Video Marketing – Hard Sell Vs Soft Sell

If you’ve been marketing online for any time, you’re probably used to using familiar marketing channels such as email marketing or banner advertising, both of which require a fairly hard sell approach to sales. Video, on the other hand, is different and is all about subtlety or the soft-sell. The reality is, people don’t watch videos that are obviously sales videos. In fact, they’ll go out of their way to avoid them (just like people talk through the adverts on TV or switch to another channel) That kind of hard sell approach just doesn’t work with online video.

 

If you are considering bringing video into your marketing mix, you need to be able to offer your viewer real value, providing them with the information they want or some kind of entertainment value, without an obvious sales pitch.  The soft-sell approach should define your video marketing agenda.  You viewers will engage more readily with your content and remember your brand or define you as an expert if you teach them something (as in how-to videos) or update them with new information (industry news and so on).

 

If you gain your viewers trust and begin to establish yourself in their minds as a value provider, you embed your brand or product positively in your viewers frame of mind.  When it comes time to buy a product, your viewer won’t be able to help but remember you when making a purchase, because you have already provided them with value.  That’s the psychology of advertising and the nature of human beings.

 

This kind of marketing approach is a lot different to paid advertising and ultimately far more effective, which explains the explosion in online video over the last few years.  Traditional advertising is far more fleeting. People tend to forget banners ads or emails quickly or need to see them many times to be memorable.  Done correctly, video gives you an instant gateway into your audience’s subconscious mind and this is a very profitable place to be.

 

Using video however, doesn’t have to rule out more traditional online advertising channels.  The real secret is to use video to supplement the promotional message you convey in your other advertising channels that are more blatant and hard sell in their approach.  Following up on your promotional message by providing more information in the video marketing strand of your marketing mix is huge effective.

 

This is the perfect way to personalize your company or brand.  By using the soft-sell approach in video you are developing a direct emotional connection with your viewer, drawing them into your marketing agenda and helping to realize your marketing goals.  And this happens, only because you are no longer broadcasting an anonymous promotional message.  You are, instead, personally communicating to you audience as an expert on a topic they are interested.

 

Mastering this soft-sell approach in your videos is the key to achieving your marketing goals .