Edumarketing: More Teaching, Less Selling

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Nobody wants to be sold to, but nearly all of us are open to learning something helpful.

To create a customer journey that drives revenue and fosters advocacy and loyalty, brands need to understand what prospective customers and current customers want to know from the beginning — and through expert education, teach them what they want to learn.

What can your prospects and customers learn from your content? How can you help them? And how can you strategically connect that education to your bottom line? That’s edumarketing.

This is one of the biggest tips we recommend to our clients. Say you’re recording and you make it about half way through the script and you mess up. Instead of going back and starting at the beginning of the script, go back to where you made the mistake. There's no need to start all the way from the beginning, as that would not be an efficient use of your time. 

If you mess up, remember to pause, look at the camera and then start again. The pauses help when it comes to editing. Not only does this help in the post-production process, this also saves you a lot of time and stress! You don’t have to worry about spending too much time on one video because you're having trouble pronouncing that one word and have to start from the beginning again.  

That’s the magic of editing, you can edit those two takes together, throw some B-roll on top of it to hide the jump cut and boom you have your final video.

Another reason we recommend shooting multiple takes is...

During most of our video planning sessions with our clients, this question will pop up at least a few times: How long should the video be? And while there is no right or wrong video length, there are many important factors to consider when timing your video. Things to consider include:

• Who is the target audience?
• What are the messages you are trying to convey?
• How will it be used?
• Is it for a live event?
• Are you looking to gain SEO strength in online searches?

To better determine the length of your video, let's break down some of the factors that will guide your decision.

What’s the Content of Your Video?

If you're watching another cat video, a 6-second video on Instagram is perfectly fine. If you’re discussing a complicated issue – like steps to getting a mortgage – it should be MUCH longer. Your video should be as long as your content will support – to tell your story and achieve your goals. Not a second longer, but not a second shorter, either.

Who...

Thanks to disappearing messages and smartphone-induced ADHD, the average attention span is just eight seconds these days. That means most viewers will click away from your video in as long as it takes to have a sip of coffee if their attention waivers.

The first eight seconds of a video is a reasonable amount of time to capture the viewer's attention and let them know what they can expect from the rest of the video.

Watch the first eight seconds of these videos and tell me it was clear in it’s message.

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Don't underestimate your viewers and think that you need to pre-explain the video in a rambling introduction. Many writers refer to the term “mid-res,” an abbreviation for “in medias res,” which means “into the middle of things.” Starting a story in the middle of things kicks the viewer into a whirlwind of excitement that will keep them engaged long enough to hear the why in the video.

The “why” of...

Traditional in-your-face TV infomercials and blatant calls-to-action have almost been replaced by a smarter, subtler brand of business video.

But that’s not to say that there isn’t room for friendly reminders of who you are. Greetings and sign-offs are an important part of video production because subtly promoting your business can push your audience to complete the goal you’re working toward.

On the other hand, you should be wary about being too subtle with your ask.  “First Kiss” is actually an advertisement for Wren Studio, a clothing company, but you'd be hard-pressed to know that after watching it.

Click HERE to watch the video. 

This interesting and emotionally captivating video went viral (41 million YouTube views in three days, and 143 million to date), but without a  call to action or a next-step direction, it lost its momentum — and potential sales.

So how do you strike the balance between subtlety and over-promotional?

...