#38: 6 Tips for Creating an Attention-Grabbing Video Hook

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In this podcast episode, we will explore 6 tips for creating an attention-grabbing video hook that will engage your audience from the very start. A video hook is the first few seconds of your video, and it is crucial for capturing the viewer's attention and keeping them interested.

Episode Transcript

Mark Harbert (00:00):
Look, it's very simple. If you don't grab their
attention, within the first fewseconds of your video, you're
gonna lose them. We areliterally at the mercy of a
thumb swipe.
Hi, my name is Mark Harbert. Andwelcome to the Mark Harbert
podcast. And in this episode,I'm going to give you six tips

(00:21):
that can help you with yourvideo hooks. Now, in case you
don't know, the video hook isthe most crucial part of your
videos, I've created literally1000s and 1000s and 1000s of
videos over the years. And Iwill tell you, I have not always
done this right myself. But thevideo hook literally has become

(00:41):
one of the most important partsof the video. Because if you
don't grab people's attention,they're gone like they're gone
within seconds. So you have tograb people's attention, because
literally their attention is themost important part. When it
comes to the content, you reallygot to speak directly to what
exactly it is that they'relooking to achieve, what is it

(01:03):
that they want, and it's got tobe a value to them. So I'm going
to dive into these six tips foryou to really help you when
creating videos. Now these canwork with literally short form
videos, long form videos, itreally doesn't matter. The key
is having a good hook that willalways grab attention. Now I
don't know about you, but thegreatest thing that you can do

(01:23):
is evaluate your own habits.
Whether I'm watching a shortvideo or a long video, I'm
always looking to see how longthat video is. And one of the
things that I do is I evaluatevery, very quickly, whether or
not I want to watch an entirevideo or not. And whether I'm on
YouTube or Tik Tok, or somethinglike that, I'm always looking to
see how long is this video? Anddo I really want to invest that

(01:46):
time, this is what makes thehook even more important.
Because if you can grab theirattention very, very fast, you
are more than likely going tohold them for a lot longer. And
even if they don't watch theentire video, at least you can
get some of your value into themand make an impression on that

(02:08):
person. Now, I just want to tellyou, you are never ever going to
get 100% view rate on yourvideos, if you are you are a
complete and utter. I mean,you'd be the number one youtuber
online, you'd be the number onevideo marketer online. I mean,
so just so you know, even thebest of the best, nobody gets

(02:30):
100% of the time people to viewtheir videos at 100% completion.
So don't evaluate yourself onthat level. Because you really
want to know that even the bestof the best, nobody gets 100%
view rate. Okay, so it's very,very important to understand
that. But let's go ahead in thisaudio in this episode, we're

(02:50):
talking about the hook. And thetip number one that I have for
you. And this is very, veryimportant is first, you got to
understand why the hook is soimportant. What makes it so
important. And I've kind of hiton that already. But the truth
is, is that people's attentionspans are quite short. And, you
know, let me rephrase that. Idon't know if they're

(03:13):
necessarily short, but peopleare looking to be grabbed right
away. And I know, you know, andI've cited this study that was
done on a Canada, they studiedover 2000 people, they found
that, you know, the attentionspan was so much shorter. And
really it has to do a lot withmobile. But the truth is, is
that people will watch even along video if it holds their

(03:35):
interest. I watched long videosall the time. And long videos
are not going away. As a matterof fact, they're starting to
take precedence. Again, if younotice on tick tock, you're
seeing longer and longer videos,and they are the ones that
really birthed kind of the shortvideo revolution if you want to
talk about it. I call it theshort video insurrection. And

(03:55):
really, they you know, thatplatform is really what brought
it in and really kind of made itso popular but long form videos
making a comeback because eventick tock is made videos longer.
So but the here's the thing, ifthe content is good, people are
gonna watch it. But it starts inthat first few seconds, that
you're gonna grab it. So first,you got to understand why that

(04:16):
hook is so important. Andbecause people are looking to be
grabbed their attention is veryshort at the beginning there and
it's like, you know, I'll giveyou an example. You know, my
wife and I will sit down, and wewill we'll sit down to watch a
movie and you know, the first2030 minutes, we're just trying
to find a movie, right? And Ihave become incredibly good. I'm

(04:39):
a dude, right? So I've becomeincredibly good at scanning so I
can just, you know, I can hitthat remote and just fly right
through looking for a movie thatcatches my attention. Boom. When
something catches my attention.
I stop. Now the fact that I goso fast. My wife gets a headache
and she'd be like, Oh honey, Ican't even watch what you You're

(05:00):
scrolling through way too fast.
And it's just kind of funnybecause I've learned to do that.
But most people are like thatthey'll scroll until they find
something. So we need to grabthem right away, or they're on
to the next one. Okay, so thisis why the hook is so important.
So you need to understand that.
Okay, so tip number two, is tostart with a captivating
headline. Now, this really,really applies applies to

(05:23):
YouTube video specifically, aswell. But believe it or not the
headline on your video, itstarts there, I look at the
headline as like a pre sell tothe hook. So our headline is
very, very important. Because ifpeople are on say, the YouTube
app, one of the things that theysee is they see that headline,

(05:44):
and they see a thumbnailpotentially. And that's what's
going to cause them to want toclick and go and see the video.
So we want to start with acaptivating headline that
creates some curiosity that getsthem to want to click through
which then your hook canactually grab them and pull them
in and suck them into thecontent. All right. So starting

(06:06):
with a captivating headline isreally important. Now, there are
plenty of ways that you cancreate a good headline. But if
you're looking for a very basicformula, there's this formula
that's been around a long time.
And I call it the How to blankwithout blank formula. Okay. And
that's the headline, the How tolose that last five pounds

