Teasers and Trailers Are the Highest Converting Tools! Here’s Why

If you want a clear-cut example of the power of video in a Facebook marketing context, look no farther than the teasers and trailers that Hollywood pumps out for upcoming releases on a daily basis. Things have gotten to the point where tens of millions of people all flock to their computer and smartphone screens to view the same short ad. You can almost anticipate how much money a movie is going to make by how many people viewed the trailer on YouTube.

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Have you ever wondered why that’s the case?

Teasers and trailers are conversion machines – there’s no doubt about that. But understanding why this is the case has nothing to do with teams of marketing wizards, creativity in general or really the quality of the film itself. Those teasers and trailers are so effective for a number of very simple, straightforward reasons – all of which can help you improve your own video monetization efforts.

The Power of Teasers and Trailers: Breaking Things Down

To really understand why teasers and trailers convert audiences so effectively, you need to look at them for what they really are: commercials. Yes, they’re expensive commercials filled with flashy graphics, attractive actors, pulse-pounding music and other elements, but they’re really just advertisements all the same. That static ad for a new Hollywood blockbuster that you saw online and the trailer you saw at the theater last week are, at the end of the day, trying to accomplish the exact same goal.

So why does one work better than the other? For starters, it’s because human beings are visual learners – always have been, always will be. According to one recent study, the human brain processes images literally 60,000 times faster than text. Not only that, but 90% of all information transmitted to the brain, to begin with, is visual.

This means that we’re always going to A) process, and B) understand things better when they’re presented to us visually versus through other avenues. But once you get those two things out of the way, the analytical part of the brain is more or less satisfied. You understand what you’re looking at and the larger context surrounding it.

This gives something like a teaser or a trailer the perfect opportunity to cut through all that noise and go right for the thing that matters most: your emotions.

Teasers, in particular, are especially effective because they’re even more bite-sized than their longer counterparts. Teasers can be anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute in length, while full trailers are usually about two minutes or more.

To help illustrate this, consider the last time you watched a teaser that really got you excited for a movie. The movie that teaser is advertising doesn’t actually matter. It probably has a few core elements on display. First, there’s almost no indication of the story behind the film to speak of – you’re just getting hit with visually arresting, simple images that sort of give you a feeling for the tone and little else. Next comes the music, which is the through line that lets the teaser naturally move from one seemingly-disconnected image to the next.

Everything builds and crescendos into one final, arresting image… before you get hit with a logo and a release date. Usually, this is the only text that will be present and there’s a very important reason for that: it’s the only thing a marketing company actually needs you to remember.

More often than not, that’s all it really takes to get you into that seat at the cinema.

Oftentimes, you’ll go see the movie and you’ll have a decidedly different experience than the one the teaser promised. Maybe you didn’t even like it. You go back home, hop on YouTube and watch the teaser again – and despite the fact that you were underwhelmed by the movie, you still look at that teaser and go “hey, that looks pretty good.”

That’s because this is exactly what the teaser was supposed to do. It’s the only thing the teaser was supposed to do. The quality of the large film that teaser or trailer represents is irrelevant.

(Having said that, if you haven’t seen “Superman Returns” in awhile, you should really give it a second chance. It’s a lot better than people remember, for the record).

Not only are people 85% more likely to buy a product after viewing a product video (and that’s exactly what a trailer is), but you actually retain more information for longer periods of time if that information is paired with a relevant image. That’s why a teaser trailer (and normally a full trailer) keep text and other important bits of info to the bare, bare minimum. They don’t need you to remember the inner workings of the government system behind the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. They need you to remember that the new “Star Wars” comes out in December.

And rest assured, you will. Your brain almost won’t be able to help it.

These are the types of things you need to remember when you sit down with Uscreen or some other type of video CMS to work on your apps and other branded video content. You absolutely don’t need to overthink the way you’re making that connection with your target audience – the connection itself is powerful enough. Once it’s been established, it’s up to you to do something about it.

Sources:

http://misrc.umn.edu/workingpapers/fullpapers/1986/8611.pdf

https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/visual-content-marketing-16-eye-popping-statistics-you-need-to-know.html

http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/in-the-blink-of-an-eye-0116

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