YouTube, Facebook, Vidyard, Wistia, Brightcove and others are key players in helping brands maximize their reach and increase their engagement with their audience. Here’s how you can get started with your video marketing campaign!
A Simple Video Marketing Strategy
Consider these 4 major questions to help you effectively create a simple video marketing strategy for your business.
The beauty of developing a video marketing plan is that you are making it easier for the viewer to be exposed to the information you are trying to communicate.—Chris Sandoval
1. Why do you want to use online video?
With seemingly everyone taking up online video for their business, you may feel the need to also take it on if you haven’t already. However, before you create your videos, truly ask yourself, “Why do I want to use online video for my business?” With that said, be strong in your why. Maybe you need higher engagement to increase brand awareness. Or maybe you need new content to convert visitors already on your website into sales-ready leads. Whatever your why is, make it stronger by comparing it to your buyer personas, i.e., your ideal customers and audience as well as your brand’s overall message, style, voice, and tone.
Make the customer the hero of your story.—Ann Handley
Your audience should always influence your video creation process. From how long your videos should be to the type of content you create, everything should be catered to your audience. And that knowledge is based off of your research from past and current analytics—strengthening your buyer persona profiles. The more you know your audience and make them the focus of your videos, the style, voice and tone of your video creation process will form itself.
So, if you need to create more engagement with your audience, but you are worried that you’ll need a larger budget, then refocus your video marketing budget. For example, use social video tactics like a weekly live Q&A session on a social platform that a majority of your audience spends their time on—lessening your costs of production and getting your message out there faster and in a more intimate format. Or if your engagement is great, but the conversion is not, then refocus your call-to-actions and really ask yourself, “What do I need my audience to do in order for my goals to be met?” And then answer that question through every video you create.
Marketing that educates and informs is always more persuasive in the end than marketing that boasts or sells too hard.—David Carpenter
Obviously, you want to make sure that what you create coincides with your brand overall. But as long as your message holds true, you’re creating videos for your audience, and you’ve created them in the same style, voice, and tone as you do with your other content, then you are well on your way to an effective video marketing strategy.
For further inspiration on why you should use online video, explore the following infographic below that provides 31 Video Marketing Statistics to Inform Your Strategy:
2. What type of video do you want to create?
Once you have your why, it’s time to consider your what. What do you want to create? Do you want to create educational videos, i.e., tips and tricks or tutorial videos based on current news in your industry? Or do you want to create live videos using Periscope or Facebook Live? Or perhaps you’d rather create an entertaining video using animation or parody to answer your audience’s pain points.
In the marketing industry, having a pain point around analytics is usually very common. For example, “How do you effectively measure your marketing campaigns?” or “How do you use your findings to create an effective strategy?” With these questions, you can create an educational video providing key tips to measuring analytics. You could also create a live Q&A session and have a free consultation period to help audience members who tune in for the live session. How about creating a parody video on how “not to” measure your analytics by performing the things that most businesses do wrong, and then provide a downloadable eBook or checklist on how to REALLY measure them.
The key tip to this question is to have fun. Figure out what you want to create by what inspires your creativity, individually and as a team. Then make sure it coincides with your buyer personas and branding. And finally, create your video. The planning stage is usually where most businesses get hung up on. But if you know your brand, your audience, and yourself as a creator, then the possibilities are endless for your videos.
By creating and publishing remarkable content in the form that educates, informs, inspires and entertains, marketers can begin to build relationships.—Jonathon Lister
3. Where do you want to host your video?
Between hosting on your site as well as on social media, the most daunting question it seems is, “Where should I host my videos?” Well, our response is “porque no los dos,” i.e., why not both? Use YouTube or Facebook to host your videos, but create calls-to-action that lead back to your website. And you can use Wistia or Vidyard to embed your videos on your website in order for you to create mixed media blog posts. Don’t limit yourself on where you should post. Just create a balance for your business between your social platforms and your website.
And if you want to see it in action, check out two of our In-Sites videos below—one embedded from YouTube offering social media campaign ideas and the other with Wistia offering video marketing best practices:
4. What is your video marketing budget?
This question will definitely affect the type of content you create. But you have to know your budget and work with it to create those videos in order to maximize your brand’s reach and engagement.
