CollinsHow To Use Video To Build Consumer Trust In Your Ecommerce Company: Trust is the bedrock of every successful business arrangement. From simple retail sales all the way up to big company mergers, none of it happens if the people involved don’t trust each other.
Only when both parties believe – and feel confident – that their counterpart is being forthcoming and holding up their end, negotiations end and deals are signed.
WHY WOULD IT BE ANY DIFFERENT ONLINE?
If anything, trust is an even a more important matter when it comes to doing business over the internet. When you are standing across from someone, you can convey your ideas quickly, and get a good read on how they are being received.
Online, you don’t get to do that. So marketers have to find suitable alternatives to get your message across in a way that’s interesting and inspires confidence – trust – in your potential customers.
Now, on the topic of engagement and delivering your brand’s message effectively, we know that video outshines the alternatives. But what about trust? How do you manage to address this complex aspect of business in your online marketing videos?
Well, there are some inherent characteristics people often associate with trustworthy individuals. For the most part, they are competent, knowledgeable, and tend to be accomplished communicators.
In this post, I want to talk a little bit about these desirable characteristics, and how you can use video to convey them efficiently. Resulting in an overall stronger marketing campaign.
COMPETENCE – PRODUCTION QUALITY AND A PROFESSIONAL FINISH:
Online, people have little else to value your brand’s competence, and the reliability of its products or services, beyond the quality of your content.
Unless they’ve had business dealings with you in the past, that blog post, website, or product video acts as their main point of reference in the value you bring to the table. And in that sense, a poor-quality piece of content can end up hurting you even more than no content at all.
So, if you want videos that help you reinforce your customer’s trust, and portray how competent your brand truly is, you need to make sure to keep high standards for quality and ensure a professional-looking finish in any video you employ into your marketing strategy.
Admittedly, there’s a lot that goes into making a great looking marketing video. So, broad advice like “ make them good” has little-to-no practical value.
Instead, I’d like to drive your attention toward two elements that when handled appropriately, will account for a good portion of your video’s perceived quality: storyboard and voice acting.
Whether you are going for an exciting whiteboard animation to explain your services easily, or a compelling product video meant to pique potential customer’s interest, the storyboard and voice acting are two key factors that will define if the final product works or doesn’t.
Spend some time in production focused on putting together a storyboard that makes sense. One that helps people visualize your message while attending to other marketing aspects ( like branding )
As far as voice acting, the best advice I can give is for you to not settle. Choose the one that’s appropriate, the one that fits. Ideally, voice acting should match the tone and message you want to get across, and reflect in some way your target audience.
Put extra attention into these two elements early on, and you’ll have a much easier time making sure your video comes through as a clear projection of your company’s competence.
KNOWLEDGEABLE – QUALITY CONTENT AND THE VALUE OF INFORMATION
If you aren’t certain about the ideas you are trying to convey with your video, you can be sure your audience won’t be either.
It’s a common issue I often see in poorly planned video marketing content, usually reflected in the dialogue, and the visual cues that accompany it.
Few things can inspire trust faster than dealing with someone that knows what they are talking about. So much so that they can help you understand it too without effort.
Showing you are knowledgeable and versed about something isn’t so much about giving extended dissertations or complex definitions – big no-noes in marketing. On the contrary, making the complex seem simple, and being thorough where it counts are two clear indicators of expertise.
Then there’s the issue of value, and how you make sure to provide it in your videos.
Showing a lot of expertise in areas that don’t directly relate to the idea you are trying to convey in your video is an excellent way to make sure they don’t work. By the same token, limiting your content to relevant information exclusively will ensure you are providing value every second your video lasts.
And yes, relevant information adds value. That much is a no-brainer. However, it isn’t the only way.
Providing entertainment, humor, or solutions for a problem, are all popular ways to add value to any marketing strategy. And should be taken advantage of whenever possible to spruce-up your content and make it valuable for whoever clicks play.
Read 6 tips to making a great video here
COMMUNICATION – HOW YOU SAY SOMETHING IS AS IMPORTANT TO WHAT YOU SAY
Finally, I want to talk a little about effective communication, and how videos help you get your brand’s message across.
The reason why video content works so well in marketing stems from the fact that you can convey a great deal of content in a relatively short time.
Videos are a powerful avenue to communicate ideas. Sounds can easily evoke feelings. Visuals can reinforce points made by the voiceover. And there’s a lot to get creative with when it comes to more advanced techniques like color theory and branding, especially in explainer videos and whiteboard animations.
That means that between visual effects, on-screen text, imagery, sounds, and the voice over, you have a plethora of tools at your disposal to drive the viewer’s attention where you need it to go. And reinforce the specific points you are after, with ease.
However, at the end of the day, all those are tools, so it’s essential you know how to use them. For that, there are two areas you should focus on; Storytelling and Branding techniques.
Storytelling is key to a compelling marketing video. Make sure to create an interesting story, one that’s intriguing and relevant to your audience, and put it in play using all those tools we talked about.
As for Branding, there’s plenty you can do with a video, like using color strategically to reinforce a positive image. Using sound cues to direct attention and evoke feeling. Or even how the tone of the voice-over reacts to the actions to further drive the points you want to convey.
Do you want to see everything we’ve talked about in action? Take a look at this whiteboard video as an example. Notice how the company’s colors are used at precise moments to reinforce desirable themes – like their product solving the central issue in action – How there’s a clear and entertaining story tying complex information together. And how the voice acting and visuals are topnotch. All elements that unequivocally drive trust from viewers.
Videos are fantastic tools to inspire trust in your audience when you know how to take advantage of all that’s at your disposal with them.
By creating high-quality videos that present a professional finish, covering only relevant data that provides value to your audience, and that convey the information effectively and efficiently, you are making powerful marketing pieces that will boost the effectiveness of your overall strategy
Collins