Creating Engaging Product Videos

90% of sellers are terrible at group demos. 3+ buyers on a demo? Crickets. It's like talking to a wall. 5 steps to running GROUP demos that close deals: STEP 1: 'What we heard' Most often, you've only met 1-2 people on the demo. The other people on the call? They're 'new voices' in the deal. They're not up to speed yet. So that's your first agenda on group demos: Spend five min summarizing prior calls: - the business problem - its root causes - its negative impact Then, get their input: "Emily, talk to me about how this is showing up in your world?" STEP 2: Frame EVERY feature with pain Before you show ANY feature: Frame the pain it solves. "But Chris, didn't we already summarize the problem?" Yep. But you framed the 'macro' problem. Now you're getting into the details: "One of the issues John shared earlier was XYZ... "Here's exactly how we address that..." That PULLS people into the demo with you. It gets them to engage. STEP 3: Use everyone's names, and toggle often. Notice in the above examples: I said 'Emily.' I said 'John.' Do this throughout the demo: Use people's first name. Call back to something they said earlier. Cycle through everyone. Repeat. Do that well? Impossible for them to 'tune out.' STEP 4: Ask engaging questions After you share a key feature (and how it solves): Stop and ask a question. But stop asking these: - does that make sense? - what questions do you have? Ask these instead: - how does that compare to how you solve this now? - to what extent do you envision this solving [pain]? - feels like that resonated. What struck a chord? - feels like that didn't resonate. Where'd it miss? Combine this with the last few steps? You'll have a conversation on your hands. Not a lifeless presentation. STEP 5: Host a discussion at the end As you approach the end of your demo, back up and ask the group: "in a second, we can talk about next steps. "But I'm curious to hear from each of you: "What resonated most about what you saw today?" That question sets expectations that each person engage. Go around the room. Ask opinions. Toggle between people. Then go into next steps. That's it for now. Hope you liked this. Tag someone this could help in the comments.

Your demo is the reason you're losing deals And it has nothing to do with your product. After sitting through 200+ sales demos last year, I've identified the pattern that separates winning presentations from forgettable ones. It's not about features. It's not about benefits. It's about sequence. Most demos follow this deadly structure: 1️⃣ Company overview 2️⃣ Product walkthrough 3️⃣ Feature deep-dive 4️⃣ Pricing discussion 5️⃣ Next steps This is exactly backwards. Your prospect doesn't care about your company story. They care about their problem. They don't want to see every feature. They want to see outcomes. Here's the demo structure that actually converts: ↳ Start with their outcome  "Based on our conversation, you mentioned needing to reduce customer churn by 15% this year. Let me show you exactly how this would work for your situation." ↳ Show their scenario Use their data, their use case, their terminology. Make it feel like they're already using your solution. ↳ Focus on 2-3 key capabilities The ones that directly impact their stated priorities. Skip everything else. ↳ Handle objections proactively Address the concerns they mentioned in discovery before they have to ask. ↳ End with clear next steps Not "Do you have any questions?" but "Based on what you've seen, what would need to happen for you to move forward?" The best demos don't feel like demos. They feel like problem-solving sessions where your product happens to be the solution. Subscribe to our Innovative Seller channel where we post bi-weekly videos on sales strategies like this 👇

Most demos fail because of indigestion (too much info shared), NOT starvation (not enough info shared).  Here are 7 actionable ways to aid "buyer digestion": 1. A few days before the demo, email your buyer a teaser of what you're gonna cover. I like to send a 2 minute overview video of our product. 2. Show less than you think you need to. As long as they like what you did show, you'll always be able to earn more time to show the rest. 3. "Dead Air" is OK. There's nothing wrong with nobody speaking for a couple moments. Don't feel the pressure of having to "entertain" for the full 30 mins. 4. Use Zoom's annotation tools to draw on screen to highlight points of emphasis. 5. If you've talked for 2 mins straight, pause and take a few beats or a sip of water. Give 'em space to get a word in. 6. Occasionally pull down your screenshare to encourage conversation. 7. Pre-load each screen you plan to show. I pre-load a separate Chrome tab for each page I show in my demo. ___ What other techniques would you add to aid "buyer digestion"?

