5 Steps to Create a Successful Video Marketing Strategy
We've reached a point in the marketing world where every business needs some form of video. Every customer has come to expect to see some form of video from anyone they plan on buying from. These customers tend to trust more businesses that show them who they are through video, give them more insight into their process, and share feedback from other customers. Video is most likely the type of media that your customers are already engaged with the most online. Studies show that over the past ten years, the amount of time adults in the US spend viewing digital media has more than DOUBLED to an average of 494 minutes a day! That's an insane statistic, and the trend is only going up. Since video is starting to play such a vital role in marketing, it's becoming more and more obvious the companies that will succeed will be the ones that embrace it the most. Another statistic that will blow your mind is viewers retain more than 95% of a message when viewing a video versus just 10% when reading. Using video is an obvious game changer to your marketing strategy. So if you're ready to get started, here are 5 steps to help you create a successful marketing strategy.
Set Goals for your videos
Like any form of marketing, this is not something you can just wing it with. From the very start, you should sit down and strategize over what your goals are and how you think videos could help you achieve them. Is your goal simply to increase sales? Videos of your products along with testimonials from happy customers will help you do that! Are you simply wanting to increase your brand awareness? A solid brand message video will help you send out a clear message of who you are and can live on your website for years as a way of immediately introducing yourself to potential customers. There are also educational videos to help inform customers about your industry, which puts more trust in your knowledge as a supplier, walkthrough videos introducing customers to your space before they've ever visited, and even behind-the-scenes videos to break down the wall showing how things work at your business. The list goes on and on, and the options are endless!
You'll need several videos - Because Content is King
Gone are the days when a company can make one impressive video showing off who their company is, and then let it sit for 5 years before making a new one. Now you don't just need one video, you need CONTENT (a constant stream of videos).
Back in 1996, when the internet was just a baby, Bill Gates wrote a very prophetic essay about the future of the internet in which he coined the term "Content is King." Even back then, he knew that the most powerful force the internet would produce is content. And since 80% of the internet traffic is video these days, it's safe to say that content = video. With that in mind, it's very important to not just think of video as just one thing you need to check off your to-do list by making 1-3 videos and forgetting about it. To get the most out of video marketing, it must be a long-term strategy that you are regularly updating! And regularly updating those videos brings us to our next point…
Make a plan and Schedule Release dates
Creating a long-term strategy for video marketing absolutely requires a plan and a schedule. Once you have your goals in place and you have an idea of what kind of videos you want to make, it's time to start planning! How many videos do you think you can afford to make? How often do you want to release these videos and/or post them on social media? From there, it's simple. Let's say you want to start by making 5 videos and you want to release 2 videos a month. Set up a schedule where you will have those videos created, ready to go, and scheduled for release every two weeks. Then, the most important part is to keep at it! These strategies don't work if you simply release several videos for 2-3 months and then stop. Your customers will wonder where you went! To keep everything moving along, and save time, it's just as important to schedule filming days ahead of time…
Film Multiple videos at once
Multitasking is the name of the game when it comes to video marketing. You'll save so much time by setting aside a half or full day to film several videos, schedule them for release, and then forget about video for a month or two until your next film day comes around! This is a HUGE time saver that will keep you from burning out from having to film a new video every 2-3 weeks. The most important part is to make sure you stick to your schedule! Remember how vital video marketing is and don't let it be something you push to the side because you're too busy.
Reuse that footage and reuse it again!
Another huge time saver is to get the most out of everything you film by reusing that footage. This doesn't mean you just take a video and simply repost it, but rather, you take footage you have from the past and find multiple places for it to go. For example, you film a testimonial video and have lots of great footage of you interacting with the client that filmed the testimonial. Take that footage, and then film a short video of you talking about your process when working with clients and use that same footage to put over it. Another idea is to take one or two of your best shots from the testimonial, and create a short, 10-second looping video with text over it of an online review you received from that client. You've now gotten THREE pieces of content from ONE video you filmed! Squeeze every last drop out of everything you film and it will save you time and money, and give you more content to work with!
With all of these steps put together, you'll be well on your way to creating a very solid foundation for your video marketing strategy. You'll be shocked at how easy it is once you set up a system and simply make it a regular part of your schedule! It eventually becomes just as simple as any of your other regular tasks like bookkeeping, sales calls, or paying bills. And if you need help getting started, we'd love to walk you through the process to set some goals, create a strategy, film and create some incredible content, and set you up for success in the video marketing world to make a huge impact on your business and brand.