Marketers who aren’t sure how to put video marketing to work for their “unsexy” brands might take a page out of Jeff Harmon’s book. At SES San Francisco, Harmon, CMO of Orabrush, shared the video content formula that he used to drive engagement (and sales!) for his company’s oral hygiene product.
Harmon told attendees that when he met the creator of Orabrush, the product seemed difficult to market – it’s a tongue tooth brush to fight bad breath. He decided to try the then fledgling video market. For about $500, he made a video that was humorous but, more importantly, focused on the value that the product offered consumers.
The first Orabrush video features a young man talking about how he hates when people have bad breath. He candidly explains how regular toothbrushes and mouthwashes don’t fix the problem. By taking a humorous but honest approach to the way the product benefits users, Harmon effectively kept the video relevant to the product and conversion-specific. This, he says, is key with any video content (or general content) campaign.
“Don’t go for something you think might go viral,” he told SES San Francisco attendees. “Go for something sustainable. Create a conversion video that will really sell your product.” The value of relevant, social content has been a hot topic at SES San Francisco, as Brafton reported othered experts offer similar advice.
To date, Harmon’s $500 video has generated more than 15 million views and he has launched a series of other top-performing videos with the same spokesperson talking to consumers about bad breath issues. When he first launched the video, he invested in a promoted video slot on YouTube, and now Orabrush boasts one of the leading YouTube channels. Plus, Orabrush will soon be distributed via Walmart – in large part because of its video content marketing campaign.
For marketers interested in launching video content campaigns of their own, Harmon suggests first posting a video on a landing page to boost site traffic and ecommerce. Once a campaign catches traction, it can be moved to YouTube, he suggests.
His formula for video marketing is based on uncovering the value products or services offer consumers. Whether a brand is in a “sexy” industry or not, it’s always appealing when the benefits of a product are made clear. He advises that marketers generate a narrative that:
- Creates a problem
- Shows why competitors can’t solve the problem
- Solves the problem (with branded products or services)
- Features strong calls-to-action
This insight might benefit an increasing number of marketers this year. As Brafton has reported, overall online content marketing budgets are poised to exceed $12 billion, and 57 percent of marketers plan to increase investment in video content marketing.
