Do You Really NEED a Video?
By: Ryan Collins
Tags: Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing, Video Editing, Video Ad Agencies, Copywriting

Thumbnail from my personal “you don’t need a video” spiel video.

Before you throw your money at a video editor (and then pump the ad spend), you need to read this!

(full disclosure, article may contain affiliate links which will benefit us both at no extra cost to you, I would never promote something I didn’t stand behind strongly)

My name’s Ryan and I’ve been making social media video ads for businesses full time for nearly three years, and if there’s one thing I’ve noticed it’s that people want videos, but they don’t know WHY.

Worst of all, they want them when they are not the optimal solution to their marketing problems.

For example, did a video send you here?

…

In this article I’m going to show you;

How to determine whether you NEED a video or not Which angle is most appropriate if you DO need a video Next steps for getting the video completed (or what to do otherwise)

It’s important to take this info in, please don’t skip because I do not waste words, everything I write here is designed to give you the knowledge you need to make the best use of your money when considering creating a video for your business.

Before I discuss the above, let me give you the typical scenario…

Business owner goes to Fiverr.com, finds someone who’s got a reasonable flashy looking cover video and hands over an amount of money for the ad to “test”. Or maybe even orders a bundle for a great price.

The issue is, a lot of video vendors will use templates and won’t consider creating videos that get results, they are caught up in flashy effects and visuals without really looking to understand what the video is trying to do. Besides that, it all starts with the script (we will get to that later).

The video bundle might be a good deal, but the time and ad spend spent on a failing video — that’s not so great.

I suppose this leads us nicely on to number 1.

1. Is video your best option?

First of all, let’s look at the GOAL.

It’s probably to get leads or sales, by driving traffic to your landing page. The key point to note here is the video is simply to drive the traffic, not to sell the product. The video (if you need one), just needs to sell the click. I have seen many scenarios when a video has been the lowest performing creative.

So let’s dig in to driving traffic.

To drive traffic we need to;

Stop the scroll Sell the click

Now if you’re a law firm, and all you have is a message or offer to share, do you really need to drag that out over 30 seconds? In a scenario like this you might be better off stopping people scrolling with a giant banana on a pink background…

Said Banana.

and then selling your service with words.

“Criminals are going BANANA’S for our get out of jail free cards!”

… I don’t know much about law, but you catch my drift.

First you stop the scroll, then they read the headline, then the ad copy, then if you did your job right, you sell the click.

If you’re video is simply going to be your message overlaid on stock footage, you're probably better off with a solid creative, with a line or two of text, backed up by a decent headline and some strong copy.

You can get fantastic designers that can design social media compliant ads from Fiverr, here’s one of my top picks

As for copywriting, although these guys are fantastic for writing social media ads, amazon listings and full sales pages (I’ve used Jason a few times myself!), it never hurts to learn your own copy.

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in — you could be the best lawyer, artist or video editor in the world, but if you can’t write words that sell your services, you’re going to have a tough time (trust me!)

In my opinion, this is the best single resource to improve your copywriting.

I bought this PDF and even paid $100 to have it printed and sat on my desk. It’s incredibly well put together and as you read, you really feel the copy working on you, and you learn to engage with your audience just like the book engages with you.

Okay so we’ve covered the lawyer scenario. The next most popular “no’s” for video are Jewellery / Fashion or simple products that don’t need much more explanation.

Why would you waste your time dragging out your simple product in a video when you can just stop the scroll with something like this 👇

I made this in approximately 18 seconds with www.canva.com, I’m sure you could do a lot better…

or just hire a pro like the ones I mentioned above. To make things easier — you can find them HERE.

Okay so now you know when NOT to use a video, now let’s look at times when you COULD use a video.

Ask yourself these questions;

Do you have video testimonials?

Do you already have video footage?

Does your product require a video to show how it works?

Do you have software that you can demonstrate?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you might just benefit from a video.

In my experience organic content is KING.

If you have customers talking to the camera, raving about your product or you’ve got amateur footage of your product being opened, unboxed or used — you might be on to a winner.

Here’s a “viral style” video (as I like to call them), it’s a mash up of client testimonials and product demonstrations, with some light effects and “scroll stopping”, bold bars of copy across the video

By all accounts this video did really well.

Here’s some results I got from a similar type of video. Pretty simple, mashup of organic content with converting copy across the screen 👇 as you can see it’s loaded with social proof.

If you have organic content, or a google drive full of assets and you want me to personally put a video like this together for you — please feel free to contact me here

Can you demonstrate your product?

I realise we started with number 1 and now we are on a completely different list. The original three points I was going to talk about have already pretty much been covered, but in the spirit of “winging” it — let’s continue.

Have you got a physical or digital product that requires demonstration?

Although I’m not a fan of drop shipping, or making the videos (usually due to lack of client assets and huge demands for something special, with nothing to work with), these make a good example of when you can use video (if you have the footage!)

Here’s an old video I made for a physical product 👇

As you can see, amateur home made footage combined with some converting copy and you might just have a winner.

Let’s move on…

Digital Products or Downloads

These are my favourite type of video to make because you can screen capture or illustrate and animate interfaces and you don’t need to work with crappy footage.

Here’s two examples of digital products, and when a video might be appropriate 👇

As you can see, these are bold, clean and informative. Mostly made from client assets and mock-ups, brought to life with expert animation.

Do you have a personal story to tell?

Maybe you’re a life coach, or you’re selling a course.

In this scenario the most impact you could deliver, is by talking to the audience directly.

This starts with the script.

If you haven’t already, I’d recommend getting the copywriting course I mentioned earlier, or hiring out a copywriter to draft you up a VSL. Then — it’s time to talk to the camera.

When that’s done — you can hand that over to an editor like me (or somebody else that’s capable), to add some music, a little flair and make the right cuts.

Then you could end up with something like this… (this is NOT a creation of mine, I will swap out when one of my VSL projects goes live)

As you can see there’s a lot of emotion behind the story. It hooks you in, it’s compelling and it converts.

I actually save these videos every time I come across them to use them as a reference for future videos.

Want to learn how to create your own social media video ads in After Effects?

Get a huge discount on my course HERE

(if the discount expires drop me a message and I’ll sort you out)

And that’s it! (For now)

I hope after reading this you have a much clearer understanding of the considerations that need to be taken when creating a video.

I’ll leave a link to my Fiverr gig, so if you do qualify yourself in the above categories, and you want to find out more about me or if I can help, head over to Fiverr and drop me a message.

Despite the fees, I really do like using Fiverr to manage my workflow and meet expectations. It’s a great platform and not just for cheapy work. You get pro’s like me on the job.

Here’s the link to my gig

Thank you for reading, please give me a thumbs up, a clap or a like or whatever it is. Leave a comment if you have any questions or anything to add.

It’s been a pleasure!

Thanks for reading,

Ryan