Marketing anything is about connecting. There is nothing more frustrating than having this great product or service which you are certain will make the world better in some way, but not knowing how to connect it with customers in a meaningful way.
The most powerful way to connect with people is by using video, and I think when we think about it, we all know that video is the most powerful marketing medium at our disposal and the nerdy research certainly confirms it.
But I know what you are thinking, video is complex, difficult and expensive and I don’t really know where to start.
Below I share how to make the process simple, easy and cost effective by showing you 4 different types of building product marketing videos and the simple 3 step process it took to get them completed in a matter of weeks.
The Nerdy Research
80% of our brains processing power is dedicated to visuals
6 Parts of the brain have been shown to be dedicated to processing images
Just hearing something, the retention level is around 10%
Using an image alone, that number jumps to 35%
Combine the two, as you would in a video and you now get to 60% retention!
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Step 1 Develop the Script
The first decision is to decide the goal of the video and create a one sentence summary describing this goal clearly.
The most common video types are :
“to introduce a product to a potential customer”
Here is an example of a product introduction video
“to inform potential customers about the features and benefits”
Here is an example of a features and benefits video
“to use 3d animation to demonstrate the entire installation process”
Here is an example of a product installation video using 3d animation
Step 2 – Have a storyboard created
“storyboard” is a weird term and there are many different ways to go about it, what works for me is simply a series of still images at key points in the video, especially when the video includes 3d animated sequences demonstrating an installation procedure,etc.
Seeing all these images in chronological order helps to iron out any technical issues, and allows you to get a feel for how the video will look before it is actually rendered into full motion video.
Step 3 – Review full draft of video and revise
This is usually about how the thing looks and feels, how the voiceover sounds, how the words are presented, etc.
What all This Costs
If I could, I would publish the costs of the examples I put above, I cannot do that on here, but I’d be willing to share it with you privately, just call me or send me quick message.
It’s quite likely that you sit and think about your customers, what are they like? are they type A or type B personalities? Are they as impatient as i am when they are shopping for something online? Take the next 20 seconds to put yourself in their shoes and imagine they are in the market for what you are selling.
Now go to your own web site and see if you can get the answers to these questions in less than 20 seconds.
What makes it unique?
How does it look?
How does it work?
How is it used?
Of course, it may not be possible to get all this information across in just 20 seconds, but shouldn’t you try?
Sharing interesting and engaging content online through blogs and social media has become a primary part of any marketing effort. It has also, consequently, been a source of confusion and often ends in frustration for many marketing directors. I have personally seen and experienced the power of content marketing for getting new customers and, in general, helping connect a valuable service with customers who need it. I think that we all now agree that content marketing is a powerful thing. Here’s the problem, what content are we going to share, anyway? Rather than guessing or scratching our chins for eternity, let’s use a few recent surveys and see what we know for sure.
We know from the Construction Marketing Associations recent survey that:
97% of respondents said they use social media in their marketing plans in 2013
47% have blogs
91% are on linked in
This is great, this shows that the construction industry is getting involved and understanding that people are going to research products and services online far before they contact you. They will search the internet, or ask their network of contacts for advice online, or they will see quality content produced by a manufacturer or service provider online and they will take notice.
The Most Used Social Platform Used by Manufacturers is YouTube
This makes a whole lot of sense because there is nothing more engaging and powerful than video to demonstrate the what, how and why of a product.
The Butt-Crack of a Tradesperson Will not Sell Building Products
Only 3% Rate It as Effective, Let’s Fix This.
Using video to market building products is a double-edge sword, however. If you think that throwing up a 20 minute video from a handheld camera on a job-site is going to help sell your products and get them specified, I am afraid that you are going to be disappointed with the results. Video needs to be professional, to the point and it needs to make the product the star of the show. I’m talking about a 3o second video, a one or two minute video, which captures attention, informs, educates and convinces elegantly.
So, according to the research, only 3% of the manufacturers surveyed found their video content to be effective, lets fix this . . .
Here are three forms of engaging video for building product content marketing.
Video is the most popular medium for manufacturers to share content, and the biggest challenge is finding engaging video content to share about products.
1. The 3d Animated Marketing Video to demonstrate visually how a product works and why someone should use it
Click Image Above to View
2. The 3d Animated Installation Instruction Video which uses high end photorealistic animation to show clearly how a product is installed or used
Click Image to View Video
3. The Snippet Animation – A very short, shareable, tweetable short video clip demonstrating a product in action.
“people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Maya Angelou
The Brain Retains Image Information Far Better Than Words
For marketing building products, or anything, for that matter – there is one pitfall which we face constantly.
Sure there are manufacturing costs, spiking labor costs, competition and countless other pitfalls we can run into when trying to convince design and construction professionals to use our latest greatest building product. However, if we don’t address this one evil thing, everything else we do will be sure to fail.
So what is this horrid evil pitfall?
Simply put, it is when our audience tunes us out – changes the channel – so to speak. We can have the best product in the world, which economically solves our potential customers problems, but if we don’t hold their attention long enough to present our idea to them, nothing else matters.
So How do we Defeat this Evil Tune Out?
