How to make a product video
Videos can help you familiarize customers with your product, giving them the confidence to buy online when they can’t view or touch the item in person.
Well-made product marketing videos are more likely to win over a potential customer. Follow these steps to make sure your own product videos do the trick.
1. Plan and prepare
You can’t just set your camera up and hit record. Follow these steps to craft a great product video strategically:
- I dentify your target audience. Who do you want to speak to with your product video? Knowing your product’s target audience is the first step. To determine this:
- Identify your product’s unique selling proposition (USP). What product features set it apart from the competition?
- Understand your audience. What demographic traits — like age range, geographic location, and hobbies — do they share? You can survey your customers for this data or examine your competitors’ customers.
- Consider your audience’s pain point. What problem does your audience have that your product will solve?
- Define the video’s goal. What purpose will your video serve for your target audience? Is it supposed to introduce them to a new product or educate them about an existing product?
- Pick a format. There are many types of product videos. Determining your goal can help you pick a format. Possibilities include a teaser or promo video, a tutorial or explainer video, or a product demo video.
- Outline your key messages. Your key messages depend on your video’s purpose. When outlining your key messages, consider the tone you want to use in your video, such as casual versus formal. Learn more about brand voice and how it can influence the tone of your message.
- Determine your call to action (CTA). Your video should have a CTA at the end that encourages the viewer to take action. For example, a promo video could say “Subscribe Now” and get people onto an email list, so they’re alerted when the product launches.
- Decide how you’ll produce your video. Invest in video, audio, and lighting equipment. It’s also worth investing in software to edit your videos, like for adding text and music. Popular video makers and editing software include:
- Adobe Premiere
- Adobe Express Editor
- Apple Final Cut Pro
- Apple iMovie.
2. Write a script
Starting from a place of structure and organization is essential when creating a product video – that’s where a script comes in. Scripts help maintain cohesive messaging by ensuring that key information about the product is conveyed concisely and clearly. Additionally, having a script streamlines the production process and reduces the need for retakes.
To start writing a script, consider your key messages and CTA (see above). Now, incorporate them into a written script. Here are some tips for a script that will benefit an effective product video:
- Keep it simple. Steer clear of jargon and complex language. Write like you speak. Overly complicated language can cause viewers to tune out. Make sure you have a clear call-to-action.
- Note action points. Videos are more than just talking. For example, if a person is doing a product demo, note when they should point to or touch the product.
- Keep your audience and context in mind. Write for your target audience and platform. For example, if you’re targeting college kids, specific slang might be appropriate. If you’re targeting busy professionals, not so much.
- Write it all down. Don’t skimp on the script. Include every word and action point needed. Winging it increases the risk of leaving out key messages.
- Edit, edit, edit. Review your script and get someone else to review it too. Say it aloud to ensure it makes sense when spoken, not just written.
However, a good product video doesn’t always need a script. If you’re making a testimonial video wherein you interview real-world customers, you wouldn't want to put words in their mouths. Alternatively, silent videos or videos with only music can be powerful on their own. That being said, for most other types of product videos, consider writing a script to ensure a streamlined and effective result.
3. Film and edit
The script guides your video’s words (if it has any) and actions, but what about the visuals? It takes more than aiming the camera and ensuring it’s in focus. Try these best practices to make a visually appealing video:
- Use the rule of thirds. This composition method draws the eye to the main point of interest, such as the product or person in the video. Imagine dividing your shot into nine equal sectors using two horizontal and two vertical lines. The focal point should fall at an intersecting point.
- Don’t skimp on lighting. Lighting can make or break a video. Decide whether you’ll use natural or artificial light; you shouldn’t mix and match, which can result in an unevenly lit shot. Whatever your primary light source, make sure it’s consistent. Also, don’t spotlight your focal point; light it evenly.
- Adjust your camera beforehand. The technicalities of this step depend on the camera you’re using. Set the camera’s white balance based on the lighting. Some cameras have a feature to balance whiteness, but you can do it manually.
Finally, don’t skimp on editing and postproduction. In the first section, we’ve mentioned some tools you can use to edit videos. You can edit the video, make cuts, add sound effects and voice-overs, and overlay music.
It’s time to share your masterpiece with the world. You can use many social media platforms, from YouTube to X (Twitter). You can also post the video to your website and push traffic to it through your email marketing. Make sure to always link back to your product page.
Note that different platforms have different requirements for video formats. You’ll need to resize the video differently for a desktop landing page versus an iPhone-friendly website versus any social media-specific page.
Check out the formatting and size requirements for these major platforms:
And don’t forget search engine optimization (SEO). Make sure the title and description or caption of your video uses trending keywords that align with what your video is showing.
