Get Coached - How Long Should Your Videos Be? (Episode 66)

Welcome to Get Coached the video marketing legend podcast where you submit your video marketing questions at ridgefilms.com.au/question, and I'll help coach you through them. By listening in each week you'll learn how each video marketing problem is solved, giving you the knowledge that will make your videos more valuable. And so you come across as a true business professional on the open market.

I'm your host, Chris Schwager. All right. All right. Today's Get Coached question was submitted at ridgefilms.com.au/question. And it's from Karen. And Karen works within the financial services industry. And she wants to know, how long should my videos be?

And this is a really important question that people should be asking all the time because nobody wants to spend time money, energy creating videos that nobody watches.

Okay. So Karen, this is what you need to do first, because I've heard this argument so many times. I've heard lots of video marketers respond to this in their own way. And here's my version of it. Karen, your video length is governed by the attention of your audience. It's not governed by what you think, or gut feel, what people say, even the data that comes out of Facebook and YouTube.

I think this is a maximum, they're probably averaging it out of people that uploaded 24 hours of video content. And there's probably very few people asking that how long can you hold somebody's attention before they start to phase out? Now, let me put it in to a something that is short and consumable. Because in the world of inbound video marketing, which is the world that we play in that Ridge Films plays in, we pretty much stick to less than 90 seconds is our sweet spot. 45 seconds to 90 seconds is the average video length of Ridge Films videos. And I put it back to you, Karen, how long will you continue watching before that heavy sigh? Before you started, look at your watch. start to think, oh, how long? How much longer Have I got on this video? How much longer is this going for?

I have those moments literally all the time. Now I watch probably more videos than the average person. I watched lots of videos that my clients send me telling me that they want to replicate that. So but I do get to that deep breath moment where I'm wondering how long it goes on for. And that is only because the video is not holding my interests. It's not pushing me along to really get to the point of the video.

So if you've got a video that you professionally produced within your business, you really should be making sure that you get your audience from A to B. Get them to the call to action, get them watching more videos, create that binge watcher that I think everybody really desires. So how do you get people to do that? Well, I believe it's all got to do with the script, the script, if it's not documented, we're reducing the robotic wording, reducing the noise, getting the clutter of communication out of that script and getting it down to the essential things that the audience needs to know. And I think that becomes a failed asset, because it's just waffling. And ultimately people aren't going to get in on it. If it's two minutes or three minutes. If the scripts not right. It's not going to get people there.

Now I use the Pat Murphy analogy, right. So Pat Murphy is a bookkeeper. You've probably heard me say this many times now. But she created a 30 second video ended up being 25 seconds because she just needed people to know who she is what she does, how she helps in a very short consumable video. Now that video had an average engagement of 95%. Because people really by the time they figure out that they've bought the video is finished. So that's actually a really good length. And I might also press this point, in the world of video marketing, nobody and I've never heard this or the video should have been longer, I would like to learn more. It's always a case of the video was too long, it was too boring, or went off track or went off the point. So it's always about trying to find that sweet spot.

Now, I'm not going to refute the fact that long form content has its purpose, it has its place. Alright, so yeah, if it needs to be now I record our videos all the time. I don't put them out to the public. I make sure that they're short, sharp, and to the point when they go out into the real world. But our record long videos and I record some short videos as well, right. But it really doesn't matter what the duration is. It just matters how long will they continue watching and if you do some basic tests, you will find that people will always gravitate towards shorter content because it's more topical, it sticks to the point and you've got less of a chance of derailing the inflammation and losing your audience.

If you ever approach a professional video marketer and get them to understand what problem your video needs to solve in the first place, then they'll be able to help you refine your message stick to the point, and then end up with a video that is governed by the information within the content itself. Right. If there's any, it's going off track, you want to get that out, you want to remove that, you want to just stick to what you need to get the audience journey them from A to B, get them to the call to action, get them watching more videos, get them to download, get them to click what ever your call to action is. That is fundamentally what you're trying to do within your video marketing is create those binge watches, get your audience from A to B.

So I think I've pressed my point enough. Look, the long term value of doing videos in this way, by really being very focused on your communication is that you're gonna get better leads, you're gonna get better conversions, you're gonna get better opportunities because people will feel trusted with you. Because you're delivering the information that is important to them, the more likely to watch therefore, they're more likely to buy more likely to inquire and that is the ultimate goal. It is not whether a video is needs to be a certain length, it just needs to hold the interest.

If you want more help with this, you can get 15 minutes of free learning with me at any time. We're launching the five minute video transformation. It's three five minute videos that will help you clarify your video message and make sure that you are producing short, sharp consumable videos that people will watch every single time and lead to that desired outcome that you are looking for.

Now, just before we wrap up for this week, if you want that 15 minute free learning, just let me know DM me, send me a message leave a review I'll be able to help you along with that.

But if you're needing to convince decision makers in the world of video marketing then just go to ridgefilms.com.au/boss and download our guide we're always helping the business community become better video marketers. So go to ridgefilms.com.au/boss and download our convince your boss document. We'd love to help you convince your boss and Karen thank you so much for asking your question.

We know that video marketing can seem overwhelming at times, knowing how long your video should be. But if you use this method that I've coached through, you'll be spending less time less money less energy creating videos that your audience will actually watch.

And I'm sure this is going to give you peace of mind and really help with what you're looking for in the first place. Which is something to help you know how long the video should be. And for everybody else out there trying to solve the mystery of video marketing your business what has you overwhelmed? On Get Coached we are here to help coach you through it. Just submit your video marketing question to ridgefilms.com.au/question for your chance to get coached by me. Just go to ridgefilms.com.au/question and thanks so much for listening.