Over the past couple of years, you wouldn’t talk about content without mentioning videos. It’s safe to say that video is now the king of content, with companies discovering innovative ways of making their products popular by using enticing videos.
For most people, engaging with videos is effortless. That is why videos are great for brand and product marketing. Besides, it’s a well-known fact that you can boost sales conversions on your website through product videos. And you can also use them for other forms of online marketing to gain traffic to your site.
With videos, you can considerably increase links to your site. When you post product videos on content websites like YouTube, MetaCafe, and Vimeo, it has the effect of significantly increasing your back-links since your video feeds are syndicated and posted by other video sites. And because these links have been acquired and built organically over a period, through linking with other trusted sites, there is an increased level of search-engine confidence in your site.
Most small businesses are on a tight budget so you’re probably thinking this is not for you, but making a series of product videos for your brand should cost less than £1,000 if you’re prudent.
You’ll need a good digital camera, tripod, good options for a backdrop (white sheets that you can hang from the ceiling), good video-editing software, a good dose of imagination, and a good PC microphone (preferably studio-quality for recording voiceovers so your audio commentaries on products are professional and consistent).
Making product videos can be an arduous task, so this guide aims to help you take some bold steps towards making great videos that will evoke powerful responses.
Our 7 key tips
1. First, have a plan for your video. It’s a great idea to start by writing a script for the key features and benefits of your product for the video. Read it out loud and time yourself. If it’s a well-drafted script then your final video should be less than one minute – 45 to 60 seconds is ideal. A great product video should show a zoomed-out still of the product, then highlight key features before ending with another zoomed-out still shot of the product to wrap it up.
2. Always use a tripod for recording, even when you’re recording somebody talking or demonstrating products. This way you can avoid camera shake and other distractions that can be difficult to edit out of the video or mask with filters and effects.
3. Record a lot of practice videos to be sure of what works and what doesn’t. Try and experiment as much as possible until you build up some experience. Once you’re able to your first set of videos, editing, and finalising them, you can then start to refine your work during shooting and editing.
4. Maintain consistency across all videos. For demonstrating products, cover your table with a white sheet and make sure the area is well lit. Maintaining the same look and feel across your videos is very important, even when you’re talking about various product brands.
5. Zoom in on products to reveal their details. Keep every shot static and focused on the product feature or detail that you want to display. What this means is that you shouldn’t zoom in or out during this recording process.
If you need to display different shots or angles while demonstrating, it’s better to stop and change the position of the camera/tripod, then zoom in to get a close shot of the detail, then start recording.
The product sequence shots can be blended during video editing. You should try and record from various angles as they can all be used in editing to merge a better-quality product video.
6. Create separate file folders for each one of the digital video sets/products you are demonstrating – this helps with organisation and editing. Make sub-folders for sounds, source videos, final video, and audio to keep things organised. This also helps when you need to add-in other content like background music and audio.
7. When editing, if you have to, condense some shots, scrap some, or shoot them again. What you want to achieve is a final video that is a blend of your best video recordings which can present a good product story. If you have 20 minutes of video after the shoot, most of it can be trimmed down if you’re using the right video-editing program.
Also, you can make use of effects from your video-editing software to conceal some of the problems that might crop up when shooting these types of videos. However, don’t overdo it with the effects and filters. This also helps to ensure you make videos with consistency in their look and feel across all your product videos.
You can buy some royalty-free background music (to avoid problems with copyright), then edit in a professional voiceover recorded with no background noise (this is why you need a good microphone). You can overlay the voiceover in your final video production copy using your editing software to adjust the timeline to fit.
You should check out product videos on your competitor websites or on YouTube to see what could work best for your brand and products before making your video. This will ensure that you come up with a good plan for your video before you start recording.
Final Thoughts
That’s your guide to filming your own product videos for your brand. If you’re feeling inspired, you need to take all that you’ve learned in this piece and start filming. If it takes a bit of time to discover what works or if you’re finding the editing part difficult, you should know that these things take time and they can only get better with practice.
To give you a heads-up, you need to know that you’ll probably have a couple of failed attempts before you get the final product but it’s all a part of the creative process, and you need to enjoy it!
WooContent is a first-rate video agency that offers an exceptional product video service for you and your brand. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch with us today.