Video is one of the greatest media inventions. It’s versatile and fits every occasion and you can edit it in any way you want to properly show the sentiment behind it. People most of the time prefer to send birthday video greetings instead of cards anymore, for example.
Personalized videos have become a go-to and an absolute necessity in marketing strategies if their businesses want to stay on top of the game. We’ve all seen our fair share of corporate and advertising videos, but what exactly do personalized videos bring to the table for a business?
For starters, everyone likes to feel special, and when you send someone a video that’s specially made just for them, it gives them a sense of importance and belonging. That is why adding as many details as you can, such as your viewer’s name, company, job title, profile, logo, etc. directly into the video is the perfect avenue to reach out to them. Personalized videos are a powerful tool in which you can capture their attention.
The great thing about making personalized videos is that you can easily create a template that allows you to reuse the same video for different clients/prospects, all you have to do is replace the points where the personal details are inserted with new information on the next client you’re doing the video for.
Now, just because these are more personal videos between you and the client/prospect, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some things to take note of, such as the proper do’s and don’ts of making these videos. So, if you haven’t started delving into this use of videos for your business yet, don’t worry. We got you!
The Do’s of Sales Videos
Have Clear Goals
Before you write your outline and click the record button, make sure that you have a clear goal to the video first. What kind of reaction and response do you want to evoke? What message do you want to get across? What kind of impression do you want to give? By defining the goals for your personalized video, it will help you write better scripts, select the best visuals, and set the tone of the video. It will also help you foresee any difficulties and challenges you might encounter so that you can already think of a plan B and/or solutions in advance.
Keep it Simple
Remember that personalized videos are different from full-blown productions where you would have a complete cast of people, different and complex settings, and a bigger budget. You want the receiver to feel comfortable as if they’re talking to a friend at a cafe. There is no need for grand, intricate backgrounds. Keeping it clean, simple, and most importantly natural can leave a lasting impact on your audience. remember that people value authenticity over fancy facades.
Show Yourself
You don’t just want to catch your audience’s attention but you want them to stay. Remember how we just talked about being authentic? You can show authenticity by letting your personality shine in your video. When speaking to your audience, avoid being monotonous and stiff. It’s hard to trust someone you don’t really know, so it’s important that you present yourself as someone they can trust. Brainstorm with your sales and marketing team on how you can get your personality across the video in a way that your leads won’t forget you.
Beyond the Name
When making a personalized video, it goes beyond just knowing and calling the viewer by their name. In order to really impress your viewer, show them that you know more about them aside from just their name, gender, and designation. Look into your database and see what other information you have which you can leverage on as the most beneficial to you when delivering your message.
Let’s say you’re making a personalized video campaign designed to sell a software upgrade service plan. This would require the customer’s current plan information. So, in order to be able to sell your service upgrade to them, it’s crucial that you know the specific information your customer’s subscription at the moment, what specific goals they’re working towards, and additional contact details they’re working with.
Related: How To Personalize Your Emails When You Only Have a First Name
What You Shouldn’t Do
(Too) Long Videos
It’s not about how long your videos are that will impress your viewers. It’s the short and sweet ones that are your keys to success. Most, if not all of your viewers, have a pretty short attention span. Be sure that you say what you need to say and let it stay relevant to the core purpose of the video. Avoid going overboard and turning what should be a short informative video into a full feature film.
The ideal length of your video should not exceed 2 minutes at max. Make sure that you present the purpose of your video as well as capture their attention within the first 10 seconds of the video or else they won’t stick around for the rest of it.
Information Overload
The beauty of personalized videos is that it turns convoluted thoughts and ideas into short, easy, and visually-driven learning experiences. On the other end of the spectrum, it is also because you’re dealing with complex ideas that it is too easy to overload your video with too much information which will leave you at a disadvantage because it will cause your viewers to disconnect.
Related: 5 Video Marketing Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs
Your video content should only present the most important and relevant points. The same goes for the visuals. There should be a healthy balance between information and visuals. However, if you feel like there’s more that you want to teach your audience, the next best thing you can do is providing them a link to a series so they can get directed there if they wish to learn more and watch more videos on it.
Don’t Forget to Analyze Campaign Results
As a rule of thumb, never forget to analyze your results at the end of every Personalized Video campaign. This is so you can gauge how successful your campaign has been and what you can do to improve it if you see that you could’ve done more or better in certain aspects.
If you’re doing a PV campaign for the first time, chances are that it won’t be perfect the first round, but by constantly checking and analyzing your results at the end of your campaigns, it will reveal more and more about your audience and what works and what doesn’t work for them. At the same time, you’ll also be able to refine your strategies and come up with more innovative ideas.
Related: 5 Most-watched Marketing Shorts From Callbox’s Video Playlist
Where to Apply Personalized Videos
There are no definite rules as to where and when specifically to use personalized videos, but the possibilities only keep growing.
The opportunities are all there, it’s up to you to figure out where you can effectively incorporate personalized videos in your existing marketing and sales program.
Here are some places you can start incorporating PV.
Emails are a great avenue to let your personalized videos shine. Sending invites, nurture emails, product announcements, newsletters, etc. add a human touch that no written email could convey.
Website
You can increase your website conversions by simply inserting some personalized videos into your landing and product pages. The best way to integrate this is by using smart content to alter the content displayed and show targeted videos to your best visitors and ABM accounts.
ABM Sales
Yep! You read that right. All you have to do is provide your sales teams with videos where they can be personalized with the touch of a button. And just like that. your sales reps can send videos through the CRM and it will automatically insert personalized elements which will save them time and increase the response rates
The Takeaway
No matter how advanced technology becomes, human engagement is still something people look forward to and value the most. Whether you’re only starting to incorporate this into your marketing strategy or have already been doing this for a while now, we hope that our tips serve as a good guideline to help you along.
