Make Your Product Stand Out With Video
Twenty years ago, there used to be numerous shopping channels available through your television set. QVC, BidupTV, Price Drop TV, and the somewhat unimaginably titled The Shopping Channel lead the way , making it easier than ever to make purchases from the comfort of your sitting room sofa. Consumers would watch lengthy infomercials, with a presenter demonstrating and reviewing their latest product, which you could then purchase by calling the number on screen and paying over the phone with your credit or debit card.
This type of shopping certainly isn’t new, and has effectively engaged with its targeted demographic for a number of decades now. However, the popularity of online video, and video apps such as TikTok, have forced the model to evolve; and it is now bringing the home shopping experience to a new generation of consumers.
Officially unveiled in 2021, TikTok Shopping allows TikTok users to buy products directly in the app. If a business account has set up the feature, a dedicated shopping tab will appear on their profile — represented by a shopping bag icon next to the uploads and likes shortcuts. Now it seems that every few videos you watch on Tiktok will include a video advertisement, and they are proving massively popular. Cutting out the laborious task of phoning a number with card details in hand, the TikTok shop stores your details, allowing purchases to be completed literally within a few clicks. Cleverly building a user profile on you based on your viewing preferences, TikTok is also really smart at flooding your feed with items you’re most likely to be interested in, too. It is little wonder that TikTok owner ByteDance saw its total revenue grow by 70% to around $58 billion in 2021, the same year the in app shop began trading.
Instagram stories have also proven to give many businesses a massive sales boost; especially with influencers trialling and engaging with their products, sharing this in the form of a story seen by their many thousand followers. Instagram stories give viewers the option to “swipe up” if they see a product they like, taking them out of the story and directly to the appropriate website to purchase the product within seconds. Over 500 million users view Instagram stories daily, and 58% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a story.
Another 50% of Instagram users say they’ve gone ahead and actually visited a website to make a purchase of a product or service after seeing it in stories. Furthermore, statistics show that 1 in 2 people have used Instagram to discover a new brand, product or service. It is undeniable how powerful online video is when it comes to marketing a product.
Consumers are also much more likely to click on a search result containing a video rather than read lengthy articles. So even when researching a new product for themselves, they’re more likely to engage with your brand if you have a video showing what you do, rather than presenting them with text. Instruction manuals and help guides are also ditched in favour of explainer videos talking them through set up and demonstrating how to use a product visually.
Remember, a shared online video is often the very first glimpse of your company a consumer that hasn’t been introduced to you before will get. So, it is important to ensure that the videos you create showcasing your products are the most professional and engaging they can possibly be.
Here at Hellfire Creative, we have worked with a number of brands creating videos for everything from a Rustler’s burger to Elastoplast’s bacteria shield wound spray! We understand how important it is to create the right kind of video for your product, and thus, there are a number of creative angles we can apply to your brief in order to meet your key marketing and brand objectives.
It is important when making a product video to decide whether the product or brand would best suit a “real world” context, or a more virtual, abstract environment. For the former, we would look at a believable “real life” setting, that would help make the product’s benefits appear tangible. Casting the video is also key, and an engaging presenter guiding the viewer through a product’s features can work in a really natural, easily digestible format, humanising your product.
Alternatively, a virtual environment can sometimes bring to life a more abstract or complex concept that would otherwise be really difficult to convey. A green screen, offering the introduction of different backgrounds, texts, and animations, can do wonders for non-tangible products like software. At Hellfire Creative, we have enjoyed using animation on our pharmaceutical and medical product videos, allowing viewers to imagine internal biological and chemical interactions and other non-tangible concepts.
Whatever the product, there are always a number of creative ways to bring it alive using video.
Contact Hellfire Creative today to discuss your next product video project, we would be happy to help.
