9 Top Tips to Create Awesome Product Videos

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However fantastic your product or service may be, engaging with customers isn’t always easy. This is especially true in high-competition areas like ecommerce. In a popular market, you’ll be trying to attract the same customers as your competitors – standing out from the crowd can be tricky, and making mistakes can be easy. Chances are you already take product photos for your site, but exploring product videos can be a worthwhile way to grab customer attention.

Product videos can be a smart way to get your brand and products noticed. In this guide, we offer you insight into some great ways to create videos that not only grab the attention of potential customers but can also compel them to take action.

What is a Product Video?

Product videos are exactly what they sound like. They’re videos that are created to highlight the key features of a product and how it works.

Videos are a powerful way to communicate with your target audience. In fact, the amount of time spent watching videos online has almost doubled since 2018 – highlighting just how popular this medium of communication is among consumers.

So, product videos can be a powerful way to market the benefits of your products and engage with your target audience.

Types of Product Videos and How to Use Them

Product videos take many different forms, and each type can help brands achieve success in their own way. We explore the main types of product videos below:

Promotional Videos 

Promotional videos make the product the star of the show. This type of video will typically focus on making the product look great, while offering insight into the key benefits and features of the product.

Promotional videos can be a good way to deliver key product information, so they’re very well-suited for product pages.

Teaser Videos 

Teaser videos are often similar to promotional videos. However, they’ll typically limit the amount of information given about the product, instead just giving glimpses of the product and its uses in order to drive intrigue.

This type of video is perfect for creating buzz around an upcoming product launch.

How-To Videos 

How-to videos don’t necessarily have to focus on the product. Instead, they’ll typically focus on how a problem can be solved with the product.

For example, a how-to video for a car cleaning brush may cover all aspects of cleaning a car, but feature the brush at the relevant stages.

This can be a good video type for marketing campaigns since it shows customers why they need to buy the product.

Demonstration Videos 

Similar to a how-to video, a demonstration video will show you exactly how to use a product. However, it’ll typically focus on the application of the product rather than the full process.

Using the car cleaning brush example from before, a demonstration video would show you how to put the brush together, how to use it, how to clean the product and how to store it properly.

This type of video can be great for product pages because it highlights how easy the product is to use for potential customers.

Case Study Videos 

Case study videos will show viewers how other customers have successfully used your product.

This type of video can be a smart way to highlight that your product is trustworthy and add social proof to your marketing message.

9 Top Tips to Create Product Videos

#1. Focus on a Customer’s Problem

A red Harry's razor on a marble surface featuring the Harry's logo
Affordable, high quality razors. Harry's knows what its customers want.

When creating product videos, it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the product itself. This is understandable, especially when you have a great product that you know your potential customers will benefit from.

But let’s be honest, nobody really cares about the product itself. They only really care about the problem it can solve. For example:

  • Someone will buy your innovative toothbrush because they care about good oral health
  • Someone will buy the gourmet chocolates you sell because they want to treat themselves or someone they love
  • Someone will buy a fancy sports car because they care about the attention and status that comes with it

Needless to say, a great product video should focus on the problem you solve for your customer. So, always have this in mind when creating your videos – connect the features to the benefits.

#2. Have a Strong Hook

Apple ad with "Pro Display" across the screen in orange, behind a woman leaning on a table
Apple uses strong imagery and stylish product design to grab viewers attention.

A hook is an introductory statement that’s created to grab the viewer’s attention. With so many videos online, a powerful hook will often mean the difference between your video being watched and being scrolled past.

A good hook will usually highlight to the viewer what they’ll get from watching the video. However, you can also use your hook to simply create intrigue for the product, compelling the viewer to watch on and find out more.

#3. Keep it Short

A lot of factors come into play when considering the perfect length of a video. For example, a very long video used on TikTok may perform worse than a long video on YouTube. Similarly, the subject of the video will come into play.

