How to prepare a video marketing strategy

More and more consumers are turning to video for learning about brands and even for purchasing. Therefore it’s vital for your marketing team to consider using video as a tool for driving conversion.

However, taking that first step and getting started can be a daunting task. There are a number of questions that need answering:

  • How do you know what content to produce?

  • What should your budget be?

  • Do you need to outsource?

Preparing a video marketing strategy takes time and effort, so start out internally. Analyze your budget, decide on the expertise you have in-house, and then decide whether it’s worthwhile to hire experts to join your team or to outsource your video marketing project.

Before you answer all of these questions, however, it’s important to have a process in place to ensure success at every stage. Once you’re ready to pull the trigger, there are a number of steps involved in creating a successful video marketing strategy. Here are some helpful tips to get you started.

6 steps to help you create a video marketing strategy that sells

1. Identify your audience and understand what they want.

Before you begin any digital marketing campaign, you have to first identify your audience. You can do so with a number of analytics tools, but you likely already have a ballpark to work with when it comes to who you are targeting.

This is even more important when it comes to video. This medium can easily come off as juvenile and off-brand if you aren’t keeping your audience in mind.

For example, if you try to get too political and your brand isn’t known for having such strong, social and political opinions, then you can alienate a portion of your audience and turn them off right away.

Before you begin strategizing, do some more research about your audience. Learn what content they regularly absorb. Find out what it is about your brand that really invigorates them. Then use these insights to build a video strategy that drives traffic to your website.

Consumers want to see their favorite brands promoting more video—so give the people what they want.

2. Outline your video marketing goal.

It’s important to set a goal you’re trying to achieve with your video content. Video for the sake of video just won’t cut it, so you have to decide on what your goals are before creating a video and deciding what it should look like.

If increasing sales is a main driver, a demo video might be helpful, considering 80% of users find these types of video incredibly useful when deciding on a purchase.

It’s always important to outline goals at the beginning of any campaign. These goals are what will drive the project forward. And keeping these goals at the forefront of your strategy ensures that all team members are working toward the same end goals the entire time.

This alignment ultimately drives success. Video marketing campaigns work much like other digital marketing strategies. The content and the medium differ, yes—but in order for you to call this strategy a success, you need to know what you’re trying to achieve right from the start.

Make sure everyone working on this video project knows what the overarching objectives are. This will drive a more structured, brand-boosting strategy with an ROI worth sharing with the rest of the team.

One brand killing the video game recently is Gillette.

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The successful men’s razor brand made an impression with their recent video series. In this viral campaign, they take on a pressing political and social movement.

These videos capture a different, more somber, and poignant tone for the beauty brand. And at first glance, it might seem like these videos are coming out of left field. But that’s because they were created with a very strategic end goal: to grab attention and start a conversion journey.

And if you’ve seen the video—or at least a news coverage of it—you’d agree that they definitely succeeded.

This was part of a great brand awareness campaign, of course. But the creators behind these viral videos knew what they were doing and built a video with the goal of starting new buyer’s journeys.

For your video to be successful, it has to do the same. You must build it knowing what actions you want viewers to take. Your goals might be more tangible and trackable—they might be increasing traffic, driving conversions, or inspiring downloads—but either way, your video campaign needs to have a very realistic goal to survive.

3. Strategize what content works best for your brand.

Forty-three percent of marketers cite video as their most effective content marketing initiative.

Video has the ability to drive traffic and conversions, opening up your brand to wider audiences and engaging on a more personal level. But in order to reap the benefits of a successful video marketing campaign, the next step in the process is deciding on the content and video type that best fits your brand.

Are you driving awareness or driving visitors to your website? Are you encouraging people to buy a product or simplifying your brand offerings? Depending on the questions you’re looking to answer, the type of video you produce will differ. And there are dozens of video types out there—demos, how-to’s, social videos, motion graphics, interviews, and more.

Once you’ve outlined your strategic goals and decided on the content type, you’ll be one step closer to creating video marketing content that makes an impact.

4. Develop a video outline and produce the video.

The next step in the video marketing process is actually creating the video. Depending on the type, you will need a video crew or a team of graphic designers and animators to create a visual display fit for your brand.

This is when you reach out to an outsourced video production company if you’ve decided to go down that route and your budget allows.

You should give this team your objectives, the type of content you’re looking for, and enlist them in creating a video—all aligned around the same objectives.

In-house production has a similar process. It’s a fantastic blending of marketing best practices, company branding, and creativity.

The resulting video—after many rounds of editing—will then be ready to upload and promote.

5. Decide what platforms are in line with your business.

It’s official: viewers over the age of 18 stopped watching prime time television. Instead, they turn to platforms like YouTube to consume your content.

Of course, what works best for you will depend on your brand and your audience. But these are important figures to know when deciding how and where to upload and promote your video content.

From Vimeo to Youtube to your own landing page, there are a number of places where this video content can live. And where this content lives will have a major impact on engagement and interactivity. So once a video is produced, you need to do some additional research to learn where your new video will find its best home.

It also helps to know what the goal of these videos is. If you’re driving sales, it might be best to situate these videos on your product or landing pages. If you’re driving a brand campaign, YouTube might be the optimal platform because it lets you embed these videos across a variety of email campaigns and more.

6. Promote across all social and digital channels.

Social media is extremely helpful when it comes to promoting video content. This platform makes it easy for your audience to consume your content and interact with it. Not only that, but social channels encourage sales, with 64% of consumers reporting they make a purchase after watching a branded video on social.

To accompany this video, you need to roll out a comprehensive social media marketing campaign. This ensures the widest audiences interact with your content—and social videos make a visceral impact on audiences.

Some of the most influential brands utilize social media for their video marketing initiatives. Buzzfeed’s Tasty brand does a great job at utilizing social media video.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtMWVp8ls7v/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

These short but addictive videos grab attention immediately. They are tantalizing and impactful. They were made for social, which makes them vital in driving the business growth goals you’re looking to achieve.

Wrap up

Video marketing is a blossoming arena for marketers old and new. This video content has the ability to reach new audiences, simplify complex concepts, and bridge the gap between brand and consumer. And considering the increased importance of video in the coming years, it’s time to hone in on this medium and perfect your strategy!

Video marketing opens the door to a number of opportunities for brand growth and success. If you’re looking to drastically expand your business, crack the social media marketing game, and establish yourself as a relatable and credible authority, then you need to start ASAP and practice with video.

Eager to learn more about video marketing? See how email marketing and video intersect in other posts on our blog like this one.

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