In the current marketing sphere, it is almost impossible to ignore the essence of video marketing. A report from Forbes indicates that approximately 90% of online marketers are taking advantage of online marketing, both small startups, and established enterprises.
That said, if you are just starting up on this, you shouldn’t worry much. For sure, planning, creating, and running the entire video marketing strategy can seem like an insurmountable project. However, it is manageable, especially if you implement the right strategy. On that note, check out the following top video marketing best practices.
1. Have a Goal
Before setting out to write a script, creating a YouTube channel and recording your video, you should out rightly define your video marketing strategy goals. Without a clear outline of what you want your video marketing strategy to achieve, you might waste money, time, and make mistakes repeatedly.
Some goals companies planning to use a video marketing strategy make include;
- To increase sales conversions and leads
- To increase website traffic and engagement
- To increase customer retention in their websites
- To foster brand awareness and loyalty
2. Have a Clearly Defined Target Audience
You are certainly creating a video to reach some people. Well, who are these people? If you can’t answer this simple question, high chances are that you are not well prepared for a video marketing strategy. To define your real target audience, you should ask yourself several questions. They include;
- How old is your target audience? Answering this will help you understand how they will consume your video.
- Where does your target audience work? This will help streamline the tone of your video content, especially for B2B companies.
- Where does your target audience live? This will help check on the tone as well.
- What problems does your target audience potentially have? In this case, hope that your products and services will solve the problems your audience have. The solution is what marketers refer to as the unique selling proposition.
- How will you solve your audience’s problems? Answering this question will not only inform you on how to create your video strategy but also your entire content marketing strategy.
- Use tools, such as the best YouTube analytics addon, to help guide your efforts
3. Align Your Video to Your Sales Funnel
In every business, customers mean everything. Regardless of the endless fancy techniques you use, if your customers aren’t making purchases, you will not be doing any business. This is where identifying your sales funnel comes in. A video sales funnel does exactly what the name suggests. It helps in moving your customers through the various stages of the purchase.
Before any purchase, a customer ought to be aware of your products, develop an interest, show intent, evaluate the product, and purchase the product. That said, it is important that you understand how the sales funnel of your company works for a better video marketing strategy.
Think of how you turn your customers from a lead to a client. How will you close the sale? Of much importance is identifying the stage in your sales funnel where you are struggling the most.
Fact is, different videos will perform differently at various stages of the funnel. Whereas some videos like explainer videos specialize in attracting viewer interest and engagements, others like product demos and webinars work on educating the viewers. That said, mapping the video onto your customer’s buyer journey is beneficial.
4. Create Intriguing Videos
Well, all the video marketing best practices mentioned above are more ideological. This is important as you should have a strong strategy before wasting your time and the company’s money on bad content. Of much importance is that you should create kick-ass video content.
You can arrive at this in several ways. For starters, you can decide to tell a story. Stories are perhaps the most effective ways of communicating with your audience. Create a story that will affect your viewers emotionally. This is why understanding your audience is of much importance before developing the video strategy.
The other strategy of creating a kick-ass video is hooking your audience quickly. You have a maximum of 10 seconds to catch your audience’s short attention span. Your audience probably has several other contents to choose from. If your video graphics and the title does not woo them, you will be losing them instantly.
You should also avoid making an overly salesy video. People want solutions to their potential problems. They will focus less on listening to a sales focussed video. Your message shouldn’t be tuned in a way that your audience think that you are only interested in their money. Sell a solution to their problem.
Your videos should also be interpretable without sound. Not all your audience will be watching your videos with audio on. Especially if you plan on sharing on various social media channels, make sure that your videos can convey your message even while muted. This aside, don’t forget curating your videos for SEO. Since the videos are going to be posted on the internet, don’t forget to give them as much SEO as your blog posts and texts.
5. Call Your Audience Into Action
If you have been watching YouTube videos, all will begin by asking you to like, subscribe to their channel and share the video. Though it may sound desperate, in video marketing, your desperation level should be the same. However, your call to action terms might be slightly different.
You can use simple terms such as “head to our website,” “click here to download your free item,” or other terms. Whatever your CTA is, ensure that your viewers can clearly see it the second it appears.
Conclusion
Video marketing is perhaps the best thing that has happened to internet marketing currently. While developing your video marketing strategy, it is important that you don’t bog your audience with irrelevant messages. Your video should be clear, communicate in simple terms, and plan your campaign carefully.
Videos can no longer be ignored, as they are the future of content marketing. Check out the various statistics if you doubt this. If you want to ace your video marketing strategy, consider checking out the tips mentioned above.
