A Complete Guide to Video Marketing

A well-orchestrated video marketing campaign can greatly impact your target audience and your overall ROI on marketing efforts. 

91% of marketers are now using video content as of 2023, and a successful video marketing strategy is an excellent vehicle for grabbing attention. Studies suggest that 95% of customers retain information in videos, and most customers (roughly 69%) prefer watching a video versus written text to learn more about a brand, product, or service. 

But before you can start video marketing, you need a plan.  

What is Video Marketing?
How Do You Develop a Video Marketing Strategy?
Monitoring Your Video Marketing Metrics
Types of Video Marketing Content
Transform Your Brand with a Captivating Video Marketing Campaign
Enhance Your Strategy with Insights from a Video Marketing Expert
 

The video creation process, especially for a smart video marketing strategy, entails much more than a few video marketing ideas that turn into creating video content. Instead, your video marketing efforts should be part of a broader marketing strategy that aligns with your brand and future goals. From live videos to product videos to educational content, you want to ensure your videos grab the attention of video viewers and put your product or service in the best light possible. 

Suppose you have just started with video marketing initiatives or want a better way to create online video content. In that case, then it’s time to familiarize yourself with the video marketing tools, video marketing formats, and other video creation considerations required for a video marketing strategy that works. 

What is Video Marketing? 

Video marketing entered the mainstream arena of marketing strategies around 2010 and has skyrocketed in the years that followed. Essentially, video marketing works to connect with a target audience by creating video marketing content that corresponds with other aspects of a comprehensive marketing strategy, like social media, website content, e-campaigns, and more.  

Video marketers can share these brand videos on social media platforms or popular video platforms like YouTube channels. They can even embed them in a blog post or on a website. However, leaving an impact is the key to any effective video marketing strategy. Getting your target audience to watch video content can be a daunting task.  There are 3.7 million videos posted to YouTube every day alone! So, video marketers need to create quality videos that engage, entertain, and tell the brand story. 

How Do You Develop a Video Marketing Strategy?   

The first step of a smart video marketing strategy is to develop a game plan that outlines your video marketing goals, budget, and how you will determine your video marketing metrics. You’ll need to consider the following to create a video marketing strategy that can guide your video marketing efforts well into the future.  

Identify Your Target Audience  

Internet users vary when it comes to the online videos that grab their attention. In addition, your audience may access and watch online videos on different digital and social channels, with unique characteristics and formats. For example, in social media, an online video on TikTok may be shorter and more energetic than demo videos posted on LinkedIn, YouTube, or your own website. When developing your video marketing campaigns, determine what video style and platforms grab your target audience’s attention. Then, use that as a guide for how to create a video that resonates. 

Determine Your budget  

Gone are the days when you needed a hefty budget to create a compelling marketing video. Today, tons of high-quality video tools make video content marketing easier than ever. With the right tools, you can generate anything from the initial video creation to the post-production process.  Consider how much of your budget, resources, and time you want to dedicate to your video marketing strategies and use that as a guide for every digital video you’ll create in the near future. Remember that your budget isn’t just for a single video. It’s for a video marketing plan that ideally includes at least one online video and/or social media post every week (and ideally more.) 

Establish Your Brand Identity 

Your brand identity is much more than including your logo and contact information in every marketing video. Instead, it’s a broader idea that will determine the broad strokes of your video style and which will align with your target audience. Consider how you would describe your brand and what attributes best define your company and use that as a guide for your video styles. For example, a video ad for a casual sportswear company like Champion will inherently differ from a video ad for a high-end fashion company like Gucci.  

Achieving an Effective Call to Action  

Regardless of whether you post live videos or educational videos, every video in your arsenal should have a solid call to action. Ensure that your call to action is included in all your video ideas and remains consistent and connected to your other marketing efforts. 

Monitoring Your Video Marketing Metrics 

You need a way to determine if your video marketing efforts are successful. Therefore, that begins with a smart system for defining your video marketing metrics. An expert marketing partner like ContentFirst Marketing can help pave the way for determining the precise ROI of your marketing videos. However, there are more generalized ways to keep tabs on your success, including the following below. 

• Social media clicks and shares – social media provides instant information on the number of clicks and shares for all social media posts. This can be a solid snapshot of whether your video footage gained attention. 
• Views – YouTube and other digital video channels also regularly track the number of views. You can also regularly monitor and compare all videos within a video marketing campaign. 
• URL clicks – Including a unique URL included in all of your marketing videos (different from your existing website landing pages) will help determine how many video views turned into click-through action. 
• Promotional videos – Offering discounts, promotional offers, and other special incentives that are only mentioned in your video ads is another good way to see if your videos stick with your target audience.  

• Direct feedback – There’s nothing wrong with asking your target audience for their feedback! This request can be included in social media posts, e-campaigns, or any marketing efforts that have direct contact with your current and future customers. 

Types of Video Marketing Content 

Once you have a clearer idea of your overall video marketing strategy, it’s time to determine the different types of videos you will create and post as part of your overall video content. 

When it comes to video content, there are many different types of videos that you can incorporate into your future video marketing efforts, and the type of video will help guide the video format and style.  

