5 Mistakes Designers May be Making with Video
June 22, 2023
Jacqueline Green
CEO & Chief Strategiest at Behind the Design
Are you looking for a new and creative way to upgrade your marketing as a small interior design firm?
Social media is one of the best ways to connect with your audience regularly, but there may be more you can do to get your brand in front of prospective clients.
Video marketing for business is a powerful way to present information your clients will value.
Unfortunately, there are many ways that you can go wrong with video as an interior designer.
Suppose you already have a YouTube channel or have been making Instagram videos with few results. In that case, you may wonder if this advertising method is effective for your business. Unfortunately, you might not see the desired results in many cases because of some common mistakes.
If you’re struggling to gain traction with your video marketing strategy, ensure you avoid these missteps.
1. Using Complicated Language and Overloading
It can be tempting to use your video to explain to your viewers how and why certain design elements work with one another. While this has its place in making your marketing material, too much industry jargon can be challenging for viewers.
Instead of using the technical terms for why things do or do not work together, break down your material into the simplest possible terms.
When making videos for your prospective clients, it’s crucial to understand who your audience is. Most importantly, the target audience won’t be other interior designers. Instead, it would be best to plan your video marketing strategy around your goal of getting more clients.
Break down the technical talk, slow down, and put things into terms your audience can easily understand. This allows your audience to feel like you hear and understand them. Of course, you should still be yourself in these videos, but try to break down the information into its simplest possible units so that everyone who watches can digest the content.
Similarly, it’s important to remember not to overload your videos with information. While you want your videos to be comprehensive and helpful, you don’t necessarily need to include every tip or trick in the book.
Think about what the most important points are and relay just those ideas. You can always make a series of videos if you feel that a particular topic is essential for your audience to know more about.
Keep in mind that it can be hard to hold your audience’s attention if the jargon is too technical and too much information in one short video. So find a way to be engaging but concise.
2. No Call to Action
One of the most common mistakes designers make is not having a call to action at the end of their video. It doesn’t matter what type of video you film; even if you’re just getting started with a few basic ideas, each video should end with a clear call to action or a CTA.
Your CTA can be as simple as asking them to sign up for a free newsletter, download an ebook, or call into your studio to book a consultation.
It might seem common sense to encourage potential clients to take further action. Still, you would be surprised how many people miss this essential step.
A video without a call to action does your business no good. Even if your clients loved the material you filmed, they might not know what to do next. You need to outline the steps they should follow if they want to connect with you further.
Always include a call to action that encourages additional engagement with your brand.
It also helps to remember that you need to incorporate branding information into your call to action. Whether that means showing your logo at the beginning or end of the video or linking to your contact information, you want to make it as easy as possible for your clients to connect with you.
Ensure all your information is current so you don’t post a video with incorrect website information or an old phone number.
3. Wrong Focus
Suppose you are making videos to promote your interior design business. In that case, you might think all your content must be about you and your services.
While sharing your services with the world is one of the benefits of video marketing, it shouldn’t always be your primary goal when you film a video for Instagram or YouTube. Try not to over-focus on yourself or your services while you’re filming.
- What should you focus on instead? Ask yourself some of these questions about your target audience:
- What do they struggle with the most?
- What are their pain points?
- How can you help solve the problem they’re facing?
- What are their most common questions?
The focus should be entirely on your audience and what they’re experiencing that might lead them to consult with an interior designer. Think about the common questions that you encounter from your clients regularly. This might shape the direction your videos need to take if you find yourself answering the same few questions repeatedly.
You don’t necessarily want to pinpoint the problem in your video. Still, you do want to make your audience feel heard and understood. Therefore, casually address the most common issues your audience deals with.
A simple question-and-answer format can be a great way to ease them into the right frame of mind regarding handling client concerns, problems, and pain points.
This can be a great segway to your call to action. First, make your audience feel you have heard and understood them. Then, you can ask them to take action to resolve their pain points by reaching out to you.
This is how video marketing for business should ultimately work.
4. No Direction or Strategy
Whether you want to use YouTube to increase exposure or want to post more frequently on social media sites like Instagram, video marketing has plenty of advantages.
It makes no difference what platform you use. The basics still apply to every type of video marketing. And whatever platform you choose, you need to have a clear direction and video marketing strategy if you want to succeed.
Consistency and persistence are key when it comes to making videos. Unfortunately, you aren’t likely to see tangible video marketing benefits immediately. Therefore, patience is required to see progress with your videos and boost your business. The best thing you can do is continue to show up daily and post more content.
To this end, you should set a consistent publishing schedule. Maybe you want to film a new video every Monday. If you’re ambitious, you can publish short videos multiple times a week so your audience always has something new to look forward to. Let them know when they can expect to hear from you again.
It would help if you also had a clear plan of action. Start by deciding what you want your call to action to be for your videos. Are you trying to hook new followers with a free lead magnet? Maybe you are all about getting clients through the door for a consultation.
No matter what your goal may be, plan out your videos so that they make sense for your call to action.
Consider creating a series of videos on related topics. Make sure that your branding is consistent in each video. A firm plan of action will help you to obtain better results.
5. Underpromoting Videos
Many interior designers are hesitant to share their new work with the world. They are self-conscious about the way they look on camera or how their voice sounds and wonder whether the content they produce is valuable for their audience. As a result, they may end up doing themselves a disservice by underpromoting their videos.
This is a surefire way to ensure that your audience cannot find your created material.
Instead, you must use every possible avenue to market yourself and your videos. To reap maximum benefits, you must capitalize on every traffic source you can find.
It takes a lot of time and effort to be a successful brand on YouTube, Instagram, or any other social media platform, but that’s where your persistence comes in.
Don’t be afraid to post your new video across all your social media channels. You could even send it out in a weekly email newsletter. Mention it on your podcast. The potential options for how you can market and advertise your new video platform are practically endless. So trust your ability, and put yourself out there.
Remember that you want to avoid overselling in your videos. As long as you create engaging content that answers a question or fulfills your audience’s needs, you are doing a good job with your video marketing for business. The best videos are informative and also entertaining.
With these two ideas at the forefront when you create your videos, you should develop more confidence when promoting your videos on your other social media channels or your website.
Start Marketing Your Videos Today
With some helpful tips and tricks, you could be well on your way to building a solid marketing foundation with your videos. While avoiding these mistakes can help you grow your business, the most important thing to remember is to be yourself. Clients will want to connect with you because you’re a real, approachable person.
There’s no need to put on airs just because you’re filming a video. Pretend you’re having an in-person conversation with a friend or potential client. In reality, you are conversing one-sided with your clients and those considering your services.
Authenticity is crucial to your marketing, and you’ll be thankful you put in the extra effort to make your videos inviting.
Author Bio - Jacqueline Green
Jacqueline Green is the driving force behind Behind the Design, a company dedicated to helping interior designers, architects, and creative entrepreneurs thrive through education, training, and marketing services. As founder, CEO, and Chief Strategist, she combines education, coaching, and marketing to empower business owners to achieve their goals. Her leadership is transforming how creative professionals build successful businesses, creating a community of empowered entrepreneurs.