Updated August 2023

Creating a business video is a daunting task. Whether you are targeting clients, employees, shareholders, or managers, your final piece needs to look polished and professional. Every visual communication platform has a learning curve, but most professionals are either too busy to tackle a new tool or so overwhelmed with all the advanced features that they never get a firm grasp on the basics.

A Visual Communication Platform for Every Skill Level

With features like the best AI video maker, Powtoon is a video creation tool that is perfect for creators of any skill level. Users can toggle between “edit” and “create” modes based on their skill and comfort level. 

In “create” mode, users can access all the advanced creative and animation features that Powtoon has to offer; they can make major edits to existing templates or create a video from the ground up. In “edit” mode, users can start with one of Powtoon’s ready-made templates and use the intuitive editor to customize it. The result is a professional-quality video that can be created in less than five minutes.

Don’t believe us? We’ll prove it.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Employee Engagement Video with Powtoon

To create a quick and easy video, do the following:

After you create a Powtoon account, you’ll enter your main Workspace. On your left side, you will have the option to get started with a template, import an existing PowerPoint presentation, or start from scratch. 

You can also simply choose the type of video that suits your objectives (e.g., animated explainer, social media, whiteboard, etc.) or try out new features to enhance your content by selecting from a variety of options available right on the top of the workspace.

If you are creating videos for a specific niche, you have the option to select a template based on different topics (e.g., marketing strategy, onboarding, training, etc.) You’ll then see a customized list of professionally designed templates optimized to work for your project.

In this case, we’re creating a marketing video for social media, so selecting that specific category produces a curated collection of potential templates.

Click on individual templates to preview them. When you find one you like, select “Edit in Studio”.

Now it’s time to make it yours! Choose your preferred aspect ratio, edit the text, and customize it with your brand colors.

Insert your logo to add a more professional look.

Customize each slide of the template. This can be as simple or complex as you choose. Use the template as-is or make it unique with engaging fonts, colors, branded characters, and animation effects.

If your template has photos or videos, upload assets you have on hand or choose one from Powtoon’s huge library of royalty-free stock photos and videos. If one of the existing objects doesn’t suit your video, swap it out for one of the thousands of options in the Powtoon media library.

Once you’ve perfected your creation, it’s time to share it with the world! You can create a custom link, download it as an MP4, publish it directly on integrated platforms like HubSpot, Wistia, or Vimeo, or even create Gifs.

And if you have trouble during any part of the process, the Powtoon Help Center is just a click away in the bottom right-hand corner.

Make Your Own Videos!

Now that you’ve seen how simple it is to make a video, it’s your turn! Create a free account with Powtoon and start using fun, engaging, and customized videos in your team meetings, internal comms, and employee training programs. See how using a visual communication platform makes it easy to share your message and boost engagement with employees, partners, and clients. What type of video will you make first? Browse through Powtoon’s huge library of templates and publish your inaugural video today! Of course, you can also automate the whole process using the AI video maker if you’re in a rush.

The post How to Create a Business Video in Less Than 5 Minutes appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

You want a unique and attention-grabbing video for an affordable price. Plenty of online video makers promise to deliver, but they’re not all created equal. One element to pay close attention to when comparing visual communication platforms is the availability (and quality) of their video templates. Here’s why choosing an online video maker with templates makes a difference.

Three Reasons to Use Video Templates

Curious why you should use your video maker’s templates instead of creating a completely custom video from scratch? Here’s your answer.

1. Graphic design is complex.

The design process is frequently overlooked by those not specifically trained in the industry. However, the design process is just as important — if not more so — than the actual video creation process. Graphic and production design involves far more than just choosing your favorite colors and fonts. They are grounded in the science of visual communication. Proper design directs the viewer’s eye movement, eliminates visual distractions, conveys the feelings you want to be included in your video, and prevents embarrassing misunderstandings. 

Plus, a marketing video with good design looks more professional! Templates offered through a video tool are often professionally designed so you can be sure you have effective typography and transitions, and that any added visual elements enhance your message rather than detract from it.

