How long should a marketing video be?

It’s probably the question I’m asked more than anything else when working with a school on a video project. How long should it be?

It’s no surprise we’re reducing ourselves in society to being able to watch only short-form content. Sure, there’s a market for long-form when it’s something you’re passionately interested in (such as home-cooking, or a tech podcast for geeks and enthusiasts) but for marketing content where you’re trying to stop someone doing what they’re doing to watch your latests release, it’s a little different.

Ten years ago the standard answer most people gave was ‘between 2 - 3 minutes’ and that was a) the norm, and b) totally acceptable.

Today though, thanks to TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts we’re faced with a culture of 1-min max viewing time.

This also means something else though. Sure, people won’t watch more than a minute but that also means they won’t even start to watch something that’s longer only to stop it after 60 seconds. Instead, they just don’t even click the Play button.

Because why would you click to play something that’s 8 minutes long (say) when the first 60 seconds is just going to be introductions and setting-the-scene.

So they don’t even click to play.

This is what led to the birth of ‘8 mini videos’ at Bonjour. It wasn’t because that’s what we like to do but insetad what the audience likes to watch.

And if it works for audiences then it works for our customers, schools, as well.

Short videos also have another benefit. They’re quicker (and less expensive) to shoot and produce. This means you can have them all over your website and cover multiple marketing objectives with one supplier.

• A video from the Head. Sure.
• Then a video on the Admissions process, letting new parents know what happens.
• A video on the amazing sport provision in schools
• A staff recruitment video to attract the best possible candidates
• Parent testimonials too

These are just some of the ideas. For more information just get in touch 🙂