This document provides tips and best practices for creating effective product videos from Jesse Buckley, Director of Media Production at The Grommet. Some key points include: - Video can increase conversion rates and average order value on product pages according to research. - An authentic voice, knowing the audience, and willingness to experiment are important for video content strategy. - Tell personal stories with relevant content, not just "b-roll". Video explains products better than pictures and descriptions alone. - Starting video production at any scale or budget is important, costs can be relatively low compared to TV ads.

1. Jesse Buckley
Director, Media Production
@jessebuckley

2. Early Days
Rob Walker, Inc. Magazine Aug 1

3. Enterprise implementation: part of the
founding team at The Grommet,
launching 1000’s of Maker Stories; video
is integral to our daily launches

4. • Every launch has a video produced in-house
• Many CPG verticals: kitchen, toys, problem solvers,
fashion…
• Founder content is the heart of the story, video can function
as a how-to as well as sharing the “Aha” moment

5. The foundation of a good video experience.
“The presence of video can increase the AOV by about
50%...About 88% of brands said their conversion rates
increased when video was placed on product pages”
-- MediaPost 1.28.2015

6. Tips
• What is effective today may not be tomorrow – it’s
competition for eyeballs and attention. Adopt a
“Permanent Beta” approach.
• Know you audience, have an authentic voice, be willing
to experiment (but also be reliable).
• The Grommet content strategy is unique in our
positioning of video at the conversion point for our
customers.
• It’s a community (customer)-building tool, an
information gathering touchpoint for Makers, and we
have the authority of a third party - which allows us the
flexibility to act as brand journalists and champions, and
to give personal testimonials as well as product
demonstrations.

7. Tell a personal story
with relevant content
NOT
“We got that broll”
Keeping it Real
“Your videos are GREAT. They explain the product SO
much better than just having a picture and a written
description!” -- survey response

8. Measuring Success – KPIs and ROI

9. There are many tips on creating an inspirational
story arc vs. aspirational content that makes
people feel inferior without your product.
“Where once our great stories called us to
adventure, higher values and citizenship, most of
our current myths play on fear, insecurity and an
endless need to passively consume.”
-Winning The Story Wars
What’s Your Motivation?

10. “in a world of zero marginal cost,
being trusted is the single most
urgent way to build a business.
[Trusted content is] relevant, it isn’t
greedy, and it doesn’t trick people. If
the recipient knew what the sender
knows, would she still be happy? If
the answer to that question is yes,
then it’s likely it’s going to
build trust.”
- Seth Godin
Increasing Social Currency

11. Be comfortable letting your content go into the wild

12. Creating an effective video
Millions of dollars are
spent on TV
advertisements (they can
cost more per second
than Hollywood movies).
This bias can make the
cost of entry prohibitively
high (both
psychologically and
technologically).
Yet the process is
relatively simple, and the
cost per video can be
pretty low.

13. The most important thing
is to start, at whatever
scale and budget you can
afford.
“Every Company is a Media
Company
EC = MC”
But don’t make media about
yourself.
-Tom Foremski
(founder of SNCR, awarded
Grommet in 2009)
Media as a Service

14. Our process is deeply collaborative, crossing
internal company verticals – (yes even my boss!)
To keep the production efficient (and keep costs
down) get the storytellers as close to the source of
the story as possible

15. The 5 P’s:
Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
3. Playback & Hosting: YT vs Others
- ID the cost of doing business (bandwidth)
- Assess the amount of control you’re comfortable with
- Consider advanced programming potential (HTML-5 shopping
APIs)
- SEO strategy (don’t forget the meta data) = long tail of content
marketing
4. A/B testing & Segmenting
- a/b testing requires significant sample size and increased
production work (x2 at least)
- Easier to segment content to appropriate audience
- Depends on the scale of your operation and its sophistication

16. • YOY Growth on YT is one of our
strongest social media
performers
• great for long tail brand building
(YT owned by Google, evergreen
search integrity)
BUT…
• low conversion rate from YT
Channel – the challenge is to keep
them on your site
YT Pros and Cons

17. Testing and Analytics

18. Video hosting analytics gives you a quick lens into
demographics and engagement – ideally these
should inform your content strategy.
Waka Waka
Launched 1/10/13

19. Engagement and Affinity

20. Working with Freelance Producers
“In addition to having a deeper
interest in your marketing
strategy, a great in-house
videographer spends time
educating people about the
video process and helping to
get everyone more involved.”
- Wistia.com/blog
However,sometimes specialists
can do a better job than the
staff.

21. Video communicates emotion more than
any other medium, people feel like they get to
know you, which translates to knowing the brand
– and they get clarity before their purchase, one of
the biggest stumbling blocks in ecommerce. With
clarity comes fewer returns and more loyalty --
which translates into a higher LTV & more
likelihood that customers will share your brand
story, decreasing CAC as well.

23. QUESTIONS?
Twitter@jessebuckley
Instagram@jesse0matic