2. Video templates save you time. 

Even if someone on your team has professional design training, the process is still time-consuming to create an effective visual design that helps tell your story. If you’re making an animated explainer video animation, you’ll have to contract the work out to an agency with professional video editors; this can take several weeks (and a lot of money) to produce.

A video maker with templates cuts the video production time significantly. Add your text, photos, music, and custom visual elements to have a final draft video in minutes! Customizable templates also make it easy to produce a series of visually similar videos quickly. Use them for product videos, to launch a campaign, or develop a training series with minimal effort.

3. You can customize video templates. 

It’s understandable you don’t want your video to look like everyone companies hesitate to use templates that come with an online video maker because they’re afraid the final product won’t be unique. However, templates are just a framework for your quick video project. You can align it with your brand through custom color schemes, a logo watermark, and other unique visual touches that will make the perfect video exclusively yours.

If you choose a visual communication platform that offers hundreds of templates (as opposed to video makers that only offer a few), the chance of producing a video that resembles anyone else’s is dramatically reduced.

A Video Maker for Every Project

Powtoon is the video communication platform that does it all. Produce short videos optimized for social media, animated explainer videos for your YouTube channel or website, or screen-capture video tutorial for your corporate training program. With thousands of professionally designed templates, customizable animated characters, and royalty-free media and soundtracks, you can make your own video in-house with all the visual elements of a professional studio. Sign up for free today!

The post Why You Should Use a Video Maker With Ready-Made Templates appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Something strange is happening on LinkedIn. No, it’s not the algorithm or the sudden surge of “kids at home” pictures. At least for us here at Powtoon, it’s a sheer abundance of video resumes that we’re being mentioned in.

Now, some maybe not-so-needed historical context. In the times of COVID-19, the unemployment rate in the U.S. alone increased to a record breaking high of 14.7% in April 2020. That means that now more than ever before in our lifetime, jobseekers are out there scouring the internet looking for their next opportunity to get back into the employment game. 

But that’s easier said than done. 

In a “pre-Covid world”, companies needed to compete for incredible talent who had the power to choose where they wanted to work. But now with so many companies cutting back on hiring and so many talented applicants being let go from their positions due to budget cuts, the traditional employer branding mantra of the “War for Talent”, suddenly is flipped on its head. The War for Work is here.

So how can a candidate stand out in a crowded sea of applicants?

It’s called video resumes! 

A video resume is a short video that showcases your skill set, experience, and a touch of personality. It’s a great way to add a little something extra to an email cover letter, LinkedIn profile, or to share on social media to get the attention of recruiters in your space.

To stand out, applicants can’t just see a job on Linkedin, Glassdoor, or Indeed, apply with a one-page resume and cover letter, and expect a call. Recruiters are being flooded with nearly identical resumes and it’s hard to sift through even relevant candidates on paper. Only truly memorable applications merit a response. Considering people remember 95% of what they see in a video, compared to only 10% of what they read.

Video Resumes In Action

We’ve seen video resumes served up in a few different ways on LinkedIn. We love all the ways they find (and tag!) us, and are helping to create buzz around the candidates who create them.

Here’s a look at some of them we can’t stop raving about to help you get inspired… 

1. Beth Sutton – Creative Director

It’s important to note, right off the bat, that video resumes aren’t just some new-age Millennial or Gen-Z thing. Beth Sutton, who’s been establishing a name for herself in the digital world since the late ‘90s, recently made a Powtoon video resume to talk about what inspired her to get into the field in the first place, some mishaps in her career journey, and what she brings to the table.

2. Gaëlle Martino – HR Officer 

Bonjour Pandemic! In the midst of an upside-down hiring market, Gaëlle Martino wanted to break through the noise and prove that it was “still possible to find the rare pearl!”. Using many of Powtoon’s pre-designed animation and “scenes”, she was able to showcase her skills, background, work ethic, and even a bit of what she likes to do for fun. Of course, no video resume is complete without a contact info end slide to let potential employers know how to get in touch.

