Nine Ingredients for Creating Compelling Online Marketing Videos

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Is your video boring? Does it gain or hold your audience's attention? Does it make even you yawn? If you answered any of these questions in the affirmative, then you need the nine techniques for making memorable video.

Get Connected

The stories in your video must convince people that they are part of something bigger. Stories connect us together as people.

In this example from Coca-Cola, you see that there are many good people in the world captured serendipitously by security cameras found everywhere from ATMs to retail stores.

Be Committed

In 2012, the Coca-Cola Company decided that its marketing efforts were all about storytelling. So they revamped their corporate website at www.coca-colacompany.com to be about stories, not about themselves.

Don't simply make one attempt to tell a story with video and be done with your marketing efforts. Make a long and detailed plan and commit to seeing that plan through. Every story is a journey, and you must begin your own journey before telling others about it.

Connect with Your Customers

Your video must be about your customer. Dodge Ram did a fantastic job of making its story all about farmers in this spot.

Honor Character

Every good story follows a narrative arc that generates a physiological reaction in your audience by releasing endorphins in their brain. Audi does an awesome job of this by connecting you to a young man who most of us can relate to and his momentary flash of bravery (that probably changes his life).

Build to a Crescendo

If your video doesn't have a point, your audience will feel cheated. So your story has to reach a point or a crescendo (in the narrative arc, it's the resolution). Le Trifle, a toilet-paper company, does an amazing job at "wrapping it up" and "putting a bow on it."

Show Accountability

Okay, we admit it; we couldn't come up with a word that starts with "C" to capture this really critical element of your story, so this is what you get. But you must demonstrate accountability about how your audience interacts with your video using facts and figures. Finding a video that shows graphs and spreadsheets (in a way that wouldn't put you to sleep) is tough. But this video from Adobe actually kind of captures the gist of it.

Stay Consistent

Make your video story consistent. Stick with the same underlying message across all your stories, and make your message consistent across all the platforms. IBM does that really well with its "Let's make a smarter planet" storyline.

Integrate Conversion

Telling a good story may not turn people into customers immediately (in fact, we'd argue that you shouldn't think that way), but you must include some long-term purpose. Just publishing a story because you can doesn't really do anything for your business. Dollarshaveclub.com does a great job of integrating the concept of conversion into their story.

Consider Emotion

Emotions connect us to one another. When we want to share something, we are far more often to do so when we have an emotional reaction (love or hate). That's why your video has to build some sort of emotional connection. This video from Famous Footwear does a fantastic job of connecting with us on a very emotional level.

Excerpted from Online Video for Dummies by Jason Thibeault. Copyright (c) 2014. Used with permission of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Visit the book's page on Limelight.com to get a free copy (registration required).

Jason Thibeault is the senior director of marketing strategy at Limelight Networks. He is also the co-author of the upcoming book from Wiley Recommend This! Delivering Digital Experiences that People Want to Share.

Jason Thibeault's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net