For example, having a low budget doesn’t mean you sacrifice quality. Use your smartphone and create weekly live video engagements. You can still be engaging with a limited budget. Don’t invest in large video production if you’re not creating quality content or you don’t have engaging members of your team to star, share, educate and entertain your audience in your videos. In fact, practice makes progress, and if you check out the following video, you’ll learn that practice is a major key tip to video talent success:
Using video for your business doesn’t have to be a hassle. By answering these four questions, you have set the foundation to a simple yet effective video marketing strategy.
Inbound video marketing is the here-and-now for what online marketing is for so many businesses. The fact is that you have to show your business off in the best light. Getting your point across with video marketing is fast becoming the most impactful and economical manner in which to do so. So, if your current video presentations look shoddy or don’t exist at all, here are six steps to set your inbound video marketing plan into action.
Video informs and entertains people and, good or bad, today most people prefer to watch a video rather than read a page of text.—Lisa Lubin
To begin your inbound video marketing efforts, you need to know what you want the result to be. If you just throw money and time towards a video marketing plan that is just going to tell your customers a story they all already know, that’s not a smart use of your marketing dollar.
How can you build a house without a blueprint? The answer is: you can’t. In the same way, a video without a storyboard is like a house without a foundation.—Han Lung
You need to know what points you are trying to get across, which audience you are trying to reach, and what you want your viewer to walk away with from your video. You want them thinking about your product or service and how it can resolve their needs even after viewing your content—inspiring them to act.
When you have a video that’s optimized, nothing is wasted. No excess breath is spent saying something twice, no erroneous intro music drones on for too long, no graphics overstay their welcome.
#KeyToSuccess: Every piece content that you create has purpose #MarketingTips
Getting your video primed is going to be a trial and error quest, but it’s not something that you should give up. Ask anyone what their least favorite part of videos online are and they will tell you that it’s the ones that go on for too long without saying anything new.
You can’t overlook the takeaway that a good title will leave your audience with. Something terse, memorable, and impactful that gets your point across. Again, this is something that you may come up with straight away or you may wind up grappling with 20 different titles before you find the right one. Don’t give up!
One of the big things about today’s inbound video marketing efforts is the fact that so much of what is out there today was customized for different clients or potential clients. Of course, if you already have their marketing dollar, it is a lot easier to lay down some money for a customized marketing video. Still, you can’t overlook the fact that the job could be between you and one other company who doesn’t have a personalized video prepared for the client. If you were the client, which group would you choose? You need to treat all of your jobs with the urgency and attention you would want to be paid to you.
It’s not what you upload, it’s the strategy with which you upload.—Will Keenan
When you want to get the most from your inbound video marketing, leave no stone unturned! If you are going to spend the time to make a video with a great title and a great body of work, e.g., your business, then you should be eager to show it off to the world. You should make every effort to get your video out to as many potential clients as possible. Even if your video is catered to an existing customer, you can still show non-clients the level of service they are missing out on.
There should also be “urgency” to your video. Don’t rush it, by any means. But the longer you let your video sit in post-production, tinkering with small things and doubting yourself, the less relevant the video will become.
The only thing that will happen by sitting on your video for too long is that it will become outdate. So take your time, find your message, craft your video, get your shots, and then send the thing out! The longer you wait, the more likely you are to become your worst enemy.
Stop thinking of ‘video marketing’ as this separate entity that is optional for your business. Video is an effective form of communication that needs to be integrated into each and every aspect of your existing marketing efforts.—James Wedmore
Many businesses have websites but no inbound video marketing materials for them. Even if you have some videos up on your site, how proud of them are you? You need to do right by your business, and you need to make sure your staff and your co-workers all appreciate how much you want your business to take off and be successful.
If you are uncertain about your inbound marketing, video marketing or your overall marketing results as they stand right now, and you want a second opinion about your website and how things are laid out, then you should find a partner who can help you make sense of it all.
Online video is here to stay and is only getting better. However, you may be trying to find and learn cost effective ways to make online video work for your business. As, a video production company, we have helped many businesses through the creation and implementation of online video marketing, Therefore, in today’s FAQ Friday, let us help you address your unanswered questions surrounding the production and cost of online video marketing.