A sample of some of these different types of videos (and varying ways to create videos that match these types) is listed below. 

Event Videos or Live Videos 

On-the-spot videos that promote ongoing events, specials, or other happenings at your company are great for sharing news as it happens. These types of videos require little video editing and can be posted live or shortly after an event with minimal effort. 

Explainer Videos or How-to Videos  

Explainer videos or how-to videos are viral on YouTube and social media channels, as they fulfill a need that an internet user is directly searching for. The key to creating a great explainer video is positioning your company as an expert. Have lots of relevant information in your video content, and make education a primary goal, instead of directly advertising your specific product or service.  

Video Ads  

Video ads are straightforward advertisements that explain your brand and your call to action. Additionally, video ads can be posted to your social media channels. Also, you can find opportunities within your video marketing budget to include video ads in other popular video sites or channels like YouTube, Facebook, Google, or other online sources.  

Customer Testimonial Videos  

Customer testimonial videos can help boost your brand’s reputation as a company that can be trusted, as it uses your customers’ past experiences to attract your target audience.  

Augmented Reality Videos  

Augmented reality is becoming a hot up-and-coming topic in the marketing realm. Also, augmented reality can create videos personalized to individual online users based on their specific interests. An expert marketing resource like ContentFirst Marketing can help you explore augmented reality and how it can be incorporated into an overall video strategy. 

Remember that the above list is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many options when it comes to video content, from animated videos to live videos, and a video marketing expert can help you define the video content that will work best for your company. 

 Strategies for Crafting Compelling Video Content that Aligns with Your Brand 

 Creating great video marketing content is not an easy venture. Video marketers need to promote their brand and company while still creating video content that can grab attention in an online realm flooded with billions of competing videos every day. 

The following tips can help with your video planning and ensure that your video content leaves an impression. 

Grab Attention Immediately  

You only have moments to catch your audience’s attention. So, make sure the first few seconds of your marketing videos grab attention from the start and instantly spell out your message.  

Solve a Problem or Fulfill a Need 

The best marketing initiatives, including video marketing assets, explain exactly how a product or service can fulfill a customer’s need or solve a problem. When it comes to video content, you can demonstrate this by telling a story, creating an explainer video, or using other tools that will make it clear how your company fills a gap in your target audience’s lives. 

Keep it Visually Engaging  

You don’t have to shoot in gorgeous, exotic locations or have multiple and expensive post-production tools to create a visually appealing video. Add animation to retain attention, include stock photos or images that grab the eye, or use other tools that make your videos more aesthetically appealing. A video ad that consists of just a talking head can cause an internet user’s eyes to glaze over, so be sure your video content is visually appealing from start to finish. 

Explore Where and How to Post Videos Online  

When it comes to where and how to post your videos, there are endless options. Most social media channels permit video content, while platforms like YouTube are necessary for video marketers. (You should optimally also have your own YouTube channel to keep a running collection of your video content.) Consider the many online locales where you can post an actual video and use these as much as possible. This includes social media channels, online sites, your website, and even e-marketing campaigns. 

Examine Your Competitors  

Your competitors can provide a lot of initial insight when it comes to video marketing, social media marketing, and other types of marketing campaigns! Examine their videos and consider what video content resonates with your common audience. Videos with lots of likes, shares, and comments can provide a little insight into what your target demographic is looking for when it comes to video content. 

Optimize Your Videos 

Make sure that your videos are optimized for every device, especially mobile devices. Research has shown that over half of all customers watch video content on their cell phones. So, you want to ensure that every video you create looks great on every screen size. In addition, you’ll also want to ensure your video files are small enough to easily load, regardless of the strength of an internet connection. Internet users have short attention spans. Therefore, if they have to wait to see your video, they will likely click away and move on to the next video content distraction. 

Watch Your Length  

The best marketing videos are around 90-120 seconds long at most. So, watch your length and make good use of the time allotted. When video editing, keep an eye out for any pause in the action or any content that is excessive or unneeded. Generally speaking, you want to get as much valuable info as possible in every video and in the shortest amount of time possible.  

Don’t forget search engine optimization!  

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential in all forms of marketing, and video marketing is no exception. Ensure you use your target keywords in your video title, description, meta tags, and associated landing pages to ensure that your videos land at the top of the search results pages. 

 Transform Your Brand with a Captivating Video Marketing Campaign  

Most video marketing by small companies is done in an on-the-fly manner, with a little thought to an overall video marketing strategy over the weeks, months, and years to come. This can lead to a disjointed marketing message that may not align with your overall marketing strategy, as well as video content that becomes white noise in a world of video footage. 

Enhance Your Strategy with Insights from a Video Marketing Expert  

The best video marketing strategies start with the insight of an expert, and this is where ContentFirst Marketing can step in and give you an edge above the competition. At ContentFirst Marketing, we’re experts at crafting a comprehensive video marketing strategy from the ground up and tallying the marketing metrics that will concretely show your ROI. 

 Let’s discuss how we can use video marketing strategy to boost your business. With our marketing experts on your side, you can create a comprehensive video marketing strategy that makes an impact and leads to a boost in business and brand loyalty for many years to come.  

Contact us today!