Have you been wondering, “What is video marketing? and why is it necessary for my brand?” Then, you’ve come to the right place for answers.
In the digital world, it’s common knowledge that the attention span of users is fleeting, and there’s fierce competition for eyeballs. Amidst all this, one form of content that has risen to the top is videos. Why? Because, let’s face it, it’s easier to recall the content of a gripping visual story than a block of text.
As a result of this, many brands are embracing video marketing to interact better with their audience. Now, if you want to join these brands and elevate your digital marketing game through video marketing, this guide is for you.
What Is Video Marketing?
It is a digital marketing approach that uses video content to promote or advertise a product or service and engage with a target audience.
Marketing professionals have identified videos as an essential marketing tool. This is because people love watching videos online. So, if you can present your brand with an engaging video, you can communicate your brand message effectively.
Next, we’ll explain in detail why you need to start online video marketing campaigns for your brand.
8 Ways to Build an Effective Video Marketing Strategy
As video consumption increases, digital marketing continues to be a relevant aspect of marketing to savvy brands. However, getting the benefits of this marketing approach involves developing a winning video marketing strategy.
Here are eight easy steps to get started:
1. Define Your Goals
Setting clear and measurable goals is the first step in building a solid video marketing strategy. Defining the goal will guide you through choosing the video style, tone, length, and other key components of video marketing, including distribution.
2. Determine the Best Digital Channels for Distribution
There are different marketing channels where you can post your videos. Choosing one depends on your product or service and the people buying it.
Find out where your offerings will sell more or use your buyer personas, and discover what social media channels they use more. Some distribution channels include YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram (more on this later).
If you decide to use the YouTube platform, you can grow your audience quickly when you buy YouTube subscribers. Using social media marketing services can help grow your page for other social channels. This is necessary to build social proof and increase your reach.
3. Identify Your Target Audience
Decide who you’re making the videos for; know their preferences, behavior, and demographics. In fact, create a buyer persona. This will help you create personalized videos that encourage customer engagement.
4. Allocate a Budget
Video creation and distribution is a relatively cheap process. So, you may not need so much. But it’s best practice to set a budget for better management of resources. To select a budget, understand your audience and determine what type of video works best for them. Short-form videos might cost less than longer videos.
Also, you need to consider the channels for distribution. If you’re going to run paid ads, then you should factor in the costs.
5. Brainstorm Video Content Ideas
Consider your audience, goal, and resources available when choosing content ideas. For example, suppose your audience is at the early stage of your marketing funnel. In that case, you can post videos of current satisfied customers talking about your brand to build trust and move them further along the funnel.
In addition, you need people to be hooked enough to watch the entire video. So, craft a good story and utilize high-quality visuals.
6. Select a Video Type
To select a video type, you need to research the format that sparks the most engagement with your audience. These may include how-to videos, instructional videos, product demos, and other video types, which we’ll discuss later in this guide.
7. Incorporate Video Marketing Best Practices
Some of the best practices for video marketing include:
- Create quality videos
- Post relevant content
- Optimize videos for mobile users
- Add captions because sometimes people watch videos without sound
- Make short videos for socials
- Create personalized message videos to drive engagement
- Listen to feedback
- Add a call-to-action
- Watch out for industry trends in video marketing
- Participate in relevant challenges on socials like TikTok and Instagram
8. Measure and Track Your Video Marketing Campaign
After posting your video campaign, you need to use video analytics to measure your success against the goal for the actual video.
One of the important metrics to analyze is the view count or reach. This metric is especially important when your goal is to raise brand awareness. Other metrics include social sharing and comments, click-through, conversion, bounce, and video completion rates.
4 Benefits of Video Marketing
Video marketing should be an integral part of your overall marketing strategy for the following reasons:
1. Video Content Can Help Increase Your Reach
Videos are highly shareable. This means there’s a high chance that your audience can share your video with friends and family. Additionally, some of the major social channels prioritize videos. So, with a good video strategy, your video can be the next viral thing on the internet.
2. Videos Enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines, like Google, now push videos to the top pages of search results. So, including videos on your website improves its overall SEO and gives you a better ranking.
3. Videos Boost Conversion Rate
Product demo videos can provide potential customers with a better understanding of what you’re offering and influence their buying decision-making process. Also, visual storytelling can evoke emotions. So, if you create videos that resonate with your audience, you’ll get more people closing deals.
4. Videos Can Help in Lead Generation
Creating a video campaign is usually more effective than a picture ad on some platforms. So, when running high-quality video ads to get leads, you can expect higher engagement, filling your sales funnel with more customers.
Types of Marketing Videos
Now that you know how to develop effective video marketing strategies, let’s explore the different marketing videos you can create.
1. Brand Videos
A brand video shows your company’s product or service. It also communicates your brand values, mission, and vision. Companies use these videos to attract prospective customers and increase brand awareness.
2. Demo Videos
A demo video is a type of high-quality content that shows what your product entails and how it works using video. They give users a feel of what they are buying and helps influence their purchasing decision.
3. Explainer Videos
Explainer videos focus on ‘explaining’ to your audience the benefits of buying your product. An explainer video will show the problem the product solves and introduces the product as the solution.
4. Event Videos
As the name implies, this type of video shows excerpts from any event your company hosts. It could be a clip showing behind-the-scenes footage, presentations, or engaging interviews recorded during the event.
6. Educational Videos
Educational videos provide your audience with new knowledge that fosters understanding of your brand and its solutions.
7. Augmented Reality (AR) Videos
AR videos give an immersive experience to video viewers. For example, you can see how a physical product, like a chair, fits in your space before purchasing.
The Video Production Process
You’ve set a solid strategy for video marketing. Also, you’ve determined the types of video marketing you need to implement. Now, it’s time to create the videos. There are three stages involved in the creation process.
Pre-production
This part of the video creation process involves setting up and preparing. It involves brainstorming the video content, scripting your video, and scheduling a shoot.
Production
This is the actual shoot for the video. The production company must use excellent audio/visual quality devices, and the lighting must be perfect.
Post-production
This involves video editing. You check your video footage to examine the sound and add graphic effects at this stage.
How to Distribute Your Marketing Video
Now your video is ready, and you need the world to see what you’ve cooked up. Here are a few places where they can go:
- Website: Your landing pages, homepage, e-commerce pages.
- Blog: Add videos to your blog post for better engagement.
- YouTube: With seven different ad formats, you can push your content on the platform via paid advertising or post on your channel for organic growth.
- Social Media Platforms: Since social algorithms now prioritize videos, include video content in your social media posts.
Wrapping Up
We have successfully answered the question ‘What is video marketing?’ and explored other aspects of this marketing approach.
Now, you’ve been equipped with the knowledge to make a winning video marketing strategy to boost your brand’s reach and conversion rate. You may not get it a hundred percent the first time, but constantly tracking your video campaigns and making necessary changes will make you a pro in no time.