3. Paloma Peter-Dzoho  – Aspiring Software Engineer

If you ever thought that your resume doesn’t quite capture your personality or value properly, you’ve got a friend in Paloma Peter-Dzoho. As part of taking a bold move to apply to her dream internship, Paloma used Powtoon to create a video resume to show off her heritage, passions, humor, and what she hopes to accomplish during the program. 

4.  Oumaima Boulhna – Communications Professional

“What’s the one thing that’s not on your LinkedIn profile?” That was the question Oumaima saw posted on LinkedIn that sparked it all. Oumaima used Powtoon back at a previous job at DHL for instructional and promotional videos, and figured her LinkedIn could use a good Powtoon.

Using a Powtoon resume template, Oumaima got to work personalizing it with her passion for all things communication. After posting it on LinkedIn, the video got almost 18,000 views and nearly 160 comments. Microsoft’s Global Experiential Marketing Lead, Akosua Boadi-Agyemang, saw the video and just had to share it which added a second wave of likes, comments, and shares. Job seekers, recruiters, and career gurus alike went nuts over Oumaima video.

Create your own video resume today for free with Powtoon!

Visual Communication & Your Job Search: Bonus Tips

Looking for other ways to stand out and get hired with visual communication?

Keep the video creation going with these fun video-filled ideas to build your personal brand and land your dream job!

• Start a YouTube channel. Got a topic you love, professionally or even personally? Produce content for a YouTube channel for it! Even if you’re not going for a marketing role, having a YouTube channel can show recruiters that you’re dedicated, can manage projects and timeline, and have a creative spirit!
• LinkedIn videos. Got an idea, story, or message that seems to keep bouncing around in your head? Do a short, simple face-to-camera video with Powtoon Capture to talk about it. LinkedIn’s algorithm will love you but more importantly, you can start conversations with others in your network and get noticed!
• Expertise & data visualization. Within the candidate experience, you’re likely to be asked to give a presentation as part of an assignment. Got a lot of data sets and bullet points? Make an engaging, visual presentation that’s less about words on the slide, but more about bringing your points to life. You can leave the fine print in the show notes. 
• Thank you notes. At every stage of the candidate journey, it’s always important to make as many meaningful touchpoints with your recruiters and hiring managers as possible. Make them a quick, thank you video note to reflect how much you value their time, something they said that stuck with you, or confirm next steps. 

Looking to start using visual communication and video resumes to get through the door? Try out our video resume templates, professionally made so you can easily customize to your story and get hired!

Explore Video Resume Templates

The post Video Resumes — The Secret to Getting Hired During COVID-19 appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Stop racking your brain to come up with new video ideas — you’ve already got tons of written material waiting to be repurposed into attention-grabbing videos! Breathe new life into an old blog by turning it into an animated video. This will help your articles to be more engaging for your audience and more memorable to visual learners. Here’s how.

Five Steps to Convert Blogs into Animated Video

1. Choose your material. Choose the material you want to convert to video. Select articles that have clear instructions, explanations, information, or data points. If you’re unsure where to begin, start with blog posts that get the most web traffic or written pieces that address your most frequently asked questions. By turning these into videos for your website or YouTube channel, you can make them even more searchable.

2. Make a storyboard. Before you create an animated video, you need to plan! Decide what type of video is best — does kinetic typography (moving text) make sense? Should you make an animated explainer video? Or is an infographic or character-based animation the best choice? Then, make a storyboard to outline the flow of the video. Pull out key points from your blog content and start crafting a scene-by-scene vision for your piece that will guide you as you create your final video.

3. Select a template. Now that you’ve got a plan and a vision, it’s time to bring it to life! Select a template that matches the type of video you want to create and has a style that’s authentic to your brand. Make sure to format it properly for your target audience: horizontal for desktop viewing or YouTube videos, square for social media platforms, or vertical for Instagram Stories and mobile users. 

4. Upload your text and make your video. Now the fun REALLY begins. Upload images, PowerPoint slides, or charts you want to include. Copy and paste text from your blog into the template that captures the greater message of your piece. Create a branded character to be the star of your animated video. Spend time making sure the pace and flow of your animated video is just right. Your video is almost ready for its public debut!

