In today’s world, video content is everywhere. It dominates on social media and hooks people into website homepages. Read on to learn more about how to use and create video ads that will engage your audience and turn them into hungry customers.

Why video is key

According to a survey by Animoto, four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. If someone wants to learn about what you have to offer, they are much more likely to click on a video. Modern consumers are savvy. Not only do they want to make informed decisions when buying a product or service, but they are also looking for a personalized solution to a problem they may be facing. Informative, creative video can make you come across as an authority and resource in your industry, and the answer to their questions.

What sets video apart from text-based content is that it can be much more fun and entertaining. Educating your potential customers is essential, but if you can wrap that in an enjoyable package, it will stick in viewers minds for longer. Viewers remember 95% of a message when it is delivered in a video, compared to 10% of the same message when reading it in the text. This fact is critical to know if you expect to relate to your customers and provide them with information in a most efficient way.

The best part of video content, though, is its low cost compared to television ads, and its ability to be carefully tracked and measured, meaning you can see which tactics are helping you achieve your goal the fastest.

Video ads – how they look and how to use them

Video ads often appear on social media; think sponsored posts on Facebook or Instagram, recommended videos on YouTube, or promoted posts on Twitter. These are known as native video ads because they are made directly for the platform on which they’re featured. A sponsored post of Facebook that features a video ad looks just like any other video post on Facebook, and a recommended video on YouTube looks just like any other video.

These ads can vary in their length, content, and execution, but they all aim to achieve one thing: to get viewers to engage with their call to action. Usually, this call to action is to visit your website, where you can offer visitors even more helpful and informative video content, and hopefully convert them into paying customers. Brands use video ads to show their products in action and create buzz, encouraging users to like and share the content.

How to create engaging video ads for your brand

More than half of video marketing professionals agree that video is the type of content with the highest ROI, so how do you create the best possible video content for your brand? It’s important to be well-informed and start with a clear strategy.

First, start with what you want to achieve for your brand. Do you want sales, email signups, or hits to your website? You can shape the language in your message to help accomplish that goal. Next, brainstorm some ideas. Start with some video ads that spoke to you or some that competitors in your industry had used effectively. Do they provide information, entertainment, and a compelling call to action? Think of things from the perspective of a consumer, and remember your demographic. What information are they looking for, and what problems are they trying to solve? If you’re a real estate company, your demographic may be married men and women in the 30s in a particular city or town. Or it may be people over 50 who are interested in investing. No matter what you’re trying to sell, knowing your demographic is key.

Take, for example, the makers of mattresses and pillows. You may have caught one of their video ads before watching something on YouTube. Their ads, which have gotten over 500 million views, focus on being funny, quirky, and packed with information, which demonstrating their product so that viewers can see how it works. Of course, it was no easy or cheap feat for Purple to make their ads go viral, and a mattress and pillow company has a broad demographic, but you can still see the strategy behind the advertisements.

The thing about Purple’s ads, though, is that they just look like regular social media content. Of course, it’s clear that they are trying to sell a product, but at the same time, they have the same feel of a quirky video that you may watch for fun. And that notion is something to remember. You want your videos to have the same look and feel that other social media videos have.

While it doesn’t cost much to grab a camera and shoot some video, people will ignore content that is boring, dull, or poorly made. So, investing a little of your marketing budget in video production is a good idea. A great place to start is creating a video testimonial from a valued customer or a key player in your industry. A great testimony can encourage viewers to check out your product and can help your brand stick in their mind

The future of video ads

Marketers who are using video are seeing 49% faster growth in revenue than their peers who don’t. Even though video has been on top for a while, it isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and it isn’t too late to get started. Of course, you want to enhance your brand and get more hits, signups, and sales, and video is the perfect way to do so. Start by crafting a strategy, and aim to offer viewers the information and resources they need. Establish yourself as an authority, answer some frequently asked questions, and encourage people to take action, all while blending in a bit of entertainment. A well-crafted video gets results that you can track, and you can expect a valuable ROI.