Persuasive product videos

What do Dropbox, 99Designs, and Woody Allen have in common?

They all use videos to increase sales!

Of course it’s easy for them, right? After all, they have ginormous budgets.

You, on the other hand, are just starting out. You don’t have the resources those guys have.

But Miguel Hernandez says you don’t need them.

Miguel is the founder of Grumo Media. Grumo is the production company that businesses like Hipmunk and celebrity entrepreneurs like Ashton Kutcher use to create videos that explain their products.

In his Mixergy course, he shows you how even a camera-shy, bootstrapping entrepreneur can create an effective demo video. Here are three strategies you’ll learn in the course.

1. You Don’t Need a Big Hollywood Budget

You don’t have thousands of dollars to hire a production company.

And you don’t have time to do it yourself. Or fancy equipment. Or editing skills.

Even if you did, you wouldn’t know what to say in a video, anyway!

So given all of those roadblocks, how can you create a video people will watch?

Keep it Super Simple

First, forget about expensive equipment. You don’t need it!

Miguel says to simply use ScreenFlow or Camtasia to record your computer screen and your voice. “ScreenFlow is great because you can record your screen and also edit your video within the same application,” says Miguel.

He says the easiest way to make a video is to navigate through your site, and any other relevant sites, as you talk about your product.

2. Plan Your Opening Act

Stand-up comedians warm up the audience to get them in the mood for the headliner. Up-and-coming bands get the crowd excited before the featured band takes the stage.

Likewise, you’ve got to warm up your prospects before you explain how your product works.

“If you just go in right away into the features of your software, people are not going to be so excited,” says Miguel.

They won’t understand how it solves their problem, or they just won’t care. Either way, you’ll lose a potential customer.

So how do you get them excited?

Tell Your Story

Get your audience’s attention by explaining the pain that your product solves.

Miguel likes to think of it like this: “We identified the problem, we are the solution, let me tell you how we solve that problem.” Then, once you have their attention, you can introduce the solution.

Miguel says the Greplin (now Cue) demo video identified a problem: It’s hard to find information across all of the networks and platforms you use. For example, maybe you’re looking for an address to your friend’s party, but you can’t remember if it’s in Evite or in Facebook.

Then, after Greplin’s video has you hooked, it explains their solution: how the product makes it easy to search for those bits of information.

3. Choose Your Story Wisely

When you write a video script, it’s tempting to try. You want to speak in broad terms so that everyone will think your product is for them. That way more people will buy it!

The problem is that prospects don’t identify with phrases like “almost everyone”. They don’t feel like you understand their problem. That means they won’t be excited about your solution.

So what can you do to prove you “get them”?

Get Personal with a Few

To get prospects to identify with your product, be specific.

For example, Hipmunk’s video starts with a story about a problem: needing a last-minute flight to see your girlfriend.

But, as the video explains, “every site gives you tons of results. And you go through pages and pages of flight combinations, and time goes by and you’re getting frustrated. And you’re like, ‘I just want to book this flight now. I mean like, pronto.’”

Miguel contrasts this with a more generic line they could have used like, “Most users that search for flights online find current websites difficult to navigate.”

“If you say ‘most users’, that’s very impersonal, right?” says Miguel. “There are many words that sound more interesting.”

Both are true, but Hipmunk’s story is more personal, so people identify with it.