The Attention Economy: Video Marketing Trends 2021

Your company will live or die based on the “Attention Economy”.  

Executives can doubt that at their own peril.  In the last 48 months, the world changed, and you can learn from the trends, algorithms, wins and losses of others to be a success in 2021.

We know that sales happen, politicians win or lose, screens are watched based on who grabbed your attention.  As a video marketing studio, we are uniquely positioned to help our clients, and we do this by creating content for large and small marketing departments based on the rules of great story.

Your Brand Videos Will Guide Your Customers from Awareness to Sale

Telling your brand’s marketing story must be at the very core of your marketing strategy. Remember, this story is NOT fully about you and how amazing you are, it IS about how great, unique, and fulfilling you are in your customer’s lives.

Stop loving your products and start loving your customers. Show them that working with only you will transform them from a place of frustration into a place of success. Only you are able to solve their unique problems. Your team is fully passionate about this customer set, and care about nothing else.

This cannot be done in a PowerPoint and cannot scale if it is done on live calls.

Your customers, B2B, B2C, and B2G are online at all hours of the day and the last thing they want to do is talk to a salesperson giving a long pitch. They can get information inside well-crafted videos in seconds, but they only remember great stories. They only care about how you can make them better, stronger, faster and/or more appealing.

Your videos need to have stories about transformation, not features.

Research shows that listening to a story increases comprehension and encourages what scientists refer to as “neural coupling”. These reactions to stories occur when an audience member relates heavily to a story that is being told.

Being unique is memorable.  Do not be afraid of standing out.  Embrace it.

In Hollywood, we say: “Show your inner Danny Devito.”

This successful actor stood out when he embraced his assets, exactly how he is, ‘flaws’ and all.  There was no need to talk about his height, hair, body shape, or physical features.

Your brand is the same. Features are forgotten, so don’t talk about them.

Use Videos to Show What Makes You Unique

In business, data strays while stories stay in your memory. Focus on the transformation your customers will have in their lives by working with you, or by using your amazing product.

Share the right video at the right time in the customer journey. It is hard to win a customer with competition everywhere around you. Make the buying journey easy for your customers.

Your brand story is important the entire way through the customer journey.

You need to have different emotions and unique points pinpointed to have your customers get to:

1. KNOW YOU
2. LIKE YOU
3. TRUST YOU
4. TRY and then BUY

It starts with the awareness videos you share, then the landing page you built and the video that lives there. Are you building trust? Are you compelling? Is there a clear Call-To-Action?

Your videos should be visible 1.6-2.5 times a day per customer showing empathy, and focus on solving a problem, addressing a need, or making their life better.  Showing more can cause brand fatigue and is effective only when customers are in-market and about to purchase.

Clearly, video campaigns that are built to do the above will get your story told in the 2021 attention economy.  Your videos should be defined by the best steps in the buying cycle.

Personalize content for your customer (not for you)

We all know that a person’s name in a conversation wins attention. Anyone that uses Netflix, or Amazon (everyone) are coming to expect and demand personalization. 2021 will leave those behind that do not embrace personalization and interactivity.

Personalize your videos for each and every client, minimally by market segment or pain point. For example, instead of just having one video to share, have your sales team create a video for each prospect.  This technology used to be tens of thousands of dollars, to millions, but is now available for startups and small businesses, for 1:1000th the cost.

There are easy to use websites for animation like The Video Bot and alternatively, Loom for those who are ‘camera ready’.

Stats show 200% – 400% engagement rate over linear, commercial video.

This trend will continue as consumers now expect personalized service options.  This is a hot trend to embrace.

Success comes from the story you tell not from the product you sell

Marketers need to tell the right story, at the best time, and be authentic to have a positive outcome.

Every successful story, viral video, and Super Bowl commercial follow a formula.  This is learnable, and can be fast-tracked.  All stories follow the EPIC story structure that Hollywood has used for a century, and plays have used for thousands of years.

There are classes that will make you more engaging and help you tell the right story at the right time.  Take classes in storytelling and how to engage customers…these are skills that are critical to success.

The 2020’s are an exciting time to be an executive that stays ahead of the curve.

Written by Maury Rogow.