Video marketing is a great way for businesses to show off their products or services. Globally, it’s expected to reach a market size of $45.6 billion by 2025.
Video content can be incredibly useful for almost any business, but it’s important to do things right so you can get the most out of it.
Paying attention to trends, knowing your audience, and following the best video marketing tips will help ensure that you can produce effective, quality videos for your business.
In this video marketing guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know so that you can use video content to help your business succeed.
The Importance of Video Marketing
Over the years, video marketing has become more important, with it now being one of the most effective types of digital marketing a business can use. Platforms like YouTube have grown significantly, and the widespread use of devices like tablets and smartphones has made it much easier for users to consume video content.
There are various benefits of using video content in marketing, including:
- Increased engagement
- Higher social media shares
- Improved SEO
- Boosts to conversions and sales
- Appeals to mobile users
- Educating your audience
- Aids branding and consumer trust
Not all companies use video marketing, but 54% of customers say that they want to see more video content from their favorite brands. Adding video content to your overall marketing strategy will allow you to reap these benefits and more.
Developing a Video Marketing Strategy
You don’t want to just start recording videos and putting them out. You need to develop an effective video marketing strategy to ensure that you’re doing things right and getting the most benefit for your money.
This could look a bit different for every brand, but in general, there are 6 steps you want to follow to help build your strategy.
1. Determine Your Target Audience
You should have a specific audience that your videos will be aimed at. You can develop buyer personas to help with this. Knowing who will be watching your videos will help you make various decisions about how they should be made.
2. Discuss Your Strategy With Stakeholders
Various people are likely to be involved, so you want to make sure everyone’s on the same page. You can use things like Google Forms to send out questionnaires to stakeholders. You want to make sure everyone is of the same mindset and working toward the same goals.
3. Establish a Budget and a Timeline for Each Video
Videos require time and money, so you want to know what your resources look like from the start. Proper planning will help things run smoothly and efficiently so you can get the most out of your available time and money. You should have a clear timeline showing each step from the conception of a video idea to the finished product.
4. Determine Which Platforms You Want to Use
There are various platforms where you can share videos, such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more. If you’ve identified your target audience properly, you should know which platforms they use the most—these are where you should be placing video content.
The platforms you use will affect the types of videos you make with respect to factors like:
- Video length
- Size and sound limitations
- Promotions
- Budget
Note that you’ll often find that a single video is suitable for various platforms, so you can share the same video in several places, making things more efficient.
5. Settle on Your Messaging and Types of Videos
Think about how to best communicate with your audience. Take into account the different stages of the buyer journey for your customers, and what sort of message is best for them.
At this point, you may also want to consider whether there are any roadblocks in terms of your budget/resources or skills. Factor this in as it may affect your final decision.
6. Determine Which Metrics You’ll Track
You should already have specific goals set out. Based on what these are, you’ll then be able to define the metrics you need to track to see whether those goals are met. Some platforms will have default metrics available for you to use, but these might not be good indicators for your goals.
You ideally want to settle on certain KPIs (key performance indicators) that are relevant to your goals. This can include things like play rate, view count, completion rate, social shares, and more.
Types of Marketing Videos
Different companies use different types of marketing videos, so you need to decide which are the most suitable for your business. Some of the more popular choices include:
- Demo videos
- Brand videos
- Expert interviews
- How-To’s
- Customer testimonials
- 360° and VR videos
The two main things that will determine your choices here will be your target audience and what you want your videos to achieve.
Social Media Considerations
You should be sharing your videos on several social media platforms. There are a few things you need to take into account with respect to these platforms that may affect how you make your video content.
Viewers May Watch Without Sound
Many people scroll through platforms like Instagram and Facebook with their phones on silent. They might see your videos, but not hear them, so you want to think about the visuals.
They should quickly grab the viewer’s attention. It may be ideal to create videos that don’t include too much talking—these can be great for the landing page of your website, but may not be best for social media. Text and captions are also ideal to help the viewer follow along.
Short Videos Are Best
Each platform allows for different video lengths. It’s worth noting, however, that shorter videos will typically get more engagement from viewers as they’re much easier to digest.
Think About Different Screen Sizes
Different devices have different screen sizes, so you’ll want your videos to be flexible. Avoid having important components near the edges of the screen as these may get cut out on some devices.
Your Video Marketing Strategy
A lot of time and work goes into developing an effective video marketing strategy. You can try to tackle this on your own, but with so many moving pieces, it can be incredibly difficult.
Ballantine is a leading digital marketing agency with over 50 years of experience. We can help with your video marketing, as well as various other elements of digital marketing to help your business succeed.
Find out more about the digital marketing services we offer today.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
