The Impact of Video Tutorials on Your Business (with examples)

What function can producing Video Tutorials have for your business? 

Being at the head of the pack sometimes has its disadvantages. Companies with truly exceptional products, services, or ideas sometimes falter when they come out of the gate because their target market may not understand the product. Worse yet, sometimes employees themselves may not have a holistic comprehension of what their company does or how to sell their products. 

In cases like these, it is beneficial - if not essential - to invest the time and effort into producing video tutorials to make sure your products/services are being used and implemented in the most effective way possible. Video tutorials are the best way to show off the maximum value your product has to offer!

For example, last year a Bank hired me to help them produce a series of tutorials for their new online banking platform. Although the platform is intuitive they knew there would be customers with questions. So rather than being reactive, they took a proactive approach. We created 30 or so videos similar to this:

Developing Your Video Tutorial Series

Two ideal questions to start your production process: 

Who is your audience? Whether you are making tutorials for your sales team to access, or if you are creating a publicly visible video on how to use your product, your audience will determine the tone, content, and distribution of the end product. 

What is the goal of each video? If you have a product that has never been seen before, your result may be to show off the benefits and use cases. If you have an update to an old product or service, a video can make sure you don’t lose current customers through the changes. Knowing the goal of your video at the end will help you determine where to begin. 

When one of my clients rolled out a new mobile app, they determined there would be a lot of time-consuming one-on-one training sessions and/or live webinars. To help mitigate the training needs of their clients, we produced a series of short tutorials so their customers could skip the live training and learn on their own time.

Planning and Production

Knowing your audience and the function of your tutorials will guide you to your end product and help shape the content you are producing. All video production requires a great deal of planning to make sure all the major points are covered while staying within your budget.

With a content plan, you have a solid idea of what your tutorial series will look like from beginning to end and what direction your video scripts need to advise. Everything from a shot list, voice over scripts, tone, and formats should all speak to the audience and the end goal you established at the outset. 

While shooting and editing video can be done simply on most of today’s smartphones, making the investment towards professional equipment and services can give your end product a long-standing, incomparable shine. Building in text overlays, animations, or color correction and understanding how to effectively edit a piece may increase the cost of your video but will create a longstanding impression in your audience’s mind. Not to mention elevate or maintain the quality of your brand.

Here is a video I recently produced for one of my clients that was rolling out a new service for their clients. This video premiered at a live event to showcase and create awareness around the new offering:

Following up! 

Your video shoot may have wrapped, and your production is online and being distributed, but the work isn’t necessarily over. Reviewing analytics, feedback, and understanding how users engaged with your tutorials are all essential to improving the experience. Your goal wasn’t just to produce a video; it was to create a tutorial that would enhance the audience’s understanding of your product. 

Using analytics data, you can improve how your videos are received in post-production by adjusting titles or supplementing with more information in the video description. Additionally, the feedback is essential for the next videos you produce whether they are promotional, tutorial, or something new and creative.

Questions?

If your organization is working on a video content strategy and you need assistance, I'm here to help. I can help answer questions about the production process, costs/budgeting, and clarifying your message.