The importance of video to growing your business simply can’t be overstated. Consider some of the more eye-popping findings:
- According to a report by HubSpot, 54 percent of consumers want videos from brands – more than any other type of content.
- Video on landing pages can increase conversion rates by as much as 80 percent.
- Ninety percent of consumers save said videos help them make buying decisions.
However, we’re talking about video MARKETING, not videos made for entertainment or art. So…
- You need a video marketing strategy.
- Your video strategy needs to fit into a larger marketing campaign (dare we say every campaign?).
- Every aspect of your video marketing strategy needs to work toward meeting specific goals, through specific tactics.
Plan to Be Effective
The first step to building an effective video marketing strategy is to determine the purpose of each video or videos you plan to create. Part of that will be to decide what segment of your audience you’re trying to attract and where that audience stands in its relationship with your business. It may help to think of your video strategy like “working the room” at a cocktail party:
- If the goal is to initially attract the audience, create buzz, and be charming and memorable – this would be best for short, personality-based “snackable” video or ads we hear so much about on social media.
- When the relationship is more established, let the conversation go a bit deeper. Show the group there’s substance behind the charm – perhaps through client testimonials or a thought-leadership video on YouTube, Vimeo, or even publicized through email.
- When it’s time to do business, metaphorically invite your audience to the table and really get into the details of what you can offer – either with explainers, how-to’s, or even webinars hosted on your site (see below).
Put some thought into the response you want your videos to incite. The goal is usually a visceral response that viewers will want to share with others; the most successful emotional responses are happiness, sadness, hope and fear.
Solve a Problem, Tell a Story
Your video message should also have a goal, and it’s likely to include sharing the stories of all the ways your product or business can resolve problems for your audience. These stories should acknowledge your audience’s challenges and vividly demonstrate your solutions. Help your audience “see” themselves in your video; this combination of emotional appeal and product demonstration is exactly why the video format has become so popular with viewers.
Furthermore, your message goals must be actionable. What is it you want people to do, or believe, after they watch? For instance, are you converting interested viewers into business prospects?
Arrive Late, Leave Early
The overall length of each video will likely be dictated by its purpose, but plan to keep your videos tightly produced. The shorter and more compelling your story, the more likely your viewers will watch all the way to the end and see your call to action. So take a clue from the storytelling rule of “arrive late, leave early”: jump straight into your story with your hook appearing within the first few seconds, and don’t be afraid to cut as soon as your story is resolved. Leave your audience wanting more.
Choose the Right Channel
YouTube is not the only platform for your videos these days. For instance, Forbes has said that more than 500 million – yes, half a billion – people watch video on Facebook every day. So select your platform according to its audience and the video’s purpose, and plan your video’s format according to the requirements of the platform.
As we referenced above, it’s best practice to have videos hosted on your own website as your prospect engagement funnel narrows (you don’t want great prospects clicking through to your YouTube channel, then getting distracted and falling down a rabbit hole). If videos are embedded on your site, you remain in control of the customer journey.
Finally, try adding automations to your email campaigns, where video can increase clickthrough rates by as much as 90 percent.
Trade Something for Something
To elaborate a bit more on your prospecting, in today’s video-hungry world, don’t relegate videos to just the top of your funnel. Viewers turn themselves into leads when you offer them something they want and can only get by providing their contact information, their business needs, etc. Such enticements could be webinars, special product demos, case studies, or even more in-depth how-to videos.
Analyze Your Data
In today’s marketing environment of deep analytics, it’s bordering on unprofessional to just throw something out there and hope it works. Before a single frame is shot, know which KPIs will be most relevant to your video strategy goals, and allocate time and resources for tracking and analysis. View count and social shares may serve for increasing brand awareness, but play-time and video completions will tell you more about how successful your video was in appealing to your audience – and provide great insights into optimum length for future videos. They may also help you refine your choice of platforms. Finally, if your call to action supports a KPI like click-through rate, make sure to learn from that as well. Pro tip: Understand how your platforms define the analytics they offer (for instance, how long do viewers have to watch before it’s considered a “view” or a “completion”?).
Keep It Going
Developing a lead into a customer is only the beginning. Video can deepen the relationship and help develop your customers into brand evangelists through useful content such as onboarding videos, educational content, and new product training.
Granted, all this is a lot to absorb and implement – particularly if your business or agency doesn’t already employ a video marketing team. Make DreamItReel your team! We’re small enough to provide the highest quality work, large enough to get your video produced anywhere in the world, and smart enough to do it all quickly and for a very reasonable cost. Contact us today.
