A marketing video is one of the most powerful mediums you can use to convey your message and position your business as an expert. With the right length, a well-crafted video can be just as effective as any other form of media.
With that said, how long is enough? There are no general rules about video lengths, but we will talk about some benchmarks here for a basic guideline.
This article will also discuss why longer videos may not always work in your favor when creating content. When looking at our benchmarks, we will assume that the length of the video is limited by time and resources. No matter what kind of camera or editing software you have, two minutes is the limit.
Just enough time
A marketing video should be just long enough to make your audience feel something, but not longer than it takes to make them feel that thing. Your viewer can close the window or tab at any time if they are done watching!
As you want to give people motivation to do things, use a technique called stimulus. A good way to use this with a marketing video is by telling a story.
Your movie could tell someone’s life story about how he/she was unable to connect with other people in their lives and then what happened when they made an effort to fix that. You can say that for some of us, we need to learn how to relate to others more and put away our defenses and trust issues.
Or maybe you could show someone who has overcome adversity to succeed in one area giving up on success in another. For example, someone who believes that she cannot write well may give up trying to publish her book because she already tried and failed once before.
The perfect length
A marketing video that is too short can hurt your business. You will need to invest in additional equipment to film and edit the video, which could cost money.
You want to make sure you are investing in enough time for potential viewers to watch the whole thing!
People tend to save their phone or computer for something only when it’s close to being done, so giving people enough time to watch the full movie may be a challenge.
A good length for a marketing video is around one minute per slide of content. This way, each part of your slideshow gets its own amount of time to be seen before moving onto the next.
Length doesn’t matter
Even if people don’t watch your marketing video to the end, they can tell when it’s done. A well-designed piece of content will usually have enough context to understand what is happening and why it is important.
If a viewer was trying to find out more information about your product or service, they would probably give up soon after starting to play the video. If they wanted an example of how you promote products like this, they could quickly look you up online.
Your video should be long enough to clearly convey its message with some degree of efficiency.
Will people watch the whole thing?
A marketing video should be a reasonably lengthier piece of material. It should hold your audience’s attention, at least for some time! If you have nothing substantial to say, then why make a longer video about nothing?
The average person can listen to someone talk for three minutes before getting bored. Three minutes is a decent amount of time for most to allocate to listening to an explanation or call to action. That makes one minute per word very efficient!
One way to make your video more engaging is to use storytelling. Use stories that are familiar to everyone – this will lower the perception of risk in content that may seem weird or scary.
Factors that affect video length
Lengthy videos are very popular these days. People love watching them, and you can make money off of their engagement. That is why it is important to have a good understanding of how long your marketing videos should be!
With the right length, your audience will have time to get involved with the content and give full attention. They will also have enough time to feel like they learned something from what you gave them.
Lengthy videos typically contain an introduction, body, and conclusion. The body is usually the most engaging part as it contains either a topic or example that people are listening to for educational purposes.
The longer the better when it comes to marketing videos because not only does he audience get more information, but you as the creator get more exposure.
Your YouTube channel will automatically play any video under one minute unless you upload yours. Any video over that limit will not be seen by anyone except yourself and Google.
Host a video contest
Running a YouTube channel is not easy, which is why most people don’t do it. It takes time to create content you are going to push yourself to make every week.
Running a YouTube channel isn’t something that can be done in a few hours or days; it takes weeks, months, even years depending on how much content you want to produce.
That’s what makes hosting a video contest so difficult!
By giving away your own content for free, you are taking responsibility for its success (or lack thereof). You will also be creating a buzz around your product or service by sharing it with everyone else.
Produce a video series
A marketing video is not a one-and-done event, so make sure to keep producing videos! While it’s fine to have short videos that are designed to promote a product or service, longer films can strengthen your brand value.
Longer videos can help establish you as an authority in your field. They also give your audience more time to process what you’re saying before they have to move onto the next thing.
There’s no hard and fast rule for how long a video should be, but we recommend sticking within a minute of each other unless there’s something really special about the content. Your viewers will probably agree – anything over a minute is too long!
Your success with filming videos depends mostly on your production quality and creativity. There’s nothing wrong with using pre-made templates if those tools feel comfortable to you, but don’t forget to add some personal touches like yourself or use creative shots.
Create a video marketing strategy
With the explosion of online content, not only are there no longer limited resources for you to use for your business, but people have become very selective about how they spend their time consuming media.
This is especially true when it comes to watching videos. Online viewers now have access to a wealth of free or low cost tools that allow them to watch videos quickly and with less concern over quality.
In fact, some users will go as far as saying that even poor quality YouTube videos are fine because they feel like they’re getting hiss-free entertainment. Or perhaps they don’t care quite so much about quality entertainment once in a while.
