Getting Started With Video Marketing

Video marketing is a powerful and dynamic marketing tool, and if you’re not yet including it in your marketing strategy, we guarantee you’re missing out. Why are we so sure about that? Simply put, effective video marketing works to increase your web traffic, conversion rates and social engagement. Not convinced? Here are a few key stats to consider:

• Online videos account for an estimated 80% of consumer internet traffic.
• Views on branded video content have increased 258% on Facebook and 99% on YouTube since June 2017.
• Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs).

Now that you’ve seen some compelling numbers, let’s move on to how you can incorporate video into your own marketing strategy.

What Is Video Marketing?

Video marketing is the use of videos to promote your products and/or services. If this is a new concept to you, don’t worry – you’re far from alone. In fact, 91% of small businesses are not currently using YouTube for marketing.

Getting Started with Video Marketing

Getting started with a video marketing strategy can seem daunting. But if you can take steps to incorporate comprehensive video marketing strategies into your campaigns little by little, the process will be less overwhelming.

Tips to get started with video:

1. Identify a frequently asked question, problem or concern that your business solves.
2. Choose what format you want your video to appear in (be it long, short, or live).
3. Obtain the equipment needed to produce the video. Often all you’ll need is a smartphone!
4. Write a script. Don’t try to shoot a video without a script; the result won’t be what you envisioned, and it will take a lot longer to produce.
5. Record your video.

Video Marketing Tips

“Marketers who deploy video in their campaigns generally get better and more consistent results than marketers who don’t use video,” says Travis Simpson, President of Symbolscape Media.

With that said, impressive results don’t happen without engaging, well-designed videos that send a clear message and evoke emotion.

To master producing video content, incorporate the following.

1. Always make an appointment with your audience

Create a schedule with the specific times for when you’re going to post videos – and be consistent. Your audience will become reliant on these times; if you don’t post when you say you will, you may lose their trust. This can lead to lost business opportunities.

2. Feature talent that your audience trusts

When it comes to the overall success of your video marketing, the people you show in your content, the message you’re sending and the topics you cover all play a major role.

3. Make sure there is a starting point, a conflict and a resolution

As with any story, your video must have a beginning (or a “before”) to paint a picture. Something needs to happen; it could be the protagonist having a problem they need to solve, etc., but there has to be a conflict or pain point of some kind to propel the story along. After the conflict is presented, you need to present a resolution, which solves the problem and happily completes the story.

4. Create a hook

Even with a likable protagonist, an engaging storyline and a continued commitment to your posting schedule, it’s difficult to capture the attention of an audience without a hook. Ask yourself these questions:

• What’s different about what you’re producing?
• How are you standing out from the noise in the online world?
• What’s going to make your video memorable?

If you have answers to those questions, you have your hook!

5. Tie it all together with marketing automation

As you master your content production and grow your subscriber/follower base, the more people you will have exploring the rest of your website.

A video is easy for an audience to consume; you can drop a thumbnail into an email and create a video landing page. In fact, according to Campaign Monitor, video marketing increases click-through rate by up to 50%.

Marketing automation takes over some of your marketing and sales engagement processes. With it, you’ll generate more leads, convert those leads to sales and optimize return-on-investment (ROI).

A marketing automation platform lets you use a tracking and metrics tool to track engagement statistics and capture details about the people who view them. By obtaining increased visibility into engagement metrics, your creative team can learn what types of videos appeal to your target audience. This enables your team to tweak the videos, optimizing them for conversion.

As your subscribers and followers start clicking through your website and downloading more of your content, they’re most likely ready to make a purchase (or at least move further through the buyer’s journey). This is an indication that you need to launch a product-specific nurture campaign. Create a persona with your viewers in mind, write compelling content personalized to who these people are and use lead nurturing to help move these leads closer to making a purchase.

In Conclusion

Video is one of the best ways to get up close and personal with your audience. It’s also a key method of letting them know what your business is doing – so show them an exciting event, offer some information about your product or share your philosophy. The more they know about your company, the more likely they will stick with you.

Get more information from our in-depth guide to video marketing. If you would like to talk to our experts on video marketing and marketing automation, contact us or get a demo.