How to Create a Powerful Introduction Video that Will Drive Students to Your Course?

The year 2021 isn’t showing signs of pandemic recovery, so people keep on going online to get their things done including taking classes and training sessions. If you’ve been thinking about creating a course and sharing your knowledge with learners, now is a perfect time!  

In fact, learning videos are selling like hotcakes on eLearning platforms. And it seems like people are really enjoying all kinds of video lectures, interviews, masterclasses, lifehack videos, to name just a few. According to the latest statistics, the popularity of learning videos just keeps going up:

• According to the Edudemic’s reports: over 70% of online instructors responded that video format is the best for teaching online.
• The number of teachers who create video lessons for boosting their teaching career also keeps growing.
• Video-based courses are the most welcomed and appreciated by such popular or fast-growing eLearning marketplaces like Skillshare, Coursera, Udemy, Craftsy, Grinfer, etc.

But since we all live in an era of rapid information exchange, it seems like not so many people like long promotional stories anymore. Considering this, most online course builders adopted compact intro videos to maximize self-promotion and course marketing. 

So, what does it take to make an engaging intro video for the online course? In this blog post, we’ll cover the reasons why creating an engaging intro video is extremely important and go over some hints that should help you produce a powerful course intro video.

Why focusing on the video format is so important 

The extreme popularity of all kinds of video content in our digital era is just out of the question. Social media (which already has billions of users) keeps showing the significant growth of video-oriented platforms like YouTube and TikTok. This says a lot about the current marketing trends. In fact, over the year 2021, YouTube became even more popular and profitable in terms of marketing with over 85% of marketers actively and successfully using it for promotions. Does it mean that online users got completely hooked up on videos? Yes, they are.

Since many people are pressed for time in today’s busy life, most of the time this makes it challenging for them to read through blocks of text. In fact, statistics show that 73% of users said they usually have less time to dedicate to reading and research. However, 51% of them wouldn’t mind watching videos for at least 5 to 20 minutes. And according to a recent study, 53% of people would want to see even more video content in the future. So, if you’ve created engaging video content for the course, you can maximize the reach to your audience. People will be more likely to watch your lessons, follow you, and purchase more content from you.

What is an online course intro video? Why do you need to make one for your course?

Basically, the course intro video does most of the marketing job for you and your course. In the nice intro video, you get a chance to tell potential clients about your educational background, years of experience, specialties, teaching methods, and give a bit of information about who you are and what your course is about. The trickiest part of this is to keep it simple and brief.  

Here is a list of essentials that make any course intro video nice and engaging:

• Even if you’d prefer not to smile in the intro video, have a positive attitude and be confident!  
• Radiate positive energy to make your prospective learners feel welcomed. Have a greater appeal to your prospective students in your intro video as it boosts chances of better sales for the course.
• Have your script written beforehand! Have enough practice in advance and try not to read from the paper while recording yourself. Speak naturally!
• Make sure that your pronunciation is clear and easy on the ear. Don’t rush your speech and avoid too many wordy phrases just to make it easier for anybody who will be viewing your intro video. Since online courses are available to learners on a global scale, thus, a significant part of your learning audience is going to be either from other countries or students who are not yet fluent in English. So, don’t rush your speech, don’t use too many unconventional words (stick to a simpler language), and pronounce words clearly. 
• Don’t forget about your body language while you record an intro video. Remember that being relaxed and natural, showing friendly facial expressions while you speak can really make a difference. This attitude creates a much more welcoming intro video to students rather than just showing a simple speech. 
• As for your attire, there is no need to look corporate but wear clothes that you would have picked for an actual teaching session. If your course(s) is/are targeting a younger audience, then a good idea would be to stick to bright, kid-friendly colors steering away from dark hues and colors. Also, make sure that your clothes won’t match your background view. 
• Pay attention to the surroundings. Check to make sure that you will be recording in a room which looks clean and tidy. 

Of course, you can always do a follow-up with a quick demo lesson video or Q&A in your area of expertise. This should boost engagement even more. Then you can use these resources for marketing and featuring your course on social media or your YouTube channel!

Some technical tips to produce a good quality course intro video

Once you’ve all up to start making a course intro video, the next step would be to come looking for tools, services, or tutorials to help you with setting everything up and recording. But firstly, let’s go over 2 main points that talk about what makes a video intro good or bad:

Length. The ideal length of a course intro should be about 5 minutes or so (but not more than that).  Obviously, your goal is not to make a TV show with a 2-minute intro but to make a statement about you and your brand. Why? Your branding is best for new users. Existing users (the ones who already watched your video lessons) most likely don’t want to see a lengthy intro over and over. If you keep the intro short, it will work much better for them and keep them from skipping it. 

