While speaking with some prospective clients, they pointed me to a video they thought “struck just the right tone for an introductory video.” I went to watch it, and couldn’t agree more.

The video is by Tad Hargrave of Marketing for Hippies.

 

Things Tad did right:

Casual approach with attention to detail

Tad dressed casually, to put his target audience at ease. However, he paid close attention to the background of his video and what was in front of him. Was his phone there just in case he got an important call while he was making his video? No – it sent a subtle signal that he’s technologically connected.

The coffee mug, just like for your favorite morning show host, subliminally invites you into his “digital living room.”

Finally, the background is clean and neat – nothing to distract the viewer from focusing on Tad and his message.

Tell the viewers what they can expect to find

Tad mentioned his free stuff first, then moved on to his blog. In describing the blog, he set expectations for how often he would update it and the type of content that would be on it.

Last (the position of most importance), he mentions his e-book and explains what it covers.

Sandwiched in with his ebook pitch, he lets the viewer know what sort of follow-up emails they can expect if they go for the “ethical bribe” that is the e-book.

Use titles judiciously

When Tad is talking about the most important thing – the item that builds his list – a title shows up at the bottom of the video reinforcing what he is saying and instructing the viewer in the action they need to take to get the e-book. Because he doesn’t use titles throughout the video, it makes that one judicious use particularly eye-grabbing.

MOVE your body

Talking head videos can get static and boring in a nanosecond, so Tad behaves as if he really is IN his website – he looks up and around at the different content as he speaks about it, points over at the e-book opt-in, etc.

While this does require knowing how your video will be sited in your design, it’s worth doing and paying attention to.

Throw in some personality

While his entire video is full of personality, at the end of the scripted portion of the video, Tad cut in a montage of himself being…himself, or at least the version of himself he wants to present in his business, which is casual, concerned, appealing, and wacky. If you’re not hiring a talented video editor to help you out, this part can be skipped without hurting the value of the rest of the video.

So many of us provide services that are similar to those of our competitors – it’s important to leverage our personal uniqueness.

Keep it snappy

Tad managed to do ALL that, and throw in some groan-worthy hippie jokes at the end, in a mere 110 seconds. Once your video stretches over 2 minutes long, unless it’s a class or tutorial on something, you’re losing pretty much all of the audience.

I tried to find some data that was fresher than this, since online behavior is morphing daily, but this study is still being quoted: “Most videos steadily lose viewers once “play” is clicked, with an average 10.39% of viewers clicking away after ten seconds and 53.56% leaving after one minute.”

The formula is pretty simple – but simple and easy are two different things, and Tad Hargrave made it look effortless.