“It’s just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get!”

Although there may be some wisdom to Forrest Gump’s observation comparing life’s unpredictable nature to a box of chocolates, would it be wise to treat your online marketing strategy like this? This is often what happens when potential customers land on a website and launch their online video – they never really know what to expect!  To eliminate uncertainty, produce video content posted on your website or linked from your social media posting that is relevant and valued by your customers.

Marketing studies indicate website videos increase SEO by 50%.  But did you know that you could actually jeopardize your credibility if the content and the quality of the video messaging is poorly written and produced?  Even if your online video appears slick with all of the “bells and whistles” of an “over-the-top” music video, if the content is not relevant to your viewer, you will actually lose customer engagement.

The following facts about online video messaging are no secret:

- 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visuals;

- Visuals process 60K times faster in the brain than text;

- Viewers stay on a page with video content 6 times longer; and

- Featuring video on your website makes it 53 times more likely to get a front page Google ranking.

Based upon these compelling statistics, many small business owners immediately say, “I need a video to increase traffic to my website!”  However, to avoid creating a video that could turn out to be one of those “not-so-good chocolate covered jelly candies”, here are five guidelines to consider when producing video messaging:

1) Go beyond “selling” your product, but create content related to your business of which potential customers would have general interest or gain value;

2) Build trust and credibility by utilizing the power of video to demonstrate the effectiveness of your businesses’ product or service because “seeing is believing”; 

3) Produce a message that is compelling and entertaining, prompting viewers to share it and “spread the word” attracting buyers and generating leads; 

4) Employ “storytelling” techniques to emotionally connect with customers who can empathize and identify with the story or the storyteller; and

5) Introduce genuine or clever  “humor” to humanize the message and capture the viewers’ curiosity.

Everyday, more and more viewers “Google” and “click” to view video content on a website, not really knowing what they are going to get. Therefore, it is increasingly important to consistently create relevant content valuable to your viewer, using high-quality production values.   Once your viewer is engaged by your well-produced video message, this customer will know what he’s going to get and be willing to get it from you!