Demand Curve - The Growth Newsletter #187

The Growth Newsletter #187

How to sustain interest throughout a video

There are organic people and paid people. The two camps rarely interact.

But ad marketers can learn a ton from TikTokers, YouTubers, and Tweeters.

And content marketers/creators can learn a ton from ads.

Let's dive into some A+ lessons from organic, viral short-form videos 📽️

– Neal

Brought to you by dofollow.com—the B2B SaaS link-building specialists. 

Cheap backlinks tank your website authority. 

If you want to future-proof your SEO strategy and make sure your site can withstand any algorithm change Google throws your way, you need to start getting backlinks from high-authority sites that actually make sense for your business. 

The experts at dofollow.com help B2B SaaS startups get links from 80-90DR sites in your industry that boost your authority, rankings, and traffic. 

Start with a free link building assessment and see where you stand against your competitors.

Want to be featured in front of over 101,000 founders and marketers? Learn more here.

How to sustain interest throughout a video

Insight from Jenny Hoyos on Marketing Against the Grain.

Jenny has 1.6B views on 124 YouTube Shorts, averaging ~13M views per video.

Previously, we covered the overall structure she uses for her videos, but she recently shared a teardown line-by-line, second-by-second for one of her videos with 21M+ views, How Many Ice Cream Flavors Can You Get with $1?

Let's dive in!

Note: These tips apply to any short-form video content, including B2B video ads.

The Hook

Here’s the opening Hook:

Hook Takeaways:

• Get right into it. No pre-ample. Just start doing it and explain as you go.
• Don’t waste time saying anything explained visually. She didn’t need to say “of frozen yogurt” because you know that already.
• Use visuals to aid comprehension. The $1 bill on the cup visually reinforces the concept of “she only has $1, and it’s going to be spent on froyo.”

Note: Hook and explain quickly. Check out the 1,3,5+ framework for more.

Foreshadow/Context

Next, she sets the stage with conflict and stakes with the line: “That’s going to be like $20 and it’s only vanilla:”

Takeaways:

• Quickly give context on what they need to watch the video. If a cup with a single flavor costs $20, then it will be hard to get a lot of flavors for $1.
• Her over-the-top facial expressions are to show you how to feel.

Transition

Then, she Transitions into the main action of the video seamlessly: “So I brought a tiny cup to get every flavor without spending more than a dollar.”

Takeaways:

• Transition into the action quickly and seamlessly. Don’t waste time standing in front of the camera intro’ing. Just explain as you’re doing it.
• Recap the concept again. You’re hitting people with a lot of info at once, and you randomly came up in their feed. Keep reminding them and re-hook them.

Body

Then she fills the tiny cup with froyo and does a lot to keep you engaged:

She adds drama to make it interesting:

• The machine spits, and her mom says: “They’re going to kick you out.”
• She introduces the main struggle (with intense music), “I was more concerned that the more flavors I added, the less space I had in my cup.”
• She purposely makes a “mistake” by adding the same flavor twice.
• She eats a bit of the double flavor and asks, “Is this cheating?” and her mom says they’re going to call the cops on her.

She inserts her CTA halfway through the video with a subtle comment from her mom: “All this for one subscriber,” which gets people in the mindset to subscribe.

• Add CTAs in the middle of the video at peak action rather than at the very end. A big virality signal is someone re-watching your video—a boring CTA at the end prevents that.
• But it’s also smart, as many people will bounce right after they get the payoff from watching the video (seeing how many flavors she can fit and if it’ll cost less than a dollar). If you do the CTA first, almost everyone will see it.

She adds a visual reminder of the concept and the progress:

Conclusion

• As she finishes and walks towards the scale, she says: “14 ice cream flavors, is it going to be less than a dollar? This reminds people of the premise, so they’re more invested in the answer.
• Her mom says: “No, I don’t think so,” to add drama.
• She stands there holding $1 and looking stressed to add drama and continue to reinforce the concept.
• She uses intense, crescendoing music and a series of fast cuts between her face and the cup, like a drum roll, to add drama and intensity again.
• She subtly encourages people to watch her other related video by ending the video with her mom saying, " No ice cream for you again!”
• It ends abruptly, as her mom says that, so the video's retention rates are high throughout (if you linger after the high note, people won’t re-watch).
• Again, don’t put the primary CTA here. Put it earlier in the video when everyone is hooked on watching it, or do it subtly as she did.

Want to learn more? Watch Jenny’s full video, her analysis, our previous breakdown of her Short structure, and her interview on Creator Science.

It doesn't matter if you make organic content or ads; this is key info.

What did you think of today's newsletter?

😍 Loved it:  Forward to a friend, or reply—a simple 😍 will do! It really helps.

🤷‍♀️ Meh: You can unsubscribe here, or manage your subscription here.

🤔 I'm new here: You can join the party here.
🤩 Give me more: Check out all previous growth tactics in our Growth Vault.

Something fun

No one will ever write better ad copy than this:

How we can help you grow

• Read our free playbooks, articles, growth guide, and teardowns—we break down the strategies & tactics used by fast-growing startups.
• Need help running ads? We’ve built the ads agency for startups.

• Looking for a growth freelancer or agency? We’ll match you with a vetted partner for free.

• Get in front of 101,000+ founders by sponsoring this newsletter.

Thanks, everyone!

It was my 35th bday yesterday, yeehaw ;0

Neal O'Grady

Justin Setzer

Nick Costelloe