1) Marketing – Yes, marketing. I know training videos are not typically used to market to new prospects, but if you want your customers or employees to watch your training videos they need to be reminded frequently that they exist and where they exist.
Tip: Choose one video per week (or month) and send it out via email to your audience. Don’t overthink it or complicate the email. We’re talking about 1-3 sentences and a link to watch the video. Here’s an example:
Did you know you could _____ by using the ______ feature?
Don’t forget about the benefits of using the ____ feature?
Have you forgotten about _____ feature?
The video you send could be something like this:
Let us know if you have any questions.
2) Length – There’s no denying that in this day and information age we all have symptoms of A.D.D.. So keep your videos short. Training videos should be no longer than 5-7 minutes. 7 minutes is definitely pushing it, 3 minutes is ideal. Keep it simple. Focus on one feature or 2-3 short features. And don’t overdo it in one video. Create a series of multiple videos to cover one topic instead of one long video.
3) Quality – It’s a mistake to try and market an hour+ long recorded webinar to your audience as a training video. Don’t waste your time. Or at least ask yourself, “Would I watch this?” Probably not. You need clear, concise, straight-to-the-point videos that are recorded with a podcast-grade microphone or better. Stay on target when recording the video and read from a script if possible.
Bonus Reason: There is one more that’s far too common and I just can’t let it go unsaid. Accessibility. I know you typically don’t want your training videos to be publicly accessible because you don’t want your competitors to see your “secret sauce”, but this can be a huge disservice to your team. You’re not doing your customers or employees any favors by locking down your videos in a vault that requires them to remember another website, another login, another password, and then five more clicks to get to a video. Keep your videos private, but make them easily accessible. Here’s two quick solutions: Vimeo.com or Wistia.com.
Do you have questions or need some help getting started? Let me know. Steve Burnich Clear Point Video steve@clearpointvideo.com 417-350-7068 www.ClearPointVideo.com