Ultimately, you’ll want to keep your video long enough that you can deliver all of the essential information, yet short enough that it remains engaging and exciting.

Longform videos of one hour plus can perform well when the topic is wide-ranging. However, the majority of product-focused videos would benefit from being just a couple of minutes or shorter.

#4. Tell a Story

Someone watches footage of Jordan playing basketball on TV in a dark room
The Jordan brand uses the story of its creator to draw viewers in.

Storytelling is an essential part of engaging customers and building brand value. So, adopting a storytelling format in your product videos can be a great way to drive better results.

The story you tell will depend on the product you’re selling. For example, for a highly innovative product, you could tell the story of how the idea of the product came to be, and some of the challenges you faced in creating it and bringing it to market.

Alternatively, you can use a case study-type video to tell the story of a specific customer, the problem they faced, and how your product solved it.

#5. Use High-Quality Footage

With countless videos flooding the internet, yours need to be of a high quality to ensure they stand out from the crowd.

Although phone cameras have advanced significantly in recent years, if you want your videos to look better than those of your competitors it can be worth investing in a better set-up. Or, you may decide to partner with a specialist video company to really make your videos slick and professional.

Having high-quality footage can also help you seamlessly optimize your videos for use online.

#6. Be Creative

Still from Levi's video showing the manufacturing of jeans captioned "This is a pair of Levi's"
Levi's use creativity in its videos to tap into its audiences interests.

Even though the video is an engaging medium for communicating with your audience, simply making a video doesn’t guarantee that you’ll capture their attention. So, getting creative and thinking outside the box can be a smart move. 

How you do this will depend on your product and your business. For example, you may try creating a comedic video in a traditionally serious niche (if appropriate) or you may use a particular and recognizable video style.

When it comes to being creative, the only limit is… well, your creativity.

#7. Incorporate Your Brand

Still from a North Face video showing a red North Face jacket hanging up with the brand logo on display
North Face uses its logo and iconic jacket throughout its video to build brand recognition.

Most businesses have taken considerable time building a brand that is trusted by their customers. This is why including your brand in your videos is so important – it helps to leverage the positive feelings you’ve worked hard to develop.

This may be as simple as including your logo in the video. However, you could also use brand colors and other brand-related themes throughout the video to make it unmistakably yours.

#8. Create Versions for Different Platforms

We’ve already mentioned how the best video length may vary depending on the platform you’re uploading to. This is one reason why it makes sense to create a range of edits of your video for use across different platforms.

Other factors to consider when developing multiple edits for multiple platforms include the dimensions of the video and its resolution. You may even change some of the key messaging of the video to help it appeal to a wider or targeted audience.

#9. Include a Strong CTA

Imagine this…

You watch an incredible product video. You buy into everything they’re telling you. The product looks incredible. They deliver the final, amazing fact… then the video finishes.

No instructions on where you can buy the product or find more information.

Of course, you could seek out the information yourself, but this is adding another hurdle you need to jump over before you can purchase the product. This is why including a strong Call To Action (CTA) at the end of your videos is so important.

Make it clear to viewers what it is they should do next. This could be any valuable action, such as a link to buy the product or information on how to contact you in order to find out more.

Product Videos: Summary

It’s clear that product videos can be a powerful marketing tool. However, with significant competition all battling for customer attention, simply creating videos is unlikely to generate the desired results. Use the tips we’ve highlighted in the article to inform your video marketing strategy, making your videos highly engaging, compelling, and noteworthy.

Written by:
I’m a content writer for Website Builder Guide. I’m a bit of a business and marketing nerd and love sharing my knowledge and experience to help others achieve their business goals. From complex engineering and brewing to international events and brand design agencies, I’ve worked in marketing roles for well over 10 years now. During this time I developed a skill for turning complex (and occasionally dull) information into exciting, easy-to-understand, and actionable content. I also set up my own content marketing consultancy and launched my own ecommerce business on Shopify.

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