Are you planning a hero a shot? Regardless of the industry in which your business operates, or the products or services it sells, a hero shot is an invaluable tool that can you help attract new customers. Highly stylized and perfectly timed, it allows prospective customers to see exactly how your product or service works. It’s the shot that increases confidence and conversions. But if you want to capture the most sales from your video, you’ll want to include the following essential elements in your business’s hero shot.
#1) Focus on Your Product or Service
The fundamental purpose of a hero shot is to promote a product or service, so make this the focus. Floating off topic will only hurt your efforts to convert viewers into customers. So, keep your hero shot focused on reinforcing how it will benefit the viewer. Remember, you’re highlighting the attributes of your product or service, not the features. Features are often ignored by viewers, but they’re more likely to remember how the product or service can benefit them.
#2) Use Real People
Don’t make the mistake of using stock photos or stock video footage in your business’s hero shot. In addition to costing money, prospects respond poorly to stock photos and footage. According to one study conducted by Marketing Experiments, using a real person instead of a stock photo increases conversions by 35%. The problem with stock photos and footage is that it doesn’t offer the same level of authenticity as an actual, real person who’s associated with your business. Instead, it raises a red flag that discourages viewers from taking action and buying the advertised product or service. Chances are, all the talent you need is inside your company.
#3) Keep it Simple
It’s also recommended that you keep your final piece short and to the point. Some business owners assume that longer videos yield more sales or conversions than shorter videos, but this isn’t necessarily true. When published online, it’s usually the shorter videos that come out on top. One study found the average length of the top ten most popular YouTube videos was just 42 seconds. While 42 seconds is probably a bit too short for an effective video with your hero shot, you should keep it under two minutes for maximum engagement. If your hero shot video is longer than two minutes, viewers may leave without watching it to the end, in which case it’s not going to help you sell your product or service.
#4) Consider Aerial Footage
With more than 27.9 million small businesses operating in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA), you need to differentiate yourself from your competitors. While there are dozens of ways to create a unique image, aerial footage is one of the most effective. Rather than restricting your video to on-the-ground techniques, drones allow you to capture an eagle eye perspective of your product or service and surrounding them in cinema-worthy video of the surrounding beauty.
#5) Include Captions
You don’t have to caption your entire hero shot, but you should include some text overlay, such as a call to action at the end of your video. The fact is that many viewers watch video with their speakers turned off. Therefore, relying on sound to relay your message may or may not work. If the viewer has his or her sound turned off, they won’t be able to hear what your video is trying to tell them. Opting for a text overlay, on the other hand, can help you overcome this hurdle.
#6) Mobile Friendly
It’s also worth mentioning that more users are now watching videos on mobile devices instead of traditional desktop and laptop computers. In 2016, mobile video consumption trumped desktop/laptop consumption for the first time ever. Business owners should use this information to their advantage by ensuring their hero shot videos are easily accessible on smartphones and tablets; otherwise, they’ll get left in the dust by their competitors. If a user cannot easily watch your hero shot on a mobile device, you’ll lose a substantial amount of traffic and visibility.
#7) Split Test
Finally, be sure to split test two or more hero shot variations simultaneously. Even if your hero shot looks great and generates a strong response by your target audience, there’s probably room for improvement. By split testing multiple variations, you can find the perfect recipe that works best for your business. After allowing the variations to run, delete the underperforming hero shot and replace it with a new one.
These are just a few tips to help you create the perfect hero shot for your business. After creating your hero shot, though, you’ll want to publish it on multiple platforms for maximum visibility. Rather than publishing your hero shot only to your business’s website, for instance, you may also want to publish it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and other networks. The more places on which you hero shot is published, the better.