2.2 Common traits of effective videos featuring entrepreneurial
digital oratory
Business pitches in the form of online video occupy a specific subgenre
of “digital oratory,” which as a genre “can be described as
thesis-driven, vocal, embodied public address that is housed within
(online) new media platforms (and that ideally takes advantage of the
developing/flux-laden conventions that the online video context
provides)” (Lind, 2012). What those conventions are, however, has
required significant recent theoretical explanation (Rossette-Crake,
2022). Entrepreneurial digital oratory forms a subgenre of digital
oratory that can be understood as those audio-video productions, housed
and disseminated online, featuring a business-minded speaker sharing
information with their audience for the purposes of explaining,
expanding, or otherwise advancing their entrepreneurial business
activities. Common examples include product and service overview videos
made by startups seeking investment funding, such as the pitch videos
posted to popular crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Understanding and abiding by the emergent conventions of the digital
oratory is essential for the entrepreneur hoping to have success within
this digital context. As described below, important analytical and
experimental studies have thus contributed, in recent years, significant
understandings of what conventions do and do not tend to produce
success.
Having a spokesperson in the video can critically increase the
likelihood of funding. The presence of the spokesperson, however, is a
complex feature that help or hurt the video’s chances based on both the
editing and the performative delivery. Li et al (2021) find that the
spokesperson appearing early in the video increases success. The
spokesperson serves as the vehicle for trust and emotional resonance
(Jiang et al., 2019). Their vocal delivery is part of that resonance,
cultivating a sense of passion and preparedness that can correlate
positively with funding success (Allison et al., 2022; Davis et al.,
2017; J. (Jason) Li et al., 2017). Even negative facial expressions can
amplify the impact of critical proposition data, such as expressing the
pain point that the entrepreneurial endeavor solves, thereby increasing
funding success potential (Huang et al., 2023).
The spokesperson’s persona must be presented in a strategically
advantageous way to positively impact the video. As Korzynski et al.
(2021) describe, sharing positive attributes about self, such as
experience and appearing hard-wording, can bolster the campaign’s
persuasiveness. However, if their persona becomes menacing or wages in
intimidation, the pitch becomes less successful. Those findings are
consistent with Hou et al’s (2019) findings that fear imagery is
negatively associated with entrepreneurial video success.
Demonstration of a business’s product or service is likewise a unique
asset to video pitches, embracing a competitive advantage video has over
text. As Courtney et al. (2017), describe, multimedia campaigns allow
the entrepreneur to “display a working model, prototype, or beta
versions of the product” that demonstrate progress, credibility, and
viability to potential backers. As Yang et al. (2020) find, any
multimedia integrations must be designed in a way that complements
instead of overshadows the argumentative content of the video to be
effective.