By way of Pat Flynn’s SPI podcast, I came across a gentleman named Bryan Kelly who has done the research on this topic, gathering the latest information from neuroscientists and other experts covering what helps people succeed in presenting, speaking and pitching. We all hate the word “pitch” but the truth is that we are always selling, all of the time.
Be a Teacher and Strive for Learning
When we are presenting building products, we become teachers. We want our audience to learn about our products. Learning, as Bryan’s research shows, is an active process which takes place in the working memory as the learner abstracts meaning and connects it with existing knowledge to place it in long term memory.
In the podcast episode, Bryan explained how to defeat the evil of tune-out with a five letter acronym S-P-L-A-T as a way to remember this information.
The biggest thing I took away from all this Neuro-Babble is that we are all visual learners. How many times have we heard that some people learn by hearing things, some learn by doing things, some learn by seeing things etc.? The truth is that science shows that we are all visual learners.
Check out these numbers :
80% of our brains processing power is dedicated to visuals
6 Parts of the brain have been shown to be dedicated to processing images
Just hearing something, the retention level is around 10%
Using an image alone, that number jumps to 35%
Combine the two, as you would in a video and you now get to 60% retention!
Bottom Line – Leverage the Power of Visual Learning for Marketing Building Products
Listen to the Podcast (link above)
Use great visuals of finished projects
Use great images of your products
Use marketing videos to explain your products professionally
Create animated installation instruction videos to allow your customers to learn about how your products work in a way they will remember
I hope this information was helpful to you, please let me know what you think.
As you plan your trade show strategy for the upcoming AIA Expo in Chicago on June 26, there is no better time to polish up the way you visually represent, demonstrate and explain your building products to architects. Do this by making the few seconds you have count, by giving them stunning product images, by showing them beautiful details and dazzling them with video and animation. Make The Few Seconds You Have Count . . .
Product samples and photographs of finished projects are great, but what about the installation process? What about the details? How do you crystallize, capture and visually communicate all of the aspects of your building product when you only have a few seconds of waning attention in your booth? After all, your booth at the AIA show is really only one out of the 800 exhibitors on the expo floor. Here are some ideas . . .
1. Give Them Stunning Images Of Your Products
3d Rendering Of A Building Product
Use professional photography or high-end 3d renderings of your products everywhere they appear at your booth. Have samples of your product available and remember your people won’t be able to explain them to everyone walking by, but your trade show graphics and videos will, if only for a moment. See examples of building products visualized here.
2. Bring Your Products To Life With Animation & Video
Recent Examples Of Building Products Animated
If an image is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. Putting a high quality video with 3d animation of your installation process can deliver a huge marketing advantage. Get a big screen at your trade show, set it and forget it. Here are some examples of what can be done to demonstrate what your product is, how it works and why someone should specify it here.
3. Demonstrate Your Process with Enhanced Visualizations
Building Systems Explained
Using 3d renderings, we can cut walls away, highlight certain elements and place your products in the context they need to be in to crystallize, capture and demonstrate the core elements which make your product stand out in the market. Here are examples of building systems explained.
4. Give Them Beautiful Details
Stone Panel System 3d Detail
In the end, it is about the details. When you think about it, architects are detail people. They are charged with the task of assembling all these building products into a building system, and they do it with details. If you can help them, if only in a small way, to detail your products, you are marketing building products well. Making details beautiful is what we do, here are examples of building products made beautiful.
5. Have A Clear And Well Defined Strategy For The Show
Know going into the trade show what your strategy is for success, and goals to determine how you will know if you did well or missed the mark. Speaking of the mark, check out this article on seethewhizard.com by Mark Mitchell about how to make trade shows payoff.
Have you ever considered stepping out of the conventional and moving to a tropical island? I just did it.
I wanted to let you know that I have moved from Chicago to the U.S. Virgin Islands! The above is a photo of the view from my new studio! In the spirit of reinventing our life, we have sold our house and just about all of our possessions and moved on. Why did we do this? Simply put, we have designed a business model which allows location independence and we no longer wish to tough out the cold Chicago Winters. But it goes much farther than that.
The Nagging Whisper Which Became a Scream
For years and years I have toughed out the Chicago winters and settled into a typical suburban lifestyle. Slowly as the “stuff” piled up. Bigger house, more cars, more material things have slowly started to make me feel as if my stuff is not working for me, rather I am working for my stuff. My wife, Lizzy, and I decided we needed to simplify our lives and get back to what really matters, so we sold our house and everything in it and headed for paradise. We plan to use this time to decide what really matters in our lives and decide where we would like our daughter to grow up.
It’s Business As Usual Again, But I Have to Catch Up.
Jason Yana Studios is entering it’s second year of business and for those of your who are existing clients, I appreciate your patience during the next few weeks as I get my new studio up and running and catch up from the time lost moving. I value your business and the business relationships we have built. I look forward to reinventing the way you present your products to the world, while my family reinvents our lives.
Jason Yana Studios is a unique company providing visual tools which help sell building products.
I wish you all great success in both your personal and business endeavors and please stay tuned for updates on this adventure.
