If a picture says a thousand words, how many stories can a video tell?
Videos are not the foremost choice in the world of digital and mobile marketing. This is despite the prolific consumption of video content across the board. Small businesses and even major companies rely on practices like SEO more than video content.
Why? One simple reason is the level of difficulty. It is easier to get video creation wrong. A typical long-form blog still leaves room for marketers and writers to make mistakes and get away with them.
Video content is not as forgiving. Typical SEO-optimized blogs are meant to be informative and relevant.
A great video is not just informative. There is an element of engagement and personality needed to create a truly great video. The general difficulty of creating a video is much higher than writing a blog post.
Despite this obstacle, videos cannot be ignored. A report shows users spend ten minutes streaming videos out of every hour invested in media consumption. This stat alone makes it impossible for marketers to ignore video marketing forever.
This is true for mobile app marketing as well. App development is already a less daunting obstacle as tools like AppMySite have it possible for a user to build a WordPress or WooCommerce app without coding.
The next challenge is marketing and videos are a great way of meeting this challenge. Mobile app companies don’t have to look any further than their app store listing to start their video marketing efforts. Both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store offer space to add a promo video.
This piece provides a step-by-step guide on creating the perfect promo video for your app.
Also read: Top ten video marketing strategies to popularize your app
Table of contents
Step #1 - Know the guidelines and study the market
Step #2 - Nail down video concept and script
Step #3 - Create video walkthroughs and mix in visuals
Step #4 - Keep it simple
Step #1 - Know the guidelines and study the market
There are certain guidelines both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store have with regard to promo videos.
Google Play Store has no restriction on the length of promo videos. You have the freedom to upload videos of any size on Google Play to walk people through your mobile app. The video you add to your app listing must come from your app or brand’s official YouTube channel. The video you add has to be on YouTube.
The Apple App Store doesn’t provide such concessions. You have to create videos lasting under 30 seconds for it to get displayed on your Apple App Store listing. There is no need to upload your promo video on YouTube. You can simply add the video from your device.
It is important to know these guidelines before you start delving into the finer points of your video.
The next part of this step is studying the market. This simply means looking at promo videos put out by other apps. You have to strive to meet the video quality standards set by your competitors. You cannot appear to lag behind your immediate competitors on the app stores.
Market research will help you identify the standard you need to meet and strive to exceed. You will learn little details like the ideal video length, the format generally followed in the industry, and the overall concept of the video.
Step #2 - Nail down video concept and script
Video concept basically refers to the overall theme of your app video. For a new app, it doesn’t make sense to choose an abstract video concept.
Let’s take an example and assume Google has to come out with a promo video for the Gmail mobile app. Google could get away with using an abstract video concept which speaks to the role of Gmail in forging connections and relationships.
This is simply because most Gmail users know the basic functionality and purpose of Google. A new app doesn’t have the same luxury. Thus, the video concept for a new app must be rooted in the functions and features it provides. There is no room for vague abstract concepts. A promo video in such a case has to be direct.
This general rule ends up playing a big role in shaping the video script as well. The video concept shapes the script and thus the overall direction of the video.
Many companies at times don’t have a script and by extension any kind of voiceover. Ideally, adding a voiceover is a better decision because it handholds a viewer through the app and reduces the burden on the visual artist working on the video.
Explaining the ins-and-outs of an app through visuals alone is difficult. A voice over is thus important to create a decent promo video.
Step #3 - Create video walkthroughs and mix in visuals
You need to create the video before the voiceover artist gets down to mastering the script.
Generally, your app video should walk viewers through the app. Add video snippets depicting different functions and features of an app in action. You should also add engaging visuals between these snippets to add more flavour to the overall video.
Finally, you’ll have to edit the video together on a video editor. There are various free and paid video editing tools you can leverage. Also add light music in the background to add a life to the video.
Step #4 - Keep it simple
Your promo video won’t be sent to prominent film festivals for critique. It should only serve the basic purpose of introducing a mobile app to new people.
Boil the video concept down to the bare essentials. Figure out the most important information you need to convey to your target audience.
What type of video would suit a new pharmacy app just launched on the app stores? Show short video snippets explaining the basic process of using the app. Highlight some features or offers which set your pharmacy app apart from others in the market.
Don’t delve into abstract concepts about ‘serving people’. These concepts can work in advertising and blogs, but not a short promo video. Explain the exact benefits in a concise manner without delving into histrionics.
In conclusion
App development is a less challenging task now thanks to the role of mobile app builders. One can convert WordPress website to Android app to get it on the Google Play Store. The same can be done to create an iOS app with the help of tools like AppMySite.
Development is no longer a challenge. Mobile app marketing however still remains a formidable challenge. One way to get more app downloads is creating an engaging promo video to publish on app store listings.
This piece provides a step-by-step guide on creating a promo video for your mobile app. You can get started with the process by going through the points made here and create a decent promo video.