about what to do next and what actions are needed to carry out a process.
They should be clear and concise, leaving no ambiguity for the customer. Realistically, there is little point in creating a startup introduction video if it does not encourage conversion in the long run. The effectiveness of your CTA will likely determine the success of your future campaign.
For this reason, it is worth spending time and energy developing a CTA that works for your brand’s startup video.
CTA examples:
- Book a call!
- Book a meeting!
- Call us!
- Click here to subscribe to our Youtube Channel
- Click here to see a demo
- Shop here
- Reserve your seat
- Download our app
- Get started today
Some CTAs contain incentives designed to increase the urgency in a potential customer. Here are some examples:
- Book now for an extra 20% off!
- Sign up now for a free gift!
- Subscribe to our emails, we won’t spam!
- Buy now, stocks running low!
Examples of startup introduction videos
Active Building
Soundhound
Square Stand
Spotify
Be My Eyes
Monday
Conclusion
When it comes to launching a startup, first impressions mean everything. To give your business the best chance of success, incorporate video into your initial digital marketing campaign.
Whether you are creating your very first video or you are a well-seasoned video marketer, it pays to have a good video production agency on your side.
With over 2000 videos worth of experience, both animated and live-action, Kartoffel Films can sort out all of the difficulties and logistics associated with the planning and execution of your startup introduction video. This leaves you with more time to spend preparing for the exciting launch of your company. Contact us to get our creative partnership started.
Good luck!
