By Josh Gold

When you want to raise awareness or funds for a single, specific issue, it’s considered best practice to direct interested prospects to at least one designated landing page, rather than to your website.

Want to learn more about landing page marketing in general? There’s already a lot written on the topic.

The one thing we couldn’t find anywhere was someone looking at how you can use video to take a landing page-driven marketing campaign to the next level.

When working with landing pages, there are two big challenges you’ll need to overcome to be successful:

1. Getting people onto your page
2. Getting them to make a commitment.

Let’s go through these one at a time and explore where, how and when video can make all the difference.

Getting people to your landing page

There are infinite ways to get someone to your landing pages, but some common strategies you may use are email blasts, social media ads, and Google pay-per-click ads. The idea for each one is pretty similar: The person viewing your ad isn’t looking to be sold to; pretty much by definition, you’re interrupting their day.

As you can imagine, taking someone away from their schedule and getting them to click through to learn more about your cause is going to require a very compelling initial pitch.

Think about it: how often do you come across ads? All the time! Now, how often do you click on them? Pretty infrequently. If you want your ad to be successful it needs to be on-point and immediately engaging.

The right copy and photos will take you far, but they don’t hold a candle to the potential of video. It’s a proven attention-getter.

Now, the goal here is to pique viewers’ curiosity, so don’t overload your video with technical details or information about your campaign. You don’t need to cover every aspect. Remember, you’re not trying to close the deal – just getting someone interested enough to click a link.

A good ad is short and easy to digest, whether it’s entertaining or dramatic. Viewers should be willing to watch it without having a prior investment in the issue. And it should offer a resounding YES to the question: Would this make me want to know more?

Sometimes the right headline is all you need to get that first contact. With a newborn at home, I found myself clicking to learn more about the “world’s best diaper bag” just the other day.

Getting landing page visitors to commit

When you create an exciting ad, you make an implicit promise: If the viewer follows up on this topic, they’ll find something worth their attention.

Everyone who ends up at a campaign landing page is responding to this idea. The minute they click through, a countdown clock starts ticking: Will you fulfill their expectations? Will you prove to be worth their time?

No one wants to be confronted with a block of text or a crowded, confusing interface. Think about it – how many times in your life have you taken a quick glance and then closed a tab without bothering to scroll down and learn more? On the other hand, if you place a video prominently on a page with a clean, clear layout, people today will usually at least give it a click. It’s practically a reflex.

Now all you need is a video that will satisfy the buildup of anticipation.

It’s time to deliver the details you held back with your first ad, giving visitors the information they need to feel comfortable committing to an action.

We highly recommend interview-based videos for this purpose, so you can tell your story while connecting viewers with the real people involved … This is a rich, layered expression of your message. In the same square of space that might contain a single image or a few lines of text, viewers encounter a minute or more of genuine passion and emotion, conveyed in every facial expression and gesture on screen.

If you can develop trust with viewers, you can convince them that not only is your issue worthy, but that they can rely on you to handle it. They’ll come to believe in your sincerity and your competence.

If you have a targeted campaign coming up, ask yourself what kind of ad will bring people to your landing page, and what will seal the deal when they get there.

Josh Gold, owner of Serio Films, has helped nonprofits raise millions of dollars through video-based marketing. You can follow Josh and his team over at seriofilms.com and facebook.com/seriofilms.