5. Personalize your video. Put the finishing touches on your animated video to move it from a basic template to a polished, professional-looking visual communication. Customize it with colors that complement your brand. Add a background soundtrack and include a watermarked logo. Even if you only plan to use your video internally or for a small audience, watermarking is wise because in today’s digital era you never know where it might show up — and after all your hard work, you deserve all the credit.

Beyond Your Blog Posts

There are so many ways to jazz up other written materials, beyond your blog posts, into engaging animation. Got notes someone took from your latest board meeting? Showcase transparency by turning it into an animated, company-wide video. Old training PDFs that go unread? You’ve got the outline of a video infographic script, waiting to be written. Want to hit the refresh button on your employee or customer onboarding manuals? Make a whiteboard explainer so it’s easy to get started.

Animated Video Made Easy

Powtoon is the visual communication platform for all your animated video needs! Create animated explainers, moving text, infographics, and custom animations quickly and easily. Powtoon has hundreds of professionally-designed templates for use across all industries, and with customizable features like branded animated characters, personalized color schemes, and the option to include your company logo. 

That way, you can make sure each video is uniquely yours and reflective of your brand. Create a free account today and make your first video in minutes!

The post How to Transform Blog Articles into Animated Videos in 5 Simple Steps appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Are you incorporating visuals in your presentations and communications simply because it’s popular or because you truly understand its value? Or are you avoiding it altogether because the learning curve for yet another new tool seems daunting? The truth is that visual communication is one of the most effective ways to convey your message – no matter your audience. Here’s why.

6 Reasons Why Visual Communication is So Effective

Humans Are Visual Creatures. Think about the five senses: touch, sound, smell, taste, and…reading text to interpret meaning and assign value? Nope. It’s sight (obviously). Visual communication tools are effective because they speak directly to a primary way our bodies receive and process information.

Visual Communication Is Clear. Have you ever had to read (and then re-read) an email or memo with overly complicated or muddled information? No matter how carefully an internal comm is crafted or how painstakingly the words are chosen, some things just can’t be broken down into simple informative text. Incorporating visuals aids boosts learning up to 323% as visual communication methods make it possible to convey complex information in a way that’s clear and easy to understand.

Visual Communication Is Efficient. Visuals are an extremely efficient method for getting your message across. While it takes the average person about six seconds to read 20-25 words, they can get the sense of a visual scene in 1/10 of a second! When you consider that the average attention span is less than eight seconds (and keeps getting shorter), visual communication gives you the best chance of getting your point across in the brief time you have.

Visual Communication Is Attention-Grabbing. There is a lot of content out there competing for viewers’ attention. Ninety percent of the information sent to the brain is visual, and the volume of that information just keeps growing. YouTube, for example, has more than four million hours of new content uploaded each day. Any content you create – a sales pitch, company update, or social media teaser – needs to stand out amidst the distractions. Content containing visual media gets 94% more attention, so incorporating visual elements into your pieces is a great way to get them seen.

Visual Communication Is Memorable. Want your employees to remember everything from their onboarding sessions, or to apply principles from their latest leadership training? Integrate visual communication materials into your training curriculum. Research shows that people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read, and 80% of what they see. 

Visual Communication Is What Consumers Want. Web and social media content has gone increasingly visual in recent years. But that’s not due to arbitrary decision-making by internet genies. It’s what people want. Since only 20% of text is read by web visitors, content creators and web designers have needed to find new ways to get their messages across. Turns out, visual communication methods hit the mark!

Create Visual Communication Materials with a User-Friendly Tool

Creating visual media materials may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! Enhance your social media posts, presentations, internal comms, or training programs with a visual communication platform! 

A user-friendly tool like Powtoon makes video creation accessible to anyone. Create animated explainers, custom animations, screen recordings, infographics, or moving text videos with ease. Powtoon’s professionally-designed templates and royalty-free stock videos will take your content to another level, and the intuitive interface will have you creating videos in minutes. Get started now — sign up for free.

