A friend of mine told me recently that he watched a video about a cool car tuning gadget that he wanted to buy. The video did not have any clear information on how to buy the product and he ended up never making a purchase. The key element that was missing in this video was a call-to-action. As a result, the company lost a client who was ready to spend $1,000.

A good call-to-action helps to avoid such situations and prompts the desired behavior from your viewers.

Here are 5 tips to make your video call-to-action effective:

1. Make your call-to-action dead obvious and easy to remember

Many of your prospects could just be passive viewers. You might be surprised but sometimes things have to be blatantly obvious to be noticed. Always add a simple call-to-action at the end of each video. Good examples are: "Learn More at www.[yourcompany].com", "Sign up for a free trial at www.[yourcompany].com/trial" or "Get a free sample by calling 1-800-555-5555." You can also put the direct link to the sign-up form in the description of the video. When you are creating a link make sure that it is easy to remember (i.e., www.[yourcompany].com/offer)

2. Your video should be short

At Pixability, we recommend that your marketing videos don't exceed 2 or 3 minutes. People absorb information much better if you feed it to them in small doses. Also, if your video is too long and the call-to-action is at the end, some people may never reach this point. Moreover, some people will never watch marketing videos longer than a few seconds. One way to address this challenge is to have your company’s website address displayed throughout the video. This way your prospects will know how to reach you.

3. Be consistent with the behavior you want to target

When you are creating a call-to-action, decide what you want your prospects to do. Don’t have a call-to-action that says “Learn more” and then direct people to a shopping cart. People will get frustrated. You have to meet your audience’s expectations.

4. Be focused and create a sense of urgency

Being specific helps to interact more effectively with your prospects. Use “Learn More” as a call-to-action if you want to educate people, use “Get Product Info” if you want to tell them about your offerings in detail.  When you include dates in your call-to-action, it prompts people to commit and act immediately. For example, “Receive 10 % off if you act by July 1st” and “Sign up by Dec. 1 to receive a free gift”.

5. Your video should have a clear purpose

Your video needs to answer the questions that your audience is thinking about when they start watching it. For example, if the title of your video is "How to Clean Your Car in Just 5 Minutes", don't talk about your company's cleaning product for the first minute and a half before you get to the tips. The best way not confuse viewers is to communicate your content as clearly as possible through the video title and keywords you are using to “tag” it.

As you see, creating effective calls-to-action isn't hard. What has been your experience? Share your best practices with us.

Note: This article was origially was written as a guest blog post for Hubspot's Inbound Marketing Blog

Forrester Research has shown that you're 53 times more likely to get on the first page of Google's search results if you have video on your page. But it seems so daunting, right? It shouldn't be.Gone are the days when you have to spend $10,000+ on a video by acquiring a crew, hiring a director, booking a studio, etc. Creating online video doesn't have to be hard, nor does it have to look amateurish. If you follow these few basic steps, you can -- quickly and easily -- create a video yourself that shines:

1. Think The most important step in creating a marketing video is understanding your audience and your objectives. What content do your customers and prospects respond to? What is your goal for this video? For example, if you are looking to sell pre-fabricated chicken coops and know your audience is interested in chicken care, you could create video with educational content around how chickens need proper coops to thrive. Always think of your call-to-action: What do you want viewers of the video to do after viewing? Download your whitepaper on the advantages of prefab chicken coops? Go to your website and order?
Take 10 minutes and write down a bulleted list of the shots you want to take. Don't get bogged down with this. It is better to go with your intuition than to over-think a video. You will need less content than you think because a good marketing video should be less than 3 minutes long.
Now you need to get an easy-to-use camera. Hands down, I'd recommend a Flip video camera, with the Kodak Zi8 a distant second choice.

2. Turn On All the Lights Good light is essential for a professional-looking video. If you are shooting inside, turn on all available artificial light. Shooting outside is always a good idea. So if you're shooting chicken coops, don't use the brand new ones and shoot them in your warehouse. Instead, go to an enthusiastic customer's site and shoot their chicken coop in action. One caveat: never shoot someone with their back to a window, because it will black out their face. The same goes for shooting with the sun on someone's back. Turn the situation around. The shooter (you!) should always have the light on your back.

3. Hold Still Don't go crazy with the camera -- always hold your shots still. Don't chase behind the chickens with your camera in hand. Don't try to pan the landscape. Whenever you turn the camera on, count to 10 in your head and don't move the camera during those 10 seconds. Then turn off the camera, move on to your next shot and repeat. If you follow this simple rule, you'll improve your video by 100%.

4. Come from Afar, Then Get Close Okay, so you're at your best customer's farm. Before you get into all the details of the chicken coop, stop your car at the farm entrance and get a shot of the location (the farm's sign, the farm house or the mailbox with the name on it). Pros call this an ‘establishing shot' because it helps the viewers understand where they are. Also, get a few shots of the chicken coops from a distance. Then get closer.Very important: Don't zoom, just turn the camera off, walk closer, then continue shooting. Get even closer and show off the fine workmanship of your prefab units.

5. Speak Loudly While you're at it, you'll want to get an interview with your enthusiastic chicken coop customer. Customer testimonials are an essential element of marketing videos. People will believe other users of your product much more than they will believe a paid actor.
How to set it up: Find a quiet spot (no machinery or fans humming in the background, no crowds chattering) Get your customer on camera from the chest upward and tell them to speak loudly. Just ask your customer a few simple questions: What do you like best about our prefab chicken coops? How hard were they to assemble? Avoid yes or no questions.

6. Edit The shoot is over and all you need to do now is polish. This part can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. Use easy editing software like Apple's iMovie or get help from someone who knows how to edit.
Important steps: include your logo, keep the video under 3 minutes and don't forget your call to action. Add royalty-free music to set the mood and tie everything together. Use simple, fade-through transitions.
Once you're done, use inbound marketing best practices to market the video. Upload it to your website and to YouTube. Add it to your email signature and link to it from your newsletters. Direct viewers to a landing page afterward to convert them into leads.