In the past, I’ve talked about using video as part of your marketing plan. I want to take it a step further and talk about how you can use video to increase conversions. Not just any video but specific types that explain and instruct and are targeted to your audience. Let’s dive in.

Explain

If you have a product or service that may be difficult to understand or unique, an explanation video works the best. About a year ago, I was interested in learning more about Bullet Journaling. I read a bunch of articles but I couldn’t grasp the concept. Once I watched the explanation, the lightbulb went on. I watched it three more times just to make sure I grasped the concept.

There are plenty of examples of unique products out there that include video explanations. There are also some products that are not so unique that use video to explain their products. One that comes to mind is Freshbooks.

Freshbooks uses a number of videos to explain different aspects of their online accounting software. Even though the concept of invoicing is relatively familiar to us as business owners, their method is unique to their product. Knowing this, they created videos for the different features of their product thereby making it easier for customers to make a decision on whether or not to sign-up for their product.

Instruct

Raise your hand if you have never gone to YouTube to find out how to do something. Yeah, I didn’t think there were any of you. Instructional videos on how to use a product or service can help make the decision to purchase from you easier for a potential customer.

I recently had to replace a faucet in my kitchen and I went to the Home Depot app to look for the replacement. To my surprise, many of the products had installation videos. I chose the faucet that I wanted and spent a few minutes looking at the installation video. Seemed simple enough. I added it to the cart and picked it up at the store the next day.

Target Your Audience

Think about how your audience will consume video. Will they be distracted and turned off by a fancy, quick cut videos or will the opposite apply? If you are targeting a particular demographic, you may want to think about the content of the video. That is not to say that hip videos aren’t attractive to the older set but I would error on the more conservative side. Remember that these are not marketing tools per se, but rather educational. They should have that feel to them. There are no bonus points for flashy video, only for good, easy to understand video. This leads me to my final point.

Use GOOD video

It is very tempting, to pull out your iPhone, hold it with one hand and demonstrate with the other. Resist the temptation! Get some good lighting, a tripod and a good microphone. Use multiple angles and multiple cuts to clearly demonstrate the product. It might even be worth it to hire a professional to record these videos. We are talking about increasing your bottom line.

In the end, you are answering questions for people. Always keep that in mind when you are shooting the video. Never assume that they have any understanding of what you are demonstrating or explaining. The notion that it has to be under two minutes does not apply to educational video. The only expectation is that at the end they will have a better understanding of what you are demonstrating.

This article was originally published at www.migmanmedia.com.