A video marketing strategy should be a mainstay in any digital marketing plan. Consider these stats:
The stats really drive home just how huge video has become online — and how big it will grow over the coming years.
But producing video for the sake of content creation isn’t going to provide you with any meaningful results. Like a new blog or website, videos should be driven by strategy. You need a plan. If you’re just starting with using video as part of your marketing strategy, take the right steps for the ROI you want.
Video needs to serve a purpose for your business. Ask yourself why are you creating them and what you want the viewer to do next. Are you trying to:
Write down on paper precisely what you’re trying to communicate to your audience about your brand, and then use this to inform your strategy going forward.
The nature of the videos you produce ultimately depends on your brand, what you sell and what kinds of content your audience likes. When coming up with ideas, consider these different types of videos and how you might be able to leverage them for your business:
The mood of your videos will go a long way in keeping people engaged and moving them through the marketing funnel. Once you know what your audience likes (persona development, anyone?), then you have a good road map for conveying the right tone with your videos.
The tone of your videos can be:
Figure out at which stage in the marketing funnel that your video will be of the most help. This will also have an influence on the overall tone and style of your video. Go through each stage of the funnel:
Don’t hand filming and production responsibilities off to just anyone with a smartphone. You need a professional videographer who is experienced in marketing as well.
When vetting candidates for video creation, ask about their experience and expertise in creating brand videos. They should understand how video fits into a larger content marketing strategy and be able to show you samples of their work.
Production quality has a huge impact on video views and conversions. Be ready to devote part of your budget to the look and sound of your video. You need:
Your goal for the video in the first place will dictate how you distribute it. The best placement for your video depends on how you want people to interact with it.
If it’s part of an email campaign, for example, then email is the logical distribution method. Other channels that might make sense for your videos are:
You already know how you want to leverage your video in your marketing strategy. If you analyze your data, you can track just how much value you got out of it.
Before you send your video into cyberspace for consumption, figure out which metrics you need to track to best measure its performance. Some helpful metrics are:
Video production can come with a hefty price tag, but the demand for video can translate into massive ROI. If you want to learn more about how to leverage video in your marketing strategy, attend one of our Digital Summit conferences. These events bring together marketers, visionaries and brand leaders from across North American for the latest in digital marketing.
- Companies using video enjoy 41% more organic traffic than those that don’t (Small Business Trends)
- Videos will make up more than 80% of all online traffic by 2020 (Cisco)
- People watch a billion hours of videos a day on YouTube (YouTube)
- Nicola Mendelsohn, vice president of Facebook’s European, Middle Eastern and African operations, said Facebook will “probably” be all video in a few years (Quartz)
The stats really drive home just how huge video has become online — and how big it will grow over the coming years.
But producing video for the sake of content creation isn’t going to provide you with any meaningful results. Like a new blog or website, videos should be driven by strategy. You need a plan. If you’re just starting with using video as part of your marketing strategy, take the right steps for the ROI you want.
Determine the goal of your video strategy
Video needs to serve a purpose for your business. Ask yourself why are you creating them and what you want the viewer to do next. Are you trying to:
- Increase brand awareness
- Generate leads
- Drive conversions
- Boost sales
Write down on paper precisely what you’re trying to communicate to your audience about your brand, and then use this to inform your strategy going forward.
Decide which types of videos you’ll make
The nature of the videos you produce ultimately depends on your brand, what you sell and what kinds of content your audience likes. When coming up with ideas, consider these different types of videos and how you might be able to leverage them for your business:
- Webinars
- Interviews
- Customer testimonials
- Tutorials
- Demos
Decide the tone of your videos
The mood of your videos will go a long way in keeping people engaged and moving them through the marketing funnel. Once you know what your audience likes (persona development, anyone?), then you have a good road map for conveying the right tone with your videos.
The tone of your videos can be:
- Educational
- Entertaining
- Inspiring
- Friendly
- Serious
- Off-the-cuff
Map your video to a stage in the marketing funnel
Figure out at which stage in the marketing funnel that your video will be of the most help. This will also have an influence on the overall tone and style of your video. Go through each stage of the funnel:
- Awareness. Generate awareness and interest with educational videos at the top of the funnel. Help your customers solve their problems.
- Consideration. Help them evaluate you and the solutions you offer. Demo videos are great for this stage.
- Conversion. Now you can put on your sales hat. Testimonials make good video content for the bottom of your funnel.
- Advocacy. Keep the love going with customer success videos that demonstrate how clients can get the most out of your product.
Find videographers who understand video marketing
Don’t hand filming and production responsibilities off to just anyone with a smartphone. You need a professional videographer who is experienced in marketing as well.
When vetting candidates for video creation, ask about their experience and expertise in creating brand videos. They should understand how video fits into a larger content marketing strategy and be able to show you samples of their work.
Prepare to make high-quality videos
Production quality has a huge impact on video views and conversions. Be ready to devote part of your budget to the look and sound of your video. You need:
- Lighting
- A location
- Actors
- A camera
- A microphone
- Video editing tools
Choose the distribution channels for your video
Your goal for the video in the first place will dictate how you distribute it. The best placement for your video depends on how you want people to interact with it.
If it’s part of an email campaign, for example, then email is the logical distribution method. Other channels that might make sense for your videos are:
- YouTube and Vimeo
- Your social platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn)
- Your blog
- A landing page
- A webpage
Decide how you will measure the success of your video
You already know how you want to leverage your video in your marketing strategy. If you analyze your data, you can track just how much value you got out of it.
Before you send your video into cyberspace for consumption, figure out which metrics you need to track to best measure its performance. Some helpful metrics are:
- The number of views
- The number of impressions
- The number of unique visitors
- The average amount of your video’s time that people are watching
- The number of times it was shared
- The click-through rate
- The conversion rate
- The comments people are leaving on your video
Attend Digital Summit to learn more
Video production can come with a hefty price tag, but the demand for video can translate into massive ROI. If you want to learn more about how to leverage video in your marketing strategy, attend one of our Digital Summit conferences. These events bring together marketers, visionaries and brand leaders from across North American for the latest in digital marketing.