By Rob Edmonds, NRG Digital
There is a time and place for friction. Stopping a car – great. Stopping the flow of communication – not so great. One of the major causes of friction in comms messaging is trust. And trust is vital in the alternative payment technologies sector.
According to global PR giant Edelman, “Trust is now the make or break difference for brands”.1 There is a clear shift towards trust being bound to personal experience and advocacy. Reviews are increasingly a core element of the buying experience—think how few times you purchase purely on the strength of an advert—and video reviews are amongst the most powerful: you can take in body language; you can clearly see edits; you can look into someone’s eyes. You simply have much more information to help you gauge how much trust you are willing to invest.
Video testimonials are an unrivalled way for customers to endorse a brand. Most people aren’t that keen to be on camera, so if your customers are happy to put themselves in front of the lens, that is a massive endorsement of their trust in you.
The problems we face individually often contain elements of shared issues and experiences. Tapping into those shared experiences through the medium of video allows the viewer to connect their own experiences with the solutions that your brand can offer. People instinctively recognise in others what they themselves are looking for, making the video testimonial extremely powerful.
Trust is important, because if someone trusts your brand:
- They are more likely to use your product (even if it is more expensive)
- They are more likely to respond to your communications
- They are more likely to recommend your brand to other people
How else can you use video?
User Generated Content (UGC)
Some content really does need professional help to elevate it above and beyond, but UGC also has its place. With the improvements in technology that are happening all the time, you can still generate great content without the need for everything to be filmed on a movie set. This can be particularly useful with teams that are spread across the globe, or even based at home as many people will be for some time to come. UGC can also be great for social media and peer review to help in raising a brand’s profile or when building trust.
Explainer video
Video can also be a useful tool in terms of demonstrating products, explaining complex ideas or talking about changes. Often, we think about product demonstrations being on a one-to-one basis in a physical environment. Using video and animation can be an extremely effective way to demonstrate a complex idea or product to many people at the same time, in many different locations. You can, literally, show your customers how to use your product to solve a specific issue, including highlighting the end results.
Case study
By teaming an explainer video with a customer testimonial, you can build a case study that marries up the benefits of a product demonstration with the trust you get from advocacy and endorsement.
So, video and animation are great at distilling complex products and ideas into clear and concise messaging that works across multiple platforms. What are the platforms you should be focusing on?
Website: Your website is often the first point of contact that people have with your brand. Video and animation can have a real impact here:
- Less written content is needed
- Website visitors stay on the site longer, as they watch the video
- People share video content far more frequently than written content
YouTube: As the second most popular search engine, globally, posting your content here when you can, makes absolute sense because it will help:
- Optimise your video
- Increase sharing opportunities
Social media: Having a social media presence is more important than ever and visual imaging can vastly increase your reach:
- Cut longer videos into 10 second snippets for social media use
- Tease longer content on your social media channels
- Direct users back to your website with links
From still images and infographics to adverts and TikTok videos, visual media is here to stay and has permeated every aspect of our work and social lives. In today’s highly competitive world, we are bombarded with content 24/7 and it can be easy to get lost in the noise. Visual content, be it video or animation, is a highly effective mechanism for cutting through that noise, helping you to create effective and authentic communication to engage and inspire your audience, wherever they are based.
1 Trust Barometer Special Report: Brand Trust in 2020, https://www.edelman.com/research/brand-trust
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rob Edmonds is Founder and Creative Director at NRG Digital, a visual communications agency with a passion for all things creative. Their clients treat them as a strategic partner, creating authentic content that inspires audiences and elevates brands. Formed in 2002, the team has grown significantly, winning an Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) award for Best Change/Transformation Communication in 2020. NRG Digital works across the UK, Europe and the US, supporting clients with their internal and external communications campaigns.
Web: https://nrg-digital.co.uk
Twitter: @NRG_Digital
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nrgdigital1/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nrg_digital/