(06:27):
without fat diets or starvingyourself. So though that
headline is basically how toblank which is how to get
everything you want, withoutblank, all the sucky stuff.
Okay, that's the How to blankwithout blank formula. So if you
want to come up with a catchyheadline, that is something to

(06:50):
start with. Now, that's just oneformula of many. But that'll at
least give you an idea of how tocome up with a captivating
headline. All right, so let'smove on to number two, or excuse
me, number three, we haveidentifying who you're talking
to. Now, this is so important.
And, you know, we probablytalked about this in marketing
all the time finding yourperfect target market and all

(07:12):
that. But one of the cool waysthat you can create a very
effective captivating hook is tospeak directly to those people.
Hey, network marketer, hey,affiliate marketer, are you not
getting you know, traffic? Doyou need more traffic? Whatever
you're calling out that person,hey, affiliate marketer, do you

(07:32):
need more traffic for youroffers? Well, I've got some free
traffic sources for you. Sostick around, okay, so something
like that. And you're, whatyou're doing is you're literally
calling them out in the hook,this is a way to really grab
them even more. So call out youraudience specifically in that
hook, and you'll find that it's10 times more effective.
Alright, so tip number four isto create a sense of urgency.

(07:57):
And a sense of urgency is thatsense of you gotta see this
right now. Okay, I see this. Idon't watch a lot of the news,
especially over the last coupleyears, because it's so negative.
So I'm not going to here to talkabout that. But I will tell you
some of the best headlinestructures, if you want to learn

(08:17):
from a marketing standpoint, ournews headlines, they have
learned to manipulate the humanpsyche. Okay, and to get people
roped in. So if you really wantto create a sense of urgency,
you could go look at some newsheadlines and don't get sucked
into the articles, okay, don'tget sucked into the videos or
anything like that. But some ofthe structures that they use are

(08:38):
incredibly effective. Okay, socreating a sense of urgency is
something that always has like atime element to it. And that
time element is, you know, in 30days, or in, you know, three
days, or five days, or one hourhow to, you know, it's like I
said before, how to lose thatlast five pounds without

(09:00):
starving or fad diets in sevendays or less. You see what that
does. So that is a way to alwayscreate an effective hook as
well, is to create a sense ofurgency and people because
people tend to move more whenthey have a sense of urgency. So
that's tip number four. Now, tipnumber five, this is so
important with the hook is yougot to keep it short and sweet.

(09:24):
This is very important becausehooks are meant to just grab
attention, and then get them towatch from there. So we grabbed
their attention because the hookis like a promise, so to speak.
You want to think of your hookas a promise. It's a promise
that, hey,I'm going to you have this
problem. And I'm going to showyou how to remedy that. That's

(09:45):
what that hook is. It's apromise of future content, which
is basically what you're goingto share with them. But you need
to keep it short and sweet.
Because again, people they'relooking to be grabbed and
They're looking there, they'llthey're willing to invest the
time in your video to watch it.
However, if it's too long anddrawn out and doesn't get to the

(10:07):
point very, very fast again,they're gone, they're out of
there, they will, they'll begone faster than you can say
hook. Alright, so keep it shortand sweet. Don't make it too
drawn out, I really am a fan oflearning how to get a hook in
there within one to threeseconds. Okay, now some people
say 10 seconds or less. If I sayyou really want to hook me

(10:29):
faster than that, because 10seconds, that's even going a
little long. Alright, so ourfinal tip, tip number six is to
experiment with different typesof hooks. Now, there are all
different kinds of hooks outthere, I mean, literally
hundreds of different formatsthat you can try. One of the
greatest ways I think toresearch is go hop on Tik Tok,
go over to Instagram reels orFacebook reels and just start

(10:54):
scrolling. Okay. And as youscroll, what you want to do is
you want to keep in mind and seewhat it is that grabs your
attention. And then pause thevideo and write it down. This is
a great way to do that.
evaluating your own habits isalways a great way to do

(11:15):
research. So do that go to ticktock go to Instagram, Facebook
reels, wherever it is go toYouTube shorts, whatever you
want to do. And scroll throughthe videos and get some ideas.
And then use those ideas andexperiment with your audience.
See, the more you experiment,the more you try different
formats and different ways ofdoing things, you're always

(11:36):
going to get a much betterresult when you test and try
because every audience isdifferent. Every audience will
react to certain different kindsof hooks than say, you know, say
the real estate audience. Or ifyou're in the affiliate
marketing niche, or the networkmarketing niche, there may be
different styles of hooks thatresonate more with each of those

(11:57):
niches. So you just have to try,experiment and put them out
there. Alright, so these areyour six. Let's just recap them
again, real quick. Tip numberone is first understand why the
hook is so important. Becausewhen you understand why
something is important, you'remore likely to put more effort
into it. Okay, tip number two,start with a captivating

(12:17):
headline on the video. Thisreally applies to YouTube
videos, it think of it as likethe pre sell to the hook. And
the pre sell gets them to comeover the hook is what keeps
them. Okay, tip number three,identify who you're talking to,
and call them out in your hook.
Very, very important. That willgrab them even better. Tip
number four is to create a senseof urgency, add a time element

(12:40):
to it, that will really createthat sense of urgency. Tip
number five, keep it short andsweet. You've only got a few
seconds to capture theirattention. So don't draw it out.
Don't make it long. Don't gettoo winded. Keep it short. Keep
it sweet. And tip number six,experiment with different types
of hook formats. If you do this,if you will master that hook in

(13:01):
the video. I promise you, I canpromise you so much that you are
going to get so much betterresults. All right. I hope you
got some value from this. If youdid, be sure to leave us a
review here on my podcast oniTunes. And we'll see you in the
next episode. Bye bye