Video with no call to action is a dog with no bark.

Without a call to action your video is like a dog without bark! It communicates to the viewer what they should be doing next, just as a dog’s bark to the owner communicates he’s hungry or having fun or is annoyed!

The call to action tells the viewer whether they should be going to a URL to see more about what they’ve been watching, picking up the phone to dial a number, writing an email or whether they need to opt in and subscribe for something; these are just a few examples. It can be anything that moves the sales process along; the worst thing you can do is leave the viewer hanging.

Here’s a few video editing tips to make your outro and call to action as high-impact as possible.

Add Text To The Final Frame

Hopefully you’re using a video editing tool like iMovie that allows you to add a text frame without too much hassle. You can fade the video out, for example, to a black screen and use white text in a simple font to communicate the next step to the viewer; keep it short and succinct and it’s usually best to keep it to one thing rather than give a choice. Depending on the suggested action step, you may want to add a URL too.

If you have some simple branding (like “SEO” written in 3 different colours, for instance!) you should be able to add this in your editing too.

Make Sure It’s BIG Enough!

Be kind to your viewer and make your text is as big as possible so that it stands out and they don’t need to strain their eyes to see what’s next. This rule applies to any text in videos, in fact. Make sure it’s not lost in the middle with a lot of black space around it – fill out the screen with your text and URL.

Make Sure It’s Loooong Enough!

When a video is played on YouTube, as soon as it finishes, the playlist throws up many other options of videos to watch. Therefore you will want to keep your message in their minds and get them to act before all these other options take over. It’s a good idea to keep your call to action on the screen for anything from 8 to 15 seconds so that it gives them time to read and act.

Also in your video editing software make sure you don’t fade the screen out to black, which may be the default option; YouTube will display the last screen when your video finishes so you want to make sure your call to action is still there, not a black screen.

The above video editing tips show you how to end your video. How about the start and the middle sections of your video?  You can find out in the Lights, Camera, Profits! workshop by clicking here.