7 Psychology-Backed Sound Strategies for Video Marketing Success

1 - Contrast Draws Attention

Psychologists agree that the human mind is drawn toward what does not fit the pattern. Our brains are pattern-detecting machines. So, what does that mean for you as a video marketer? It means that you can add variation to your sound to grab attention.

Suppose your video tells a story that's fairly long. To avoid losing interest, you can switch up the pace of delivery. You can also alter the volume of your speech to create a dramatic effect. Such shifts create a sonic contrast that makes people pay more attention.

• Raise your voice - By suddenly raising your voice, you can add a punch to your point.

• Lower your voice - It is advisable to lower your voice when you’re about to reveal a secret. This inspires curiosity and draws people in.

• Slow down your pace - Strategically slowing your pace can break the monotony of your content.

• Increase your pace - Picking up the pace at which you tell a story just as things get interesting can create a thrilling effect.

• Shift your tone - Avoid monotony by projecting the emotions you want to evoke. You should sound positive when you make a positive point.

2 - Repetition Builds Trust

One of the most valuable findings for marketers is that repetition builds trust. With repeated exposure to the same assertions, listeners begin believing them. That's why most propaganda relies on repetition. As a video marketer, you, too, can use this phenomenon.

By having positive declarations regarding your products repeated across different videos, you can improve their standing in your customers’ minds. Brand tag lines are so valuable because they can be repeated over and over. But taglines are not the only sonic repetition tool.

• Thematic Repetition - If all your videos revolve around the same theme, then your viewers can start associating your brand with that theme. Coca-Cola and Disney both leverage "Magical" themes quite heavily.

• Structure repetition - If your content follows a specific type of structure like Late Night shows, it starts creating expectations and familiarity. Your viewers know what to expect and feel pleased when you fulfill those expectations.

• Linguistic repetition - This refers to the exact word-for-word repetition that can shoehorn its way into our brains. From "I'm lovin' it" to "It's Finger Lickin' Good," fast food chains often use linguistic repetition to make their food more delicious. You can use tailored slogans to make your videos more interesting.

• Musical repetition - Just like verbal repetition creates trust, musical repetition fosters feelings of familiarity. Jingles, theme songs, and even background music can all become tools to promote sonic repetition.

3 - Build Sound Into The Product

Sound can work to build or diminish social proof. For instance, the sound of a supercar's engine is associated with thrill. And if you hear it zipping across a road, you can build opinions regarding the car's speed and desirability.

Coke is yet another product that has a socially resonant sonic brand. When someone opens a bottle of Coke, you can hear it across the room. Big brands are intentional about how their products sound.

But you’re not a product designer. You’re a video marketer. So, how could this be relevant to you? Think of your video as a product. Be intentional about the music, especially in the beginning. Produce your videos in a way that builds social proof.

If someone watches one of your videos in public, the audio should signal to everyone else who can hear it that your videos are valuable.

• Pack the audio with actionable content - People are self-interested, so you have to offer something that benefits them. That’s the only way to get on their radar.

• Make the audio standalone - As a video marketer, you should approach sound as a parallel content format. If your video gets converted to audio, does it still make sense?

• Make your delivery unique and recognizable - This is by far the most valuable way to create a sonic identity. Listen to any stand-up comedian and then Marc Normand to see how delivery can help someone stand apart.

4 - Punchline Effect - Use Sounds To Engineer Expectations

The punchline effect is perhaps one of the most potent ways to use the psychology of sound for your videos. You may have learned about the Pavlov experiment where he rang a bell each time he fed his dogs, only for the dogs to start salivating upon hearing the bell, even in the absence of food.

The experiment proves that mental associations can be built with unrelated stimuli through simultaneous exposure. If you get a hug from your child each time you enter your home, you start associating home with your child's hug. You might even catch yourself feeling full of love and joy when you open the door, even if your child is asleep.

Here’s how that’s useful in videos: you can use a specific sound (effect, musical note, or word) every time you create an emotion. Comedy shows use laugh tracks and rimshots to indicate punchlines. This anchors laughter with these sounds.

That way, even when a joke isn’t funny, the audience can giggle on cue. But laugh tracks are far from being the only use case of this kind of association.

• Catchphrases - A catchphrase is often delivered upon entry or after a character says something clever. It cements the audience’s connection with the character.