The sheer cost of video production has come down to a point where there are no barriers to entry. Buyers have devices that can play videos with them at all times… [and] are engaging in 100% more information year-over-year before they make a buying decision.—Joe Pulizzi
How do I get started with video marketing?
So, you have made the decision to use video for inbound marketing purposes. All of your countless hours of research have guided you down the video marketing path. At this point, you might know all about video and its importance to a successful marketing mix and business building, but may not know how to get started with video marketing. Don’t worry, you are not alone. Many people who want to use video simply don’t understand how to ease into video marketing or if they should approach video marketing with gusto.
Often times businesses get so caught up in the planning, they miss deadlines or are unable to finish projects. That is where a full-service video production company can help. From idea to finished product, with or without your collaboration, a video producer can get the project completed in a timely manner. Having a production company that specializes in corporate videos, product videos, etc., is not only beneficial, but necessary in creating an engaging, brand-building, storytelling experience.
If you need help planning, producing, or managing your next video marketing campaign, especially if you and your team does not have the tools or time to create videos for your business, contact us for a free 20-minute marketing and video production consultation.
How can I integrate video into marketing campaigns?
There are many ways to incorporate video into your marketing efforts. For instance, some of the companies we work with develop videos for social engagement, brand awareness, and lead generation. Some of our clients use video for product releases, in-store demos, and unboxing instructions. If you are not sure how your company would best benefit from video, follow these best practices below.
Start your video marketing campaigns now.
Video is the number one source of consumer media, both on desktop computers and mobile devices. The average adult consumes 5.5 hours of video per day. It is never too late to begin creating compelling content, but the cost of inaction can be irreversible.
Establish a set of goals for each video marketing campaign.
Before you jump into producing a video, it is important to establish solid reasons for producing a marketing video in the first place. We like to establish SMART goals for any marketing campaign. These goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. Setting goals for your videos will also provide a more fluid process for tracking and managing your performance and overall video marketing strategy.
Publish online video regularly.
Just like with other forms of content like blogs or podcasts and even social media, having a regularly scheduled release date is important. Creating a consistent publishing schedule will allow your audience to plan ahead, and begin to build a routine around your content.
Remain authentic to your brand and buyer personas.
With video marketing campaigns, it is easy to get off-track to chase a fire or to try to leverage a trend that is hot right now. It is not a good idea to chase these shiny objects as it may skew the message of your brand. Be authentic in your online videos to be successful.
Authenticity, honesty, and personal voice underlie much of what’s successful on the web.—Rick Levine
Hire a professional video production company.
If you have not produced a video before, it may be a good idea to bring a professional video production company on board. This doesn’t have to be a forever decision. The cost of video production and the cost of video editing may seem high for some smaller businesses, but what is the cost of not having the advantage of video within your marketing mix? Video has proven higher return on investment for businesses across the world.
96% of B2B organizations use video in some capacity in their marketing campaigns of which 73% report positive results to their ROI, according to a survey conducted by ReelSEO.
Visual storytelling as you’re building your business can seem near impossible. But with a bit of assistance from a video production company that specializes in brand storytelling, you will be well on your way to clear and concise calls to action and videos that help you stand out in the crowd.
Is video important for social media success?
92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others, according to Invodo.
Video is becoming more and more crucial to brand success as the digital world continues to innovate. Video on social media is at the cutting edge of establishing brand awareness and creating community engagement. Video is important to the success of marketing overall, and if social media is an outlet of you marketing initiatives—video is important to social media success.
When you engage with your fans on Twitter and Facebook, it makes them all the more likely to notice when you have a new video up… and share it with their friends.—Megan O’Neill
How much does a marketing video cost?
The primary factors influencing marketing video costs:
- What is the degree of producing required?
- How long will each video be, and how many videos will you need?
- Will you be planning the production or did you need creative insight, development and someone to oversee the project from beginning to end?
These are all questions that you may not have answers to yet. If you would like help deciphering strategy, production, and the cost of video marketing, you can contact us with any and all concerns you may have. We are here to make you look good.
Until next week, keep your communication lines open. Don’t know the answer—ASK. If you have questions you would like to see featured in our weekly blog, please submit them in the comments below or mention us @DirectImages on Twitter.
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