I have spent the bulk of my career selling products and services. What makes the transaction easier and conversational, is when I have killer content at my disposal.

Creating engaging content is top priority for marketers like you and me.

Specially so, when the content we are creating is a video.

With so much noise and so many visual elements to a white space, it is an art to catch a viewers Attention less than 8 seconds.

Why 8 seconds?

Well, that’s the kind of attention span that content marketers are battling against.

That said, here are a few do’s and don’t to catch your viewers attention in less than 5 seconds:

DO’s

Establish the pain point-

If the audience knows the pain point at the beginning of the video, it’s more likely that the interested viewers will watch the video till the end. For example:

Open with a statistic or a fact-

Studies show that 80% of the viewers do not watch a video till the end. A statistic helps give perspective to the viewers. For example:

Introduce a Character-

Depending on the type of business, curate a funny or unique character that appears at the beginning of a video and guides the viewers through the video. Bonus tip: Character helps you empathize and generate emotions in a video.

Pitch with text

Lead the video with a simple statement that uses kinetic typography. The viewer is engaged till the statement is complete, and can decide if he/she wants to view the entire video. You will only attract the people who believe in your product.

Leading with Typography:

Establish familiarity early on

Use examples, people, elements from pop culture, history, current trends etc to give the viewer familiar ground and a reason to stick till the end. For example, The Flintstones reference in our Raptor Plumbing video:

Tease or a due reveal

Establish in the beginning that the video intends to make public- “a big reveal”, but, later on…! This helps build suspense and keeps the viewer engaged till the epiphany moment.

DON’Ts

No false advertising

Ensure that the thumbnail to your video is consistent with the video messaging.

Don’t beat around the bush

Considering that the lead has clicked on your video, it is essential to get to the point, as quickly as possible.

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