• Build-up phrases - As a video marketer, you’ll need these. By using similar phrasing over and over just before you reveal something interesting, you can create a sonic hook for inspiring interest. Example: “Here’s the secret to…”

• Credits Music - Thriller series do this masterfully. By using the same music right at a cliffhanger moment, they tie suspense to their theme song. Horror movies also do this with their respective themes. If your videos have similar themes, using the same soundtrack for each entry is highly recommended.

5 - The Absence Of Sound Has An Effect

This insight is also built upon the human bias for contrast. We're drawn towards anything that doesn't fit the common patterns we are accustomed to. If your video goes silent at a key moment, it draws the viewer into the visual aspect.

A common movie trope is that just as a gun is fired or a bomb blows up on the screen, the sound vanishes. A mute sequence is just as impactful as a loud one. While this tactic works in movies, you should be cautious when using it in video marketing.

Your audience isn't primed to expect silence. Some might consume your content while driving. By suddenly cutting out the audio, you might lose viewers. There are other ways to create sonic absence without muting the entire audio track.

• Drop the music - If the audio track features dialogue and music, cutting out the music and keeping the dialogue can have an interest-inspiring effect.

• Keep only the music - You can also continue speaking but cut out the music to draw attention.

• Cut out the audio - On rare occasions, you can cut out the audio to create a sonic pause. Do not make it any longer than 3 seconds for online videos to keep people engaged.

6 - Produce Audio To Stand Alone Only

The multi-tasking effect is the result of our hyper-stimulated digital environment. Because we’re used to being overstimulated, we like to occupy ourselves with multiple things at once. We watch movies as we scroll through Instagram. Whether that's good or bad is not a discussion for now.

What’s relevant is that many people are “watching” your videos with their ears. As a result, they may not be paying attention to (or even looking at) the screen. Your sound should be designed to stand alone.

This can also be helpful when you repurpose your videos as podcast episodes or digital audio files. They don’t feel like they’re missing much.

• Describe visual information - Video podcasters often say, "For those on audio…" before describing something that viewers can see. Describing what's going on in the video can help the audio track stand on its own as a complete piece of content.

• Show and tell - In storytelling, there's a famous saying, "Show, don't tell." But in online content, you need to show (visually) and tell (on audio) to make both formats valid.

• Script audio, shoot video - The best way to value-pack your audio track is to write your script for audio and then shoot the video. When you script with the audio in the main format, you do not make choices that depend on visuals. As a result, your videos are just as valuable for listeners as they are for viewers.

7 - Score Your Videos Like Films

It is easy to confuse audio with dialogue. Dialogue is just one part of the audio. By being more thoughtful of the music in your content, you can level up the quality of your videos. Scoring your videos like films is pretty important even though you’re not writing or making music for your content. You still need to pick music that matches the mood of your videos.

Reinforcing the overall vibe of your video with song selection can have two benefits. First, it can make your videos more appealing. Second, it can psychologically frame your message. There's a reason why sad music is used for accounts of tragedy, and exciting music is reserved for thrillers.

Your audience might not even notice how much thought you’ve put into the musical aspect of your videos. But they’ll nonetheless appreciate how immersive and mood-altering your content is.

• Keep a library of diverse music - Keep a wide collection of tracks ranging from motivational music to sad songs and happy music to neutral elevator-style music.

• Repeat a specific track - Take a specific track and turn it into your theme song. If you have the budget, have an instrumental created from scratch just for your videos.

• Hire an audio expert - Finally, hire a sound engineer to work on your sound. This will do more for your audience engagement than you expect.

Sound As A Marketing Vehicle: Best Practices For Developing Your Sound

As a video marketer, your content is your product. Your goal is to buy people’s willingness to watch more of your content. And the right music can be the perfect bribe. The previous section went into the psychology of why that works. In this part, you will find practical things you can do to inflate your content’s sonic appeal.

Best Sound Tools For Video Marketers

Now that you know key sound marketing strategies and moodmaking combinations, you're ready to level up your sound.

Let's look at some of the tools that will help you along the way.

Final Thoughts

Audio goes unnoticed by the conscious mind but has a profound subconscious effect. That's why billion-dollar businesses invest in Sonic Branding research. As a video marketer, you should approach your audio with as much attention as Coke does its unbottling sound. Follow the tips in this article to leverage your sound to maximize audience loyalty, build brand familiarity, and create hyper-immersive content.