The post Why Visual Communication Is So Effective appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Building brand awareness is Marketing 101: Awareness leads to trust, trust leads to sales, and sales lead to loyalty. Social media and other web-based advertising content are great tools to build brand awareness, but some types of content are more effective than others. Here are three reasons why you should use whiteboard animation videos as part of your brand awareness strategy.

Whiteboard Animation Promotes Visual Consistency

Visual consistency is useful in marketing because the more frequently you get your brand-recognizable content in front of a viewer, the more you’ll increase brand recall. Publishing videos with similar color palettes, fonts, filters, and emotional responses help build a stronger relationship with the viewer — but producing visually consistent videos is easier said than done. Live-shot videos can look and feel drastically different depending on background, lighting, or camera angle. Text-only videos can have identical colors and fonts but may come across as dull and less engaging. Whiteboard animation videos are perfectly suited to visual consistency because they have a similar overall appearance and feel while still being customizable for a unique message. Plus, whiteboard animation videos capture viewer attention from start to finish better than any other type of video!

Whiteboard Animation Is Not Dependent on Sound

Before you produce any video, consider these statistics:

• 85% of Facebook users watch videos with the sound off.
• 40% of Instagram stories are played with the sound off.
• Twitter videos without sound are viewed 28% longer than those with sound.
• 69% of viewers turn sound off in public places, and 25% even watch without sound in private spaces.
• 82% of users exit a website or close a browser with an autoplay video that has sound.

Does this mean you should never use sound? Of course not. But make sure any videos you create get your brand’s message across even when viewed with the sound off. Whiteboard animation videos are ideal for this, combining engaging visuals with explanatory text that engage the viewer and get your message across whether they opt for sound or not.

Whiteboard Animation Allows You to Produce More Content 

The more engaging and high-quality content you produce, the higher the chance you’ll increase your viewership and get your brand in front of more people. Unfortunately, videos can be time-consuming and expensive to produce — especially if you want ones done well. When you create whiteboard animation videos using a visual communication platform, you can produce branded content quickly, easily, and for pennies on the dollar. There’s no need to set up video shoots or commission a video from an agency. You can have a whiteboard animation video ready to publish just minutes after creative inspiration strikes!

Whiteboard Animation Made Easy

Ready to start creating? Powtoon is the visual communication platform that does it all! Produce professional-quality whiteboard animation videos, custom characters, animated infographics, live-action videos, or kinetic typography optimized for multiple channels. With thousands of templates and access to royalty-free stock videos and images, you can quickly and easily create high-quality content that boosts your brand awareness. Sign up for a free account today!

The post How Whiteboard Animation Helps Increase Brand Awareness appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Every brand, no matter the size should be using custom characters that truly reflect your brand and audience. The math is simple. All great brands tell great stories. All great stories need great characters to take the lead, learn the lesson, and save the day. 

But if that’s the case, why would you tell brand stories with clipart off Google Images, generic animated characters, or white-washed stock-footage that doesn’t fit your brand? Making custom characters allows you to create visual representations of your brand and audience that’s completely unique to you! If you think they’re out of your reach, think again. Let’s dive in.

What Are Custom Characters?

Custom characters are animated characters whose features can be set to match… well, whatever you’d like them to! That means fine tuning skin tone, face shape, hair style, clothes, accessories, and more. 

By making the characters yourself, you can skip the hefty price tag of a creative agency, while making as many characters as you’d like, in the way you envision them to look.

If you’re an entrepreneur or marketer, you might use custom characters in an explainer video to have them play the role of a product guide or represent your target audience. You can also use them in virtual event presentations, pitch decks, or social media posts to add personality to an otherwise dry topic while showcasing your brand’s look.

If you’re looking to visually communicate within your company, let’s say for employee onboarding, a company update, or a meeting recap, creating custom characters is also a great way to show off company culture as well as the diversity of your dream team. 

Custom Characters that Reflect Your Brand

Your brand’s got a life and personality of its own, and it’s simple to discover it! If you’ve never done this exercise before, do it with me now. 

