You know; we all know. Video ads are where to put your marketing dollars. With the changing landscape of digital marketing, though, how do you create a video ad that will convert to clicks and sales? New privacy regulations, while good for consumers has made it more challenging to target potential customers. So, how do you make your ads stand out while the algorithm is learning? We’re going to go back to the basics and look at what makes a video campaign strong; Create Video Ads That Convert on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube with Media Components.
Create a Campaign that Guides Your Intended Audience
When you create your ad campaign, remember the four core principles of marketing:
- What does your ideal audience care about?
- What problem are they facing?
- Are they aware of their problem?
- What makes your solution unique?
Marketing is all about finding or creating a need in the consumer and positioning your product or service to fulfill that need. You don’t have to sell a staple product or service to create that need. Consider Snickers’ “You’re not you” campaign. No one needs a candy bar. However, everyone gets a little hungry during the day and sometimes, we get a little grumpy because of it. Here is how the Snickers campaign answers the above questions, (for embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXL8QPWLbBo)
- What does your ideal audience care about? Having food.
- What problem are they facing? Getting hungry during the day.
- What do they know about the problem? Everyone knows you get grumpy when you’re hungry, right?
- What makes your solution unique? Snickers have peanuts and sugar to give you a filling boost.
Tell a Story with Your Audience as the Character
Let your audience see a character that is familiar to them, that they can inject themselves into and solve the problem for that character. Through this character, the audience should be the focus of everything that happens in the commercial. Calgon exemplified this in the ’80s with their “Take Me Away” campaign, where they targeted middle-class family women. These short and simple commercials bring point of view and the core principles together perfectly.
(for embedding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNgZFxAnKtA)
- They provide a character for their audience to relate to, a beleaguered mother
- They engage the emotions quickly by demonstrating her frustration
- They reveal a solution, “Calgon, take me away!”
- They invite the audience to engage with the solution
Inject Humor
Don’t be afraid to let your audience laugh a little. The Snickers commercials are humorous, using the “That’s not what your wife” said joke, presented by the iconic Betty White. They also use the absurdity of an elderly woman playing rough football with a group of young men to get the audience’s attention.
Consider the first time you saw the commercial. You wanted to know why someone pushed Betty White into the mud.
Remember that you want to reach a broad audience with your commercial, so keep your humor tame. You’re not pushing comedy boundaries, so don’t worry if a joke is “old” or even predictable. It’s about grabbing your audience’s attention and giving them a good feeling – a chuckle – at the idea of your product. Self-deprecating humor, puns, absurd scenarios, and fish-out-of-water are tried-and-true humor types that work well in commercials.
Utilize Actors for Your Commercial
With all the work you put into your commercial, you want to hire actors for it. Create a script your actors can memorize and coach them to read the script as naturally as possible. Be willing to work with your actors to adjust lines so they can talk the way they’d talk to a friend or coworker.
Do you have a product or service you need to market? Talk to our digital marketing experts today. We’ll help you create a campaign that will convert.
