6 Elements Every Successful Promo Video MUST Have (with examples)
Video marketing is a fantastic way to promote your event across all digital channels. But, knowing that you need to create a video and knowing how to create it are two wildly different animals.
What do you even put in an event marketing video?
Pictures of cool guitars and cats?
Get this — not only do 51% of marketers think that videos have the single highest ROI of any marketing campaign type, but 72% of consumers prefer video to text content while researching products.
Why are we telling you this?
Because we want you to know that videos rock.
They can help you pack your event with hyper-engaged attendees. You just have to know what to stick in the video.
Here are the six core components that EVERY event marketing video should have.
1. Footage of people enjoying your event
Always leverage past events to hype up your current ones.
Videos of real people enjoying real events is a great way to promote your event without feeling overly corporate(y).
The last thing you want is to shove 5 minutes of stock footage in everyone’s face. A good video with lots of rich creatives and real, genuine visual content (like actual footage of your event) can make a big impact on viewers.
In fact, people who view your videos are 1.81x more likely to buy your tickets.
Hint: Stick those videos on your landing pages to get an extra kick of traffic.
San Diego Mac n' Cheese Fest created an awesome promo video (below) that showcased previous events and peoples' experience. Their event is about different types of mac and cheese and guests trying them all, so that is exactly what they showed.
Does it make your mouth water?
2. Testimonials & real reviews
Including a few testimonials in your videos is a surefire way to boost your ticket sales. 90% of people admit that positive testimonials influence their purchasing behavior and 88% of people trust online testimonials as much as personal recommendations from friends!
If you want people to buy tickets to your event, get past attendees in your videos. It works wonders.
A great example of testimonial support is used by Relay For Life and the statements they included in their promo video below. It not only talks about the event, but uses attendees' real life experiences to explain more about the purpose of the event.
After listening to everyone's testimony, it really makes you want to be a part of something so special.
3. Branding & logos
ABB — Always Be Branding.
Consistently branding your event across all channels boosts profits by 23% and leaving brand aesthetics off of content causes 52% of consumers to walk away from a purchase.
You NEED to include your logo and event name on every video.
But, don’t just smack it in anywhere, instead put it at the beginning. That way, everyone at least sees it once before they click away. Even if you try to force the video by making it an ad, 65% of people skip video ads. Luckily, they usually have to watch them for a few seconds first.
Make those first few seconds a branded experiences.
Appalachian Fair makes sure their logo is introduced from the very beginning (see below), so if viewers leave after a few seconds they still had to see their event branding.
4. Some hype music
Music makes the world go around.
Not only does including some good music in your videos help create a bigger sense of AWE, but it can mask poor sound quality — which can be an issue if you don’t have superb footage.
Plus, let’s be honest, adding music is fun. It lets you inject a little personality into your videos and control the tone or what you want viewers to feel.
Now, let’s make a clarification here — the music shouldn’t make your video.
The video should make the music. In other words, your video should be able to survive without music. Why? Because not everyone is going to watch your video with the sound up right away. In fact, 85% of Facebook users watch videos without sound. And you definitely want to be on Facebook!
Watch and listen to the GoPro HERO3 promo video below.
How does it make you feel?
Does the music match the footage?
Does it draw you in?
Music is a powerful tool and I think GoPro uses it perfectly to show just how powerful their product is.
5. Relatability
Don’t make your video overly salesy.
31% of consumers want your brand to be trustworthy, and 22% want it to be authentic. People can smell a marketing gimmick a mile away.
Make your video more about the event and the experience of the event than selling tickets. Do you know why 80% of people don’t believe that brands care about them as a person? Because most of them don’t! Make your event different. Be personable, be honest, and be, well, you!
The event, US Sand Sculpting Challenge and 3D Art Expo, in San Diego shows live, raw footage of the making of their sand art (watch below).
They cleverly use the different artists at the show to lead the video, show their work and answer a few questions about their pieces. This make it a more personable experience, while showing real people that help create the event.
6. Play on emotions
If you can find a way to spark emotion with your videos, you WILL win at event video marketing. Event videos that spark emotion generate 3x more word of mouth and create customers with 3x higher lifetime value.
Again, let’s make a clarification. That doesn’t mean you should be forcing any emotion. Trying to get political or socially active can backfire.
65% of consumers are disappointed when brands and events take political stances outside of their mission statement. Emotions are one of those hidden things that definitely influence ticket purchase behavior.
Absolute Motivation captivated their audience and showed exactly what they can do through this powerful video you see below.
Their monologue used language of inspiration such as powerful, determination, 'I can', prove you wrong, etc. Their sounds and speech matched different images of power and strength to invoke even more emotion. Watch the video and tell me you aren't inspired after.
