Product tutorials: how to demonstrate your assets to the public

A successful marketing strategy relies on making the customers feel the experience of using your product. Either through Interactive Content or product tutorials, your differentials must stand out.

Still, that can be a real challenge. Have you ever bought a product without knowing exactly how it worked? If you have, you know that it is not exactly a fun experience.

In order to help you creating your own tutorials to increase your sales, we created this special article with the following topics:

• What is a product tutorial?
• What are the benefits?
• How to create product tutorials?
• How are successful companies already doing it?

So let’s start with a short definition!

What is a product tutorial?

A product tutorial showcases how to utilize your company’s assets. Their subjects can also be services, digital solutions, etc. The main goal is to demonstrate to current and future customers the worthiness of what you are selling them.

However, it can’t be just a simple explanation — it needs to be easy to understand. Hence, some strategies may help you to be educational and attractive, as you will see further down this post.

Notice that you can do the basics in order to get a customer, but if you do a really good job, you will keep a loyal customer.

So do not disregard the power of this tool. Want to know why?

 

What are the benefits? 

The more your products stand out, the more your organization grows. 

We live in Digital Marketing times when specialists understand how important information can be for assuring a purchase.

According to Think With Google, 80% of people look at videos and search pages when researching products on the internet. No wonder a single product tutorial can be the differential that closes a deal.

Digital Transformation has nourished the soil for a higher level of competition. No wonder that organizations with no Digital Marketing strategy lose ground, regardless of their struggles to stay relevant.

Your customers have access to a wide range of information about countless companies — not to mention the prices. 

A product tutorial drives your marketing to another baseline since it represents more than an explanation of how your assets work. 

Think about a brand new solution, such as a corporative software.

Your company needs one, but you don’t know exactly what the options are, which ones are best, how they work, etc. So you do a quick search on YouTube.

No doubt, you will tend to purchase the very brand you’ve seen on video tutorials. After all, you just got acquainted with that brand.

Besides that, even the products you already know may come up with unexpected doubts. 

The moment the developer offers the answers you are looking for, they get your attention and show they care about your needs.

To sum up:

• it helps explain your products;
• it cuts down customer services requests;
• it fosters trust in your brand;
• it makes your company authority on that subject.

So let’s talk about developing your own.

 

How to create product tutorials?

When it comes to developing a strategy from scratch, insights are priceless. So here’s a few that will help you make an excellent product tutorial.

Know your interlocutor, define a channel

First of all, you need to know who you are talking to in order to find the communication channel that best suits your content. 

Remember: your tutorials must feature your customer, not the product. They need to be educated considering what they need.

So, to accomplish that, you should create a buyer persona. 

Based on that semi-fictional profile, choosing the right channel will be easier — Blogs, YouTube, and Instagram are the most popular, effective options.

Show the step-by-step process

Each product has its own peculiarities, so you better start with the basics. Your public may be a little acquainted with your assets, but you need to cover the beginners as well.

If your assets are physical, it is absolutely relevant to do the unboxing, showing exactly what experience the customer will pass through. Break things into smaller tasks so that every step becomes clear.

That is often a good strategy for explaining relatively complex things. When it comes to electronics and multi-piece toys, for example, separate videos are notably useful.

First, you show how to make it work — turning it on, fitting pieces, etc. — then how to use it, its features, and so on.

Remember to start the journey at the main menu page, coming back to it whenever you need to show a new resource. 

Go beyond the usability

What makes it even better than just explaining how to use your product? Well, a humanized service. 

After all, learning by ourselves is often an exhaustive process.

So get customer’s email addresses and be receptive: say hello, present your company and send them tips, explanations, extra materials, etc. 

In other words, strengthen ties and create a relationship. This is a good opportunity for developing your Content Marketing strategy.

The more human your approach is, the more valued your customer will feel — meaning your chances of closing the deal are greater.

Make it funny

Being serious doesn’t mean being boring, as proved by Canva. The website has a Learn tab with different tutorials for a good amount of resources that the platform offers. Take a look:

With a single click, we find our way to the content page, where we can choose what we need to learn:

Notice that all videos are short and dynamic, with written tips and a step-by-step logic, as you can watch below:

Besides that, we can do the process by ourselves. Once you are logged in, Canva takes you to a quick journey of creating your own design by choosing the template, what you want to design, etc.

Notice that aesthetics plays a main role here. Your brand needs to show its identity in your videos, but assure they’re educational, easy to understand, and pleasing to the eyes and ears.

Did you like Canva’s strategy? So let’s talk about some other cases you should take as references.

How are successful companies already doing it?

Some of the most successful marketing campaigns know how to use product tutorials to do more than just demonstrating their assets — they create differentials, expanding the possibilities. Want an example? Here it is.

Absolut

How can a tutorial benefit a simple product like Vodka? Well, by becoming part of something bigger or special. Absolut offers a broad range of interesting video tutorials with drink recipes.

Check it out.

The tutorial shows us how we can mix beverage ingredients to create our favorite drinks using basic bartending tools.

PlayStation VR

Virtual Reality is often among other trending technologies not only for business applications but also for entertainment. 

PlayStation VR is a good example — and its video tutorial is amazing.

The main takeaways here are the pace, which seems like slow-motion, and the smartly inserted action scenes. 

The first helps users follow the instructions while watching the tutorial (if they have already bought the console). The second gives a taste of the flaring experience users gets.

Watch it below and pay attention to those two factors. This is how PlayStation motivates customers with benefits throughout the entire video.

Grammarly

This is what we call the explainer example. Grammarly needs just more than a minute to show how to use their product. The magic here is that they are actually showing how the platform can make the customer a better writer.

Check it out.

Here’s a final takeaway: remember that you can combine 4 types of media to create your tutorial. That includes:

• the Demonstration (at Pinterest, Instagram, etc.);
• the Video Tutorial (at the product website);
• the Detailed Lesson (a longer video on YouTube);
• the Email Explanation (with both written and visual instruction).

By doing that, you will provide an extra layer to your marketing strategy, exploring your assets’ benefits to catch your public’s attention. So put those insights to work in your favor and create a charming product tutorial!

So what about going beyond the basics and developing a better strategy? Learn how to run a successful Q&A session!