Stop Making Videos No One Watches We all know video is king, but let's be real—most of our content gets scrolled past faster than free food disappears at networking events. The stats don't lie: Videos with visual hooks get 27% higher completion rates and drive 41% more engagement than standard content. That's not just marginal gains—that's the difference between wasted effort and actual results. Try these 5 visual hooks that might look silly but are proven attention-grabbers: ✅The Falling Hook – Real estate agents using falling house keys or price tags saw 34% higher engagement (Coldwell Banker saw inquiries jump after implementing this in listing videos) ✅The Tapping Hook – Financial advisors using finger taps to reveal investment returns captured 29% longer watch time (Fidelity's retirement calculators use this brilliantly) ✅The Color Change Tap – Healthcare providers switching colors when highlighting critical services increased click-through rates by 38% (Mayo Clinic's symptom videos are masterclasses in this) ✅The Appearing Text – Tech companies revealing key stats with pop-up text improved information retention by 43% (Microsoft's product launches leverage this perfectly) ✅The Magic Hook – E-commerce brands using disappearing/reappearing product features saw 52% higher conversion rates (Nike's product reveals are legendary here) Is it sometimes goofy? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely. What visual hook will you try in your next post? #ContentStrategy #VideoMarketing #VisualHooks #LinkedInTips

Ready to make your prospects the star of the show? Let me put you on to a play I used to run as a rep that still hits hard in trainings today “The Heros Trailer” video play Picture this Your prospect is the hero facing their big challenge (cue the dramatic music) Your job? Help them see how your product is the missing piece they need to overcome it Heres how you can run it 1. Highlight their journey In your video don’t make it all about you—make it all about them. Show that you understand their current struggle - “Here’s the challenge you’re likely dealing with and heres how we help heroes like you solve it” 2. Tease the solution Like any good movie trailer you’ve got to keep it intriguing. Don’t spill all the beans. Give just enough so they’re curious to see how it all plays out. This isn’t the full demo. it’s a teaser. “Imagine if you had a tool that does [X] you’d be able to achieve [Y]” 3. Back it up with credibility Drop in “reviews” from other heroes (aka testimonials) “Sara and Mike were in the same boat but after using [our product] they saw XYZ results” now you’ve got their attention and you’ve built trust without sounding pushy 4. The big CTA End with a cliffhanger “Let’s schedule a time for you to see the full picture” make it feel like a VIP screening they can’t miss 5. Get creative with distribution It’s not just about the video—it’s how you deliver it. Send it via email, LinkedIn DM or even a voice note follow up. Your goal is to cut through the noise and give them something different—something that makes them feel like you really get their journey The reason this works? You’re not just pitching you’re positioning yourself as the guide that helps them shine It’s all about their success story When SDRs in recent trainings tested this play they started landing meetings they’d been chasing for weeks The feedback? “This feels more like a conversation than a sales pitch—it’s engaging” So next time you’re setting up your outreach ask yourself How can you help your prospect see themselves as the hero in their story—and position your product as the tool that helps them get there? Give this play a shot and let me know how it goes 🤘

Gong's 4 top-performing LI video ads are entirely narrated by their customers. The format is genius. The targeting is crisp. Here's how to copy it 👇 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵: • 𝘞𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘢𝘥 • 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘴 ~10-12 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦 + 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭 - 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝘀 The Number 1 rule of any customer story is to make it industry-relevant. For this campaign, Gong targeted 3 industries. Science (w/ Elsevier in this video) B2B software (w/ Square) Finance (w/ Nasdaq) I don't work at Gong, so I can't know for sure. But I'd guess these are among the top 3 customer verticals for Gong. Obviously, those are juicy logos. But these work with smaller logos too, as long as the audiences match the creative. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮 - 𝗖𝗼-𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 The punchiest thing about these ads is their focus. No background on their company. No talk about sales methodology. No introduction, even. It's purely focused on Benefit → (because of) → Feature And then they show you the feature themselves. Concise. Clear. Cool. Work with your customer to genuinely discover what their favorite feature is. When it's authentic, it's always better. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯 - 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗸 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 Testimonials are expensive if you do 1 per day. So if I were working at a Series A/B B2B SaaS company, I would book multiple rooms in an office space, and get ready for a super day. You can staple this onto a customer event OR host a "dinner" and make this a two-fold initiative. (Ads + your customers exchanging insights) These ads didn't need b-roll of employees. They just needed a VP of Sales at a desk. You can do that anywhere. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰 - 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮 This is one of the top reasons this ad is so compelling. It's a VP of Sales (on camera) talking directly to a VP of Sales (the viewer). So many testimonial ads look off-camera, which sucks. There's no connection with the viewer. Eye contact grabs your attention much faster & holds it. Obviously, use a teleprompter to help your customers with this :) 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱 - 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵*𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀 I watched the full videos for each customer. They were ~2-3 min long. In it, they talked about: → Leadership philosophy → Problem they faced → 2-3 features → Outcomes Then each one of those videos became 3-4 different (0:15) ads. That's how this campaign had a lot of legs. ------ If you aren't a VP of Sales, was this ad still interesting to you? Did I miss something that caught your eye? Let me know in the comments!