Close your eyes, and try to envision if your brand would be if it was a person. Consider:

You’ll want to customize your branded character to match that vision in your mind (more about that coming up below!).  

With your character that represents that personification of your brand, go ahead and think strategically (and creatively!) about where you might want to put your new brand mascot. Add them to a screen recording, an email GIF, or any video or presentation you can dream up in Powtoon’s visual communication platform.

Custom Characters that Reflect Your Audience

Now, this is where things get interesting. There’s a good chance the videos and visual content you create are for a specific audience. If you’re in sales, your prospects are your people. A corporate trainer or in instructional design? Your audience is likely employees you want to onboard or upskill. If you’re a marketer, your audience is your leads, followers, and fans.

No matter who your audience is, think about the persona you’re communicating with and who would visually represent them. People want to see characters that reflect themselves in the videos they watch. It makes your story that much more captivating and relatable. Plus, characters that resonate with your audience makes your viewers feel seen and understood. Why wouldn’t you want to give them that sense of belonging?

By creating custom characters, you can easily make individual or even groups of characters that showcase the diversity of your audience. That’s immensely valuable to your viewers to know that your message is for someone that looks, dresses, and acts just like they do. That sense of inclusivity, equity, and belonging is key to help your audience understand that you get them and that your solution is worth their time and attention.

Creating Custom Characters

So now that you’re as excited about building custom characters as I am, how does it work? 

It’s easy! With Powtoon’s Character Builder feature, you can now create a character that reflects your brand and audience with just a few clicks! 

A few steps toward creating your first character:

1. Sign up for Powtoon, it’s free! 

2. Once you’re in the Powtoon Studio, where all the visual creation magic happens, under the Characters tab click on “Create Your Character”. 

3. Start playing! You can choose to customize the gender, face shape, hair, eye, nose, mouth, clothes, even accessories! Lastly, upload your company logo and brand colors to make your character truly yours. 

4. That’s it! You’ve now made your very own character that can make over 30 facial expressions and body poses. Use your branded character time and time again to bring out your brand’s personality in your daily communications. 

Ready to get started? Sign up for Powtoon today!

To celebrate the launch of Character Builder, we’re giving you full access to the feature — as well as our more valuable plan — for 40% off through February 28th! Don’t miss out on the chance to make custom characters all year long!

Want to see Character Builder in action? Watch this on-demand webinar anytime you’d like,

The post How to Make Custom Characters to Reflect Your Brand & Audience appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

By now it’s common knowledge that videos and imagery are effective messaging tools. But still, these tools are far underutilized. Whether you work for a company with billion-dollar revenues or freelance from home on the side, a visual communication platform is an essential tool to have in your business toolkit. Here’s why. 

Capture Your Audience 

There’s no communication more powerful than visual communication. Humans are visual creatures, and research continually affirms that visual tools outperform other modalities in attention capture, engagement, and information retention. Simply put, rock-solid visuals are an essential part of an effective messaging strategy.  

But when we talk about messaging – think beyond traditional marketing and use the power of visual communication across all audiences. Use visuals to enhance the online classroom and keep remote students from tuning out. Re-engage attendees during the typical mid-afternoon slump of a professional development seminar. Send out company-wide executive updates without the need for a singular meeting time or (yet another) email that only gets a cursory glance before being relegated to the “deleted” folder. Having a visual communication platform at your fingertips allows you to quickly and easily convert potentially dry content into material that will get your message across to your viewer in a way that will make them tune in and engage. 

Create Consistent Messaging 

Consistency matters. To your clients, to your customers, to your employees. Visual familiarity makes a difference, and if you’re jumping between content creation platforms or just cobbling together content without common visuals, you’re missing out on an opportunity to positively influence your audience with your branding. Use a visual communication platform to create videos and images with common colors, a consistent feel, or familiar visuals to create consistent, cohesive visual tools that will take your comms to the next level for all your audiences – both internal and external. 

