Maybe the question should be, “Can I afford not to have one?” as in an increasingly competitive market it’s crucial to find new ways to make your language school stand out in the crowd of schools vying for prospective students’ attention. Video marketing is nothing new, but it’s certainly proving to be a powerful, effective part of marketing strategy.
If you wonder whether you need a promotional video at all, take a look at these statistics:
- It is estimated that over one billion hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day. That is about one-third of total internet users.
- YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine.
- 68% of YouTube users watched a video to help them make a purchase decision.
- Social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined.
- Having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on page 1 of the SERP.
If you need a little more convincing, check out these 5 key benefits of video marketing.
1. Video boosts conversion rates.
- Conveying the right emotions through video is a powerful selling tool! Watching a video allows viewers to obtain in a simple and fast way all they need to know about your school. Your potential students can see for themselves what lessons in the school are like, see the classrooms and teachers in action, get an idea of the atmosphere and maybe hear some student testimonials from people just like them. This will positively influence buying behaviour and is much more likely to persuade a visitor to convert into a client.
2. Video is a great addition to your email marketing campaigns.
- We all get inundated with emails but in most cases, you can’t deny that it’s easier to watch a video than sit and read through text, right? Placing video in an email can lead to a 200-300% increase in click-through rate – a amazing statistic! While viewers will comment and share your video 10 times more eagerly than a plain text email.
3. Search engines love video.
- Search engines are looking for content that engages viewers. Nothing attracts more numerous and longer page views quite like a video. Not only that, YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. If you put your video on YouTube as well as your website, your visibility and website’s position in Google will definitely improve. Moreover, if you promote your video via social media, your chances of getting found on the Internet go through the roof!
4. Video builds trust and credibility.
- Video is the perfect way to create a personality for your school, build brand awareness and build trust. You can create a much more personal behind-the-scenes look at your school (meet the owner/staff/teachers) – see part of a lesson being taught. Video can demonstrate the advantages of your school, enabling you to connect with your viewer and create positive perceptions of your school and earn their trust. 90% of users say that product videos are helpful in the decision process. Trust translates to sales.
5. Video encourages social shares.
- Let’s face it: this is the age of viral videos. And 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others. This is your chance to have some fun and really show what your school is all about.
So, what makes a good promotional video for a language school?
Before you start you might want to look over these steps so you have a good understanding of what you are doing and why.
For example: perhaps you’re a new school and you want a video that introduces your school to web visitors and show what a great place it is to take lessons and how you are different to existing schools in the area.
Step 1: PURPOSE: What is the purpose of the video?
If you have a number of goals, you may want to consider creating multiple videos. The more goals (or ideas) you try to cram into one video (especially a short one) the more likely you’ll complicate the script and confuse your audience.
Step 2: MESSAGE: What is the aim of the video?
Now that you have your goal is, it should be a little bit easier to determine what message to put into the video.
For example, let’s say you’re a new school that wants to create an introductory video for the homepage; the goal of the video is to introduce the school and get people to sign up for a free introductory lesson.
In this case, you would likely go with a video that’s more along the lines of “introductory” and show off the school and teachers and show students taking part in a lesson.
Step 3: TARGET AUDIENCE: Who is your target audience? (Age? Gender? Interests?)
Always bear in mind your target groups and match your message to them. A video aiming for the corporate market will be different to one aimed at parents of young learners.
Step 4: REACH: How can you reach your target audience?
Once you have created your video and placed it on your web site and YouTube and embedded it in emails, what more can you do to spread the word? Again, think of your target audience and where you find them online: Facebook, Snapchat, Linked In etc., This will be different for parents of children, teenagers and companies.
Step 5: CALL TO ACTION: Once your target audience has watched your video what do you want them to do?
Make it clear to the viewer what their next step is. Should they sign up for your newsletter, complete a form to enter a competition for free lessons. Make sure this is clear and straight forward.
Ok, got that. What do I do next?
Next you need to decide on the tone and content of your video.
By tone we mean the style in which your message is delivered – this will very much depend on the target group. For example, do you want to make your audience laugh? Do you want them to feel informed, or do you want to tell them a story?
- What will be the content of your video? What will be the tone of the video: fun, serious, learning environment?
- Who will speak in the video? (the owner, teachers, students or a combination). Will the owner tell the story behind the school and courses offered? Will students give references? Will teachers explain something about their background and how much they are looking forward to meeting the viewer?
- What will be shown in the video – Do we start outside and walk through the school – showing the front desk staff helping students, part of a lesson, the school’s facilities etc.,?
- Should scripts be used? a script is probably good for some parts but spontaneity is great and you can edit out later – just ask them to run through what they are going to say in their mind first.
- What language to use? If you are aiming for new language learners they may not speak English – sub titles?
Bear in mind, that the content should play well with whatever tone you decide to go with.
Anything else?
Making the video – You could of course get it done professionally but there are enough teachers and students who know how to use a smart phone. What about a sign on the notice board asking students for help? There are tons of free software out there to edit whatever you film.
Sound track – music in the background can add life to a video. You should ask (and pay) for using a piece of music but there are enough free music site that finding something suitable shouldn’t be difficult.
Permissions – If you have children in the video you may need to ask permission to film them.
Length – We are not aiming for Gone With The Wind, whatever you have to say you should be able to say in under 4 minutes.
Please find below examples of what we think are very good promotional videos of language schools. If you have some favourites just let us know.