Substance and Style

Everyone wants to market with video these days, and for good reason. Video is processed by our minds more quickly and holds our attention longer than text. It’s more appealing to most audiences, builds trust, increases organic traffic, and converts more than other types of marketing. But it can be daunting for beginners. The key is to have a strategy and make a plan before jumping in. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Think of your video strategy as part of your overall marketing strategy. What are you trying to accomplish with video? What overall marketing goals can you advance with your video campaign(s)? Think about your audience, what you want them to gain by watching your videos, and what you want them to do when they’re done. Have a goal for video marketing in general, and a goal for each video. For each video you plan, ask yourself how you would know if it were successful.
   
2. Figure out what kinds of videos will help you meet the goals you’ve set. You can use video to show your products, collect customer testimonials, solve pain points for potential customers, answer FAQs, show your company culture to potential staff, etc. Some of these goals can be met with TikTok style videos around the office, whereas some require polished live-action commercials, or animated explainer videos. It’s fine to have a mix of video styles; just make sure you’re matching your projects to your goals and audience segments.
   
3. Figure out what you need to make the videos you want to make. What are the creative and technical requirements for your video projects? What’s your budget for video marketing? Do you have everything you need in house, or will you need to hire someone? For many videos, it will be fine to start with what you have, or make a minimal investment, and get more equipment as you go. You most likely have a phone that shoots high enough quality video for social media; an inexpensive lavalier microphone and a ring light will up the production quality significantly. If you’re planning to record your screen or use motion graphics or special effects, you will need to learn those skills or hire someone who has them, and invest in the appropriate software.
   
4. Figure out how people will see your videos. Will you post them on your website, YouTube, or other social media channels? Will you email them to people directly? Make sure you optimize your videos for discovery on your website and YouTube with good keywords, descriptions, and customized thumbnails. Make sure you take the specifics of each platform into account when producing your videos (linkedin, for example, plays videos automatically without sound, so if you’re posting there, you need to make sure you use subtitles).
   
5. Make a schedule. Be realistic about the time it takes to produce videos and make a schedule you can stick to. Unless making videos is your business, you don’t want to spend hours a day on videos, so don’t plan to make two explainer videos a week and three shorter TikToks every day. Consistency is key to building an audience, building trust, and being found on search engines. It’s better to make a video every two weeks that is meaningful and helpful to your audience than to make a video every day and burn out after six weeks.
   
6. Measure your results. Look into your metrics for clues about what’s going well and what needs improving. If you’re producing eight minute videos, and 80% of your audience is dropping off at three minutes, make your videos shorter. If your videos are working on Facebook but not on twitter, look at your audience segments and figure out how you can customize your approaches. Lastly, consider the goals you set for each video; these often matter more than metrics. If your goal was to get people to buy a product after watching the videos, and 25% of people do, but only 500 people watch the video, that’s much better for your business than if your video went viral and 1,000,000 people watched it, but none of them converted.