The Psychology of Video Marketing you must be Aware of

To be able to impress your viewers, you need to understand the psychology of video marketing and see how it affects the success of your video marketing.

What does the perfect marketing video look like?

Although there is no magic answer, there are several traits that the most successful marketing videos have in common. The traits found in this article are some of these commonalities, and all are inspired by scientific findings. Use these tricks in your next business video production to tap into the psychology of the viewer, and drive engagement.

Tricks to Understand the Psychology of Video Marketing 

1. The Fast Hook

Our primary goal in this stage is get the viewer’s attention. But you don’t have all day to accomplish this. If your attention-grabber is just 10 seconds into your video…your already too late.

Surprisingly, humans only have the attention span of 8 seconds, which is the equivalent of a goldfish. Therefore, according to marketing psychology, you must go for the immediate hook.

Getting the viewer’s attention through a short 3-5 second intro is a great way to accomplish this. But as soon as the catchy intro is over, you have to immediately hook them again to keep them engaged. Accomplishing this has become the latest challenge in video production and video marketing.

2. Keep it Unpredictable

The objective at this stage of your marketing video (4-6 seconds in) is to ensure you keep their attention past those first 8 seconds. As noted, this is one of the biggest challenges for video marketers.

Turns out, there is a scientific reason for this. The Broca’s area of the brain, that is responsible for language comprehension also acts as an information filter. It filters out any information that is irrelevant or predictable, before we even have a chance to consciously process it.

The way to break past a viewer’s Broca’s filter is to make your video unpredictable. This can be achieved in a variety of different ways. Some video producers compare two seemingly unrelated products…like flip flops and skiis. Or show products in unexpected settings. Such as a skier, decked out in a thick coat and hat in the middle of Nigeria.

This unpredictability can also be achieved through the power of words. This is important when you are trying to understand the psychology of video marketing.

3. The Power of Story

Your next goal as a video producer is to get the viewer’s commitment to giving you their full, undivided attention. Marketing psychology says we can achieve this by telling the viewer an unexpected, and powerful story.

Chances are, your marketing video’s audience has seen or heard about your product or a similar product before. To avoid their bounce, and achieve unpredictability, turn your go-to facts and benefits into a meaningful story that your viewers can identify with.

A story is both unpredictable and powerful to the human brain. Facts and stats only light up the language centers of the human brain. Stories, on the other hand, light up all parts of the brain, including Gustatory neurons, the Olfactory system and our motor cortex.

This brain activity indicates that something bigger than simply rational thinking is going on here. This brand narrative is driving consumer emotions towards the brand. According to Psychology Today, these emotions act as the foundation of consumer action…buying action.

The power of story doesn’t just have a present impact. Stories are also 22x more memorable than facts, so your viewer will keep you in mind even after your 30-second video has ended.

4. Auditory and Visual Combo

The intention of video marketing is often to help your audience achieve a genuine understanding of your brand or product. This is achieved most efficiently when the information in your video is portrayed simultaneously through audio and visuals.

As described in “The Psychology of Visual Marketing Content,” humans give preferential treatment to visual content. This is because are pros at processing visual information. Up to 90% of the information our brains process is visual. All this experience enables us to process visual information up to 60,000 times faster than text-based information.

Given what we know about text-based information, it is best to record an auditory voiceover of your story during the video production process. Music and sound effects can also aid in unpredictability or cuing certain desired responses.

Produced alone, visuals and auditory information perform well. But the combination of captivating imagery and music or story-based narration shows extremely successful results. The visual-auditory coding combo results in a 74% boost in your viewers’ understanding of your brand or product.

5. Emotion-Driven

The ultimate objective for business video production is to drive consumer action. For consumers, emotions are the driving factors that push us toward action. According to professor of neuroscience, Antonio Damasio, in response to an emotion, humans are enabled to make decisions, and are compelled to do something.

Damasio’s research subjects are people who have damaged connections between the “thinking” and “emotional” areas of the brain. This research shows that the subjects retain their full ability to process all information regarding the available choices. However, they lack the ability to make a decision between those choices.  

This connection between consumer behavior and emotion is well documented. A viewer’s emotional response to a commercial has far greater influence on his or her intent to buy than does the ad’s content (such as facts) by 3 to 1. The takeaway here is that consumers buy on emotions, not information.

To help you achieve this emotional response, you can use the power of storytelling and the auditory and visual combo. Replace your typical go-to facts and features with your heartfelt brand story. Once you’ve set the emotional narrative, drive consumer action with a strong Call to Action that reinforces, or alleviates the viewer’s emotion.

Conclusion

During your video production process, apply these tricks to understand the psychology of video marketing and attract viewer attention long enough to drive an emotional response. If you can successfully implement these marketing psychology tricks, you will see success in your video marketing.