3 essential moves that helped us create a product launch video with 10 days to go🏃♀️ 1. Streamlined Pre-Production We put together a super simple animatic very early into the project. It was just enough to convey the flow of the script and communicate the direction with the client, and didn't need to be extravagant or perfect. On projects with short deadlines, speed and clarity of ideas take utmost priority! 2. Collaborative Product Screen Design For product-focused explainer videos, we typically redesign product screens to their abstracted versions, showing just the right amount of detail without overwhelming viewers. In this case, the Oliv AI team undertook the task of designing the simplified product screens, helping us cut down on design feedback and focus solely on animating the screens. This collaborative process made it much simpler for us to craft the product screens sections of the video with speed and accuracy. 3. Efficient Feedback Loops Working with large teams on tight deadlines can often lead to bottlenecks - as more stakeholders get involved, more nonessential feedback starts trickling in. With Oliv, the process was optimized as we worked closely with their marketing leader who was a key decision-maker and understood the product deeply. Working this way limited feedback to only the essential, high-impact changes - and helped us share the progress of the video frequently and iterate quickly. This is an example of a seamless collaboration between the client and studio - we took ownership of the launch video, enabling Oliv to completely focus on other critical launch preparation. PS - If you're preparing for a major product launch and need to communicate your product, let’s talk! #productlaunchvideo #explainer #techmarketing

Looking to mix things up in your videos? Try adding a few fun transitions! 🎥✨ When I first started experimenting with transitions, I realized how much they can level up your content. The best part is, you don’t need fancy equipment to make them look cool—just a bit of creativity! Here are some of my easy favorites to try: 👉 Cover Transition: Place your hand over the camera to “cover” the shot, then start the next clip by moving your hand away. It’s simple but gives a surprisingly polished effect! 👉 Swipe Transition: Try ending one clip by swiping your camera up or to the side, then start the next clip with a swipe in the same direction. This keeps your viewers moving right along with you and feels super seamless! 👉 Match Cuts: Perfect for when you’re moving locations or wanting to highlight a major change (like showing off multiple listings, or how a listing looks before staging and after). Just make sure your camera angle, distance, and framing is as similar as possible for both shots, then film yourself doing the same action twice and splice them together halfway through to create a seamless transition. Adding in these visual transitions can be an easy way to bring more energy to your videos, and they’re a great way to keep viewers interested. 💬 What’s a video transition you want to try, but can't figure out how to replicate? Some of these can be tricky, so let me know what questions I can help answer below! 👇 #VideoTips #ContentCreation #SocialMediaStrategy #VideoTransitions SocialCoach

One sure way to improve your demos: bucket each feature you show into these three categories. 1) Table stakes (functionality all competitors offer): Sounds like, “Everyone can do this - I just wanted to briefly cover because you’ll need it and didn’t want you thinking we were the odd one out.” 2) Comparative differentiators (many do this, but we do it best): Sounds like, “You’ve likely seen something similar from our competitors. Here’s why our approach is different and why that difference matters for you.” 3) Unique differentiators (only we do this): Sounds like, “No one else does this - here’s why we chose this approach and how it helps people like you.” Most reps spend 80% of their demo on table stakes functionality. This drowns out the differentiators, and your buyer thinks you are the same as the competition. Lowest cost will win. To drive more engaging demos, spend 80% of your demo on differentiators. To drive better-understood demos, help your buyer categorize what you show to make it easier to compare to the competition. If you want help defending your differentiators, take two minutes to read this: https://lnkd.in/gC-Q2gZH

These two words kill any demo. The words? “You can.” When your demo becomes a series of “you can” statements, it turns into a tutorial —a step-by-step on features rather than the strategic impact for your audience. And once that happens, engagement drops, and your product starts to feel like a tool instead of a solution. Instead, consider framing around what your clients love. “Our clients typically start with…” “What many of our partners find value in is…” “Most customers first go to…” This isn’t just semantics. It’s storytelling. …It’s connecting with your audience’s priorities and experiences. When you talk about what others do, you create interest and momentum, building trust through a narrative. So the next time you’re tempted to say, “You can,” …pause and try leading with a client-centric approach. In every demo, remember: People want solutions, not tutorials. Stay curious and close deals.