Communicate Across Channels 

Maybe you realize a portion of your onboarding video would work well in a social media recruiting ad. Or the stats you shared in the company presentation would make a compelling marketing infographic. A visual communication platform makes it easy to produce (and re-use) content for use across multiple channels. Simply choose the ideal format for your targeted channel, and your video is ready to share in minutes. There’s no need to waste time reinventing the wheel – just maximize the use of the high-quality content you’ve already created! 

The Visual Communication Platform for All Your Needs 

There are many visual communication tools on the market, but not all are created equal – so choose Powtoon for all your visual communication needs! Powtoon is used by businesses of all sizes, from standout startups to 96% of Fortune 500 companies, to create attention-grabbing visuals geared toward a variety of audiences. The professionally-designed templates combined with royalty-free stock images and videos set Powtoon’s platform apart and give your final product a polished look, while the customization options will make sure the video has your unique feel.  Make videos, infographics, animations, and whiteboard animations in minutes. Try Powtoon for free today!

The post Why You Should Be Using a Visual Communication Platform appeared first on Powtoon Blog.

Video is great, but it takes more than great content to get views. When you create video content for your site, there are some elements you should include to increase its appeal to your audience. Here are the top ten.

Ten Components to Include in Every Video

1. A hook. Your video is competing for viewers’ attention amongst a nearly infinite collection of other content. You have to find a way to stand out — and fast. You may have the best content in the world, but if you don’t convince your viewer to keep watching within the first 15 seconds, they’ll probably click away and never see it. Include a hook at the very beginning of your video to convince your viewers to stay tuned.

2. Optimized orientation. Video-making is not one-size-fits-all. Know your platform and viewership, and create a video that is appropriately optimized. You can even repurpose the same video in different orientations for different platforms but resist the urge to create one piece of content and share it on all your channels. If you’re uploading to your Instagram feed, make sure it’s square. If you’re uploading to YouTube, use a horizontal orientation. If the vast majority of your website viewers are on mobile, optimize your homepage video for them.

3. A professionally designed template. No matter how great the information you have to share, appearance matters. Designers know what aesthetics are eye-catching; choosing a professionally designed template will make sure you use color, font, and graphic combinations that draw your viewer in and enhance the content of your video.

4. Good-quality audio and video. If your viewer can’t see or hear you, you’ll lose them. While you don’t have to hire a production team, make sure your subject is well-lit and your audio clear. Simple tools like light rings and plug-and-play microphones are inexpensive and make a huge difference.

5. A clear message. Have a plan for your video. Keep it as brief and concise as you can. Any portions that are slow, irrelevant, or rambling increase your risk that you’ll lose your viewers’ interest. Create video content that stays on subject and moves along at a good pace.

6. Captions. Eighty-three percent of viewers watch videos with the sound off; that increases to a whopping 92% on mobile. Automatic captions are convenient but often clunky and incorrect. Spend time making sure you have captions included in your video – especially if your message is heavily dependent on audio.

7. Your website information. Always include your web address at the end of your video. This is especially true if your video will be housed on a platform other than your website. This way, if someone stumbles across your content on the web, they know where to find you if they want more information.

8. A call to action. Include a clear call to action in your video. This will vary based on the content and purpose, but video marketing is not the place for subtlety. Tell your viewer exactly what you want them to do, whether it’s to click through to your website, make a purchase, or follow you on Facebook.

9. Your logo. Even if you prevent embedding or take measures to protect your video, there are still sneaky ways for others to download your content. You never know where your video may pop up on the web, so always include your logo to prevent others from taking credit for your work.

10. A custom thumbnail. Most video platforms will use AI to choose a still image for your video thumbnail. This thumbnail will appear in teasers to entice potential viewers to click. Stand out from the competition by creating your own. Make it eye-catching, interesting, and tease the content with a composite photo, graphics, or text that make the topic clear.

Create Video with Powtoon

Create video with Powtoon or explore the latest AI video editors! Combine your rockstar content with our easy-to-use tools to make attention-grabbing videos with a professional flair. Sign up for a free account and start creating today!

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