All You Need to Know About Video - Walk-in Tubs, Medicare & Gunsmoke
How well do you know your customers? Are you making sure your customers see every piece of video content you create? And, are you creating the content specifically for your customers? (Or do you make the mistake most people make and create videos for yourself and then say, “Video doesn’t work!” when you don’t see results?)
If you ever want to see companies that know their audience, tune in to TV Land on a weekday morning. I spent the day with my mom recently. She has some health issues and can’t be alone. My dad had to step out for a while so I offered to spend time with my mom. We talked, joked, had lunch, but mostly, we watch hour upon hour of Gunsmoke. If you’re not sure what Gunsmoke is, it’s a show that ran on network television from 1955 to 1975. There were a whopping 635 episodes and I swear my mom and I watched them all in one day!
My mom is 78 years old. She is a Gunsmoke fanatic. And she’s not alone. Gunsmoke is HUGE in the, how should I say this, the senior community. While I was busy trying to figure out how to turn this experience into a blog, my mom was glued to the television. All she could talk about was Matt Dillon this and Matt Dillon that. (For people my age, Matt Dillon is the main character in Gunsmoke, not the famous actor from There’s Something About Mary.)
The show was on the network, TV Land, and every commercial break, we were inundated with commercials for:
Walk-in Bathtubs
Medicare Benefits & Question Lines
Mesothelioma Victim Attorneys
Supplements (Oh so many supplements!)
AARP Supplmental Plans
At first I couldn’t stand it. Here is an example of one of the commercials. In my eyes, it’s just average. The production is just ok. I don’t care about the content. And what the heck is Part B?
Why this Video is Effective
I had to remind myself, these commercials aren’t for me. These commercials are for my mom. It’s the same thing I tell my clients everyday. The first thing I always ask is, “Who is the viewer for your video?” That is the most important question when creating video. If you answer, “Everyone!” your video will fail. You have to be specific. Let’s break down the video above.
The first thing this video addresses is its audience. “I’m only in my 60s.” That’s awesome! Right off the bat the video tells you who should watch this video.
This video is for people on Medicare. That’s the next point brought up in this video.
“I’ve been with my doctor for 12 years. Now I know I can stick with him.” That’s one of my parent’s biggest fears is being forced to find a new doctor. Always address the issues you solve for your customers or clients.
AARP is referenced about 300 times in this video because it’s a respected organization in the senior community.
How Do I Determine My Audience
This seems like a pretty simple question. But it’s actually quite complex. In fact, there are marketing companies that all they do is create personas to determine your ideal customers. They’ll create personas for you to help you figure you who is buying your product/service.
Assuming you don’t have budget to pay for a marketing agency to create personas for you, here are some questions you’ll want to ask about your audience before you even think about shooting the first frame of your video.
Age - you can use a range here but try to narrow it as much as you can.
Male/Female
Married/Single
Who is the decision maker (for example, when I created videos for a major appliance manufacturer, the videos were created for the women of the household because they, in general, made those types of decisions.)
Income level
These are just a few. There are hundreds more that can be added to this list. The point is the more you get to know about who is viewing your video, the more you can personalize your videos and keep their attention.
Avoid One Size Fits All Approach
You might have more than one type of customer. That’s great. But avoid the temptation to save costs by creating one video that appeals to all of your customers. This approach almost never works. Why? I’ll use the above video as a reference. Let’s pretend the AARP video was trying to appeal to my mom and to me. If it started the way it starts, “I’m only in my 60s…” then I’m instantly turned off and I’ll click off the video without ever seeing the content intended for me. On the flip side, if it started differently hoping to grab my attention, then my mom would not be engaged thus losing her. You are better off creating two separate videos for each audience.
You know your customers better than anyone. Use that information when you’re creating videos. Cater the videos to your customers. Make sure you’re creating the videos for them, not for you.
That’s All You Need To Know
Really, if you have a firm grasp on your audience, what they want, what problems they face, how you can help them, your video will come together pretty easily. Knowing your audience is far and away the MOST IMPORTANT PART of video production. Whether you hire a production company or do your videos internally, you must answer the question, “Who is my audience.”
I’ve know this for quite a long time but a few hours of hanging out with my mom watching Matt Dillon tracking down the bad guy in Gunsmoke reminded me that never, ever, ever create videos for yourself. Always create your videos for your customers.