Ever feel like your job is way too interesting to be advertised one-dimensionally? Well, much like that hammerhead espresso you just downed, video ads offer you the prime opportunity to bring your work to life—all while telling the unique story of your company along the way.

Ever feel like your job is way too interesting to be advertised one-dimensionally? Well, much like that hammerhead espresso you just downed, video ads offer the prime opportunity to bring your work to life—all while telling the unique story of your company along the way.   

That said, according to AdAge, video has rightfully taken the lead and emerged as the medium of choice—not only for peer-to-peer content sharing and broadcast media, but also for marketers looking to convert interest to sales and grow their brand in the digital realm. 

With 2016 being a pivotal year in digital marketing, the vast rise of connected consumers has led to countless innovations in mobile, social and engagement marketing strategies to assist in more efficiently targeting your audience through video ads.  

Here are 5 key things to consider when creating a video ad for your business:

1. Make the First Few Seconds Count:
According to a study conducted by SJ Insights, consumers are exposed to about 5,000 marketing messages in just a single 24-hour span. This in mind, when you’re swimming against the current in an already ad-saturated abyss, the first few seconds of your video spots are critical to avoid consumer fatigue and the dreaded forthcoming “skip now” icon.

According to MarketingLand, hooking your audience by addressing a common problem, asking a relevant question, or by sharing what exactly makes your brand stand out will prove most effective within those vital first few seconds.

2. Length is Flexible, but Keep it Brief: 
According to a study conducted by Yahoo, 15-second native ad spots proved most effective when evaluated on the basis of consumer retention and positive brand association. Also, in recent months we’ve seen shorter 3-5 second ads materialize and perform favorably.

When you’re dealing with a human attention span of an incredulous 8 seconds, short-struck creative approaches to keep consumers engaged are key—so make sure to keep this all in mind when deciding which video length best fulfills your marketing objectives.

3. What Was That Again?
Understanding how, where and when consumers will be exposed to your ad is crucial when it comes to imagery and message formatting. For example, with Facebook bringing in an astonishing 8 billion video streams a day, one factor remains the same across the board: all videos auto play without any sound—leaving closed captioning an optimal option for marketers looking to integrate, rather than interrupt, consumer experiences.

See how easy it is to paint a telling word picture?

4. Representative CTA:
The goal of every ad is to gage just enough curiosity to push consumers to take some sort of desired action. Whether you’ve hitched on a URL, a “more info” button or a simple distinctive hashtag—every video ad should include a representative call-to-action that allows interested consumers to engage and continue alongside your brand’s journey.

5. Set the Tone:

Every tone fulfills a different objective when it comes to video advertising. For example, according to eMarketer, funny ads are more effective when it comes to getting consumers to familiarize with your brand, while informational ads are more effective when the objective of your spot is to increase purchase intent.
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That all said and done, to prevent messaging from falling on “deaf ears,” brands should look to engaging imagery and text representative of their ad objectives, tone and business presence to ensure understanding and maximize overall retention of their video ads.