Picture this.
You’re walking in the woods, and you turn around to find your nose to nose with a hungry grizzly bear. “The experts” will tell you that you’ve got 3 options – each as viable as the next.
- Run. Fast. You probably won’t outrun the bear, but it might not think you’re worth the energy.
- Play dead. You won’t really fool the bear no matter how convincing your ‘act’, but at least you won’t spend your final few seconds of life in an exhausting sprint.
- Make yourself look big. You can’t really grow 10 feet, but you can wave your arms like a raving lunatic and the bear might just believe you’re more dangerous than you really are.
Of the 3, I think I like the third option. Probably because I’ve seen this tactic work in business. The ‘make yourself look bigger’ marketing tactic has been used for years, made even easier to pull off online.
This is not a bad tactic by any means – you’re not lying, you’re just using your website to portray the best qualities of your business. An explainer or animated video can help you grow 10 feet instantly in the eyes of your online customer. A professional animated video can make an incredibly LARGE first impression. It can make you look bigger than your competitive peer group, no matter how many more chairs THEY have in their office, or how many MORE years they’ve been in the market.
Yes, it’s a tactic. But it’s highly effective. People use their eyes before any other sense to size up what’s in front of them. A video is modern, professional, creative, compelling and interactive. People are far more likely to stay a little longer (2 minutes, on average) on a website that uses video, and 64% more likely to purchase.
Just like waving your arms above your head to make you look scarier to a bear, a video on your homepage will tell a bigger, better story about your brand. Remember, you only get one chance at a first impression!
