Ways to Engage Consumers for Advertisements
Whether on a streaming service, online or when watching a video, at some point we’ve all been just waiting for the “skip ad” button to pop up so we can click on it to get to what we’re there for. It occurred to me that I do this almost 100% of the time and I’m not alone. A study done by IPG showed that 65% of people skip video ads as soon as they get the chance. Some even stated that it is purely habit at this point.
Silent Video
“Silence is a source of great strength”
-Lao Tzu
Imagine that you’re in a quiet work environment. You get on your phone to look something up. As the page finishes loading, a loud blast of sounds starts coming through and you fumble to get your volume button pressed down to zero. We’ve all had this happen to us. It’s disruptive and it affects people negatively. Turns out that 66% of people hate it when ads automatically play with sound on according to an article by Teads. In response, advertisers are trying to mitigate this by producing ads that begin to play automatically without sound. Since outstreamed videos are going to become a thing of the future, advertisers should focus on silent plays with captions. According to Facebook, captioned video ads increased views by 12%. Ads should be able to convey an emotional message without the use of sound. This can be done with the use of motion graphics and text within the campaign. This new trend will be a way for advertisers to use their creative license to make videos impactful despite not having any sound. We’re certain your team has the creative abilities to do this but here are some quick tips to get you started on ways to make your silent spots stand out and perform well.
1. Use bold visuals and/or animations. This will help catch the viewers eye and keep them engaged. It’s also very visually striking to see good fonts and animations that blend well together within your brand’s signature look.
2. Use Call to Action buttons. Make sure to insert in a way that it is natural flowing. You can even run tests before it launches to see where it receives the most clicks. CTA buttons are imperative to getting conversions. Using a download button seems to yield the best lead results (HubSpot).
3. Subtitles. If your brand feels it won’t be able to get its point across 100% without sounds then subtitles can offer a lot of relief. Facebook now offers a feature where you can automatically add captions to videos.
4. Write unconventional scripts. This is always a fun way to entice viewers to keep watching your campaigns. They’ll want to know what is about to happen next. I know I always appreciate a good creative ad that keeps me on my toes or just completely blows me away with how unconventional it is! A prime example would be the recent OutHorse Your Email Campaign for Visit Iceland.
5. Share your offers/discounts early in the ad. Since attention spans are shorter and shorter each year, you want to get the most important message out first. Research suggests that you have about 10 seconds to hook, line, and sink em’!
6. Be short and concise. Again, for those in the back who didn’t hear. Attention spans continue to lessen so it’s important to make your campaigns shorter than 60 seconds. The ad must also grab the attention of the audience immediately in order to keep them engaged in watching.
7. Don’t ditch the audio. Sometimes people do still listen to ads with sound on. Be able to convey your message without it but really drive the point home with the audio on. Make that emotional connection deeper with your audience.
In the words of the infamous Will Rogers, “Never miss a good chance to shut up!” This is definitely one of those times! A time for advertisers to harness the opportunity to creatively grow through the rise in popularity of silent ads is here. Let your campaigns say a lot through saying nothing at all! Happy creating!
Outstream Video Advertising
A new popular topic of discussion in the advertising world is out streamed video ads. This is expected to be a new trend in the following years as opposed to in stream video ads. So, what’s the difference? Well, let’s start with what an in-stream video ad is. These ads are inserted into a video that is already being played. In stream ads require a static video player and they can be viewed as pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll. A.K.A. Before, middle, or after what the viewer is already watching. These tend to be somewhat of an annoyance and are usually unrelated to the content being played. We’ve all been through the, “your video will play after this ad” situation on YouTube before. Now, let’s talk about what an outstream ad is.
Friday Fun Favorite: Sexual Violence
The Different Kinds of Marketing Videos
There are literally tons of types of marketing videos and categories within categories. In this blog we will touch on a few but wanted to preface with that. This isn’t intended to be an all-inclusive article and just merely a guideline to highlight some of the most useful types of marketing videos. Let’s start with “the spot” video. We’ve helped discover and curate hundreds of these. These are short 15-30 second commercials and are great because they can be used virtually anywhere. Between commercial breaks on streaming services, as ads on YouTube. You get the idea.
Video Advertising
92% of B2B prospects consume online video (Whiteboard Animation). This isn’t surprising since the rise of social media platforms that push video formats in the recent decade. In today’s society, banner advertising is a dying art form and the rise of digital video content advertising is here. There are many reasons for video format being at the forefront of the advertising space and, one of these being that little device that fits in your back pocket.