Blanket statement: The best video is one that works for YOUR product, and your market segment. These are just a few of the videos we have found that stand out from the bunch, and why we love them. We may be a little biased: yes some of these are our clients, but many are from our own research on competing products.
Video Logistics
Rainfactory uses your video in new, unique ways. We have very high standards based on the significant drops in engagement levels of watching a video over time.
- First 5 seconds need to be the MOST engaging content.
- YouTube allows people to skip after 3 seconds
- First 30 seconds need to sell the product
- Needs to be shorter than 2 minutes
- You may add 30 seconds after the first 2 minutes for the “founder pitch” or “testimonials”
- Closing call-to-action slide
- Voiceover “go to [YOUR website URL] to get yours today”
- Text Displayed: “Pre-Order Now at [YOUR website URL]”
- We do NOT want your customers to go directly to the pre-order site because you lose so much of your SEO that way.
Things to Do
Feature the product in the first 3-5 seconds.
Focus on Use Cases: Tile
Founder Interview Format: Eight
Tell a “guy meets girl” story: SWYP Card
Include a closing Call-to-Action Slide after your 2-minute pitch, and then include the Founder Pitch after that closing slide: Jibo
Put dollar signs in your customers’ eyes: How THEY can profit from building content or creating things with your product: Glowforge
Then for the FINAL slide at the very end of the video, include “There are 6 things you need to know before you buy. Click Here To See Them, just like in Glowforge.
Use a Conversational Pitch with a charismatic actor: Ellipse
Include a close-up of the product’s insides. Also pay attention to the text overlay product call-outs: Crazybaby Mars
Supplemental Video of Testimonials: Vessyl, “What Leaders are Saying”
For fun: play a bit role in your own movie: Flic
When Filming Founder’s Pitch + Testimonials
Top recommendation: Mars by Crazybaby (both for the founder interview and testimonials)
Notice images of the factory, the stress tests, the image of team members, and then people talking about the speaker.
Eight
Notice image of product renderings in the background.
Jibo
Notice that it’s filmed with other prototypes and pieces of the device in the background.
Things Not To Do
Movie longer than 2 minutes (before the first title slide, like mentioned in Jibo)
Don’t say the words Indiegogo or Kickstarter or Crowdfunding. We want people to go to YOUR website, and nowhere else. Important for SEO and makes your video last longer than the lifetime of your campaign.
Don’t hire an actor to “be you” for the Founder Pitch. If you are worried about a heavy accent, then request that the video team uses subtitles. Or speak in your native language. Supporters really just want to see you try. Compare these two videos:
Don’t “try” to be funny. You should be lighthearted, but don’t make a fool of yourselves.
For example, one company made a groundbreaking commercial:
And this company failed when trying to emulate them. The video ended up looking fake and condescending:
Don’t try to be anything more than genuine. People value honesty and integrity and need to feel confident in your team’s ability to deliver.