Quality. The overall quality of the intro needs to be high. If you have some low-resolution logo that smashes onto a screen with a poorly balanced audio sound effect, odds are it will leave users with a very poor first impression. Remember, between all of your videos, users will remember one thing that stands in common between them. That one thing is your intro. So, make it good! 

Read through some technical hints that should help you create a good-quality intro video for your course:

• You don’t have to create a fancy intro video for your course. But try to record on either a professional or semi-professional digital camera (like Nikon or Canon) or you can use a camera on your smartphone if it does produce a decent quality picture. We don’t suggest using the built-in webcam on your PC since it tends to have lower-quality video output. 
• Make sure that you record in HD quality (720p minimum) with clear lighting and framing. Provide a clear and distinctly visible picture for your intro video as well for all your lessons. In case you decide to upload your course(s) on the Grinfer platform, check out our Video Quality Checklist for more info on video quality requirements.  
• While you are in the process of filming,  you can either use good natural daylight or setting up lamp lighting would also be fine as long as this light shows your face clearly. 
• Record in the horizontal format because most video players are built for landscape image format. 
• Put your camera on a stable surface and adjust it to an eye level. Before you start recording, double-check to make sure that your body will be shown from the waist up. Look directly to the camera to establish eye contact with your potential students. This is important because eye contact creates a stronger connection with viewers.
• We don’t suggest wearing headphones in your intro video. But sure it would be fine to use headphones later in your educational videos or when you’re actually teaching classes or consulting students online. 
• Clear away any noises or distractions around you. Try to film in someplace that is quiet and free from disturbing background noise such as people, traffic, and phone notifications sounds. 

Also, here is the list of some cool software that you can use for free for your video editing and post-production. We hope that you’ll find it helpful! 

• Wondershare Filmora9 
• Adobe Spark 
• Renderforest 
• Panzoid 
• Wideo 
• LightMV 
• MotionDen 
• Flixpress 
• Biteable 
• Tube Arsenal 
• Placeit 
• Ivipid 
• IntroCave 

What do you need to say in the course intro video?

Even though you will be under a certain amount of time pressure, since your intro video is going to be not more than 3 to 5 minutes, you still can go over and cover enough topics about you (as a teacher) and your course. The trick is to be brief and to the point. Don’t think that there are any strict rules for structuring or tailoring an introduction video.  So, if you want to be creative – just go for it! Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. But keep in mind that you need to focus on the information you want to deliver to your future students.   

Okay, here is just a brief outline of topics that will make any course intro video informative. But feel free to include whatever topics you’d want to cover in your video presentation. Just make sure that you’ll stay within your time frame!

Tell them the basic info about yourself

This part of the intro video can include things like your full name, educational background, any certificates, awards, recognitions, etc. So, think about some of the most important details that you’d want to mention in your video presentation.  

Go over your work/teaching achievements

Already have teaching experience? Awesome! Tell students about how you started as well as where and which levels you’ve taught so far. On the other hand, you can share experiences that you gained in your previous jobs (especially, if you’re still new to teaching). What’s the reason for doing it? Some people look for courses that were created by experts who are most knowledgeable or experienced in a particular subject or niche. 

Reference to your specializations 

Do you specialize in certain areas like business coaching, SEO marketing, or dog training? No secret, lots of folks search particularly for those courses that are able to fulfill their specific needs. So, give your course intro an edge by emphasizing your specializations. Tell students that your course provides real solutions to their problems that are proven effective.

Provide motivational reasons why students should choose your course 

Last but not least, motivate your prospective students by giving them reasons why they should go for your course. Provide your learners with good reasoning on how all the skills that you teach will contribute to learners’ well-being and career goals. Make it easier for learners to decide whether your course is their cup of tea and whether it fits their needs/requirements or not. 

Bottom-line

Before we wrap up, go over the reasons why course intro videos are gaining increasing popularity and becoming increasingly important for successful course sales: 

• Visual contents are more convincing and compelling to users today because it better illustrates a product/service. 
• A nice intro video can boost sales volume for your course in the long run. 
• Intro video can help build a stronger mutual trust between you and learners. 
• Users are more likely to share short promo videos on their social networks or with friends. 
• Nice intro video of cool content will look appealing to mobile users. 
• Search engines (like Google) tend to accept promos in the video format. 

Last but not least, our experience shows that a high-quality course intro video does sell a course much better and it does convert more users into dedicated students!

Use your network channels to promote your course with an intro video. Also, get your prospective students excited with a killer landing page! Remember, Grinfer is here for you and we have all the tools to get you started. Use our Referral Program to drive even more students to the Grinfer platform and to your course! Contact our support service at support@grinfer.com in case you need any help or should you have any questions.