Today, video marketing has become a prime driver of engagement and sales, given that most people would rather watch a video about a product or service than read about it in an article.
However, for a video to have a memorable impact on prospective consumers, it has to be created and disseminated properly.
You must know what kind of video you should use to reach out to your target audience, where you should post it, and a lot of other factors which you will learn in this article.
So, let us dive right into it and see how to properly do video marketing in 2021 and beyond.
How to use Video Marketing to Grow Your Business
#1: Be a storyteller and not a salesman
In the past, brands had to use the television to interrupt scheduled entertainment to get their message out to their prospective customers.
You can imagine watching an action program on TV and just when it is getting exciting, it is cut short to show a commercial. Quite frustrating, right?
This is the reason why storytelling has been embraced as a way of creating great videos to drive sales and engagement.
You need to craft a story around your product or service. Find a way to emotionally weave a story around your brand and get your audience hooked.
For example, you may use the history of your brand to create a compelling story about how your products and services evolved and how they have helped or served people over the years.
#2: Catch your audience as early as you can
According to research, it takes just about 8 seconds for a viewer to decide whether to proceed or abandon your video.
For a great video, you must find a way to capture your audience right from the get-go.
Start by being clear about what the video is all about and ensure the viewer that they will benefit by watching the video all the way to the end.
Create a hook
Start by showing a small preview of what the video is all about. Most 3D animators show what the end result will be at the beginning of the tutorials they post online.
By seeing the complete 3D model at the start, a viewer interested in 3D modeling will now want to follow the video and learn how to create that model.
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Use exceptional thumbnails
The thumbnail of your video is the image that people see when they search for a video on social media or YouTube.
The thumbnail serves the purpose of pricking the interest of the viewer even before they click on the video.
You should choose your thumbnail well, and create it to fit the platform where you will post the video.
Use clever designs and make sure the topic is very clear.
You may pick a shot from the video and use it as a thumbnail, but it is better to upload a thumbnail that is designed separately.
If you don’t have any knowledge about creating thumbnails, Canva is a great place to start since they have templates that you can use for your video.
#3: Make sure the video is of high quality
People love high-definition videos; they want to see everything clearly.
I bet you will experience some form of frustration when you watch a blurry video, especially if the topic is of importance to you.
This is why you must invest in a camera that will take good quality video.
If you are on a budget, most Smartphones have great quality cameras and you can still capture great video with them
Look straight into the camera since eye contact is important in connecting with your audience; do not look offscreen all the time.
#4: Use sound to keep users engaged
Although it is OK to create a video that has no sound, this should be restricted to short videos only.
If you are creating a long video, then you must use some form of sound to keep the viewer engaged.
Even if you are creating a video with subtitles and closed captions, you should add some background music to keep your viewer entertained even as they read the text on the video.
Humans are audio-visual creatures; it can be truly freaky to be in a place where you can see and not hear.
This is true when you use video that has no sound to tell a story about your brand; always use some form of a soundtrack.
If you cannot compose your own music, there is a wide range of free tunes that you can download from the internet and use on your videos.
If you are having a narration on the video, make sure that it is fluent and direct.
It is OK to digress from the topic a little bit; everyone loves some humor, but make sure that whatever you say is relevant to the topic of the video, for most of the time.
Also, note that not everyone can hear what you say. There are hearing impaired people who might be interested in your products and services.
Using subtitles will cater to this group of people and increase your viewers substantially.
#5: Include CTAs in your video
The purpose of the video is to get people to do something at the end of it all; this is where your Call-To-Action comes in.
Not all CTAs are designed to create a sale or have someone sign up for something on your website.
Some CTAs are just for generating leads and perhaps creating hype about a product or service
Such CTAs include
- Subscribe to our channel
- Share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Comment on the video
- Check out more content on www.example.com
- And others
Your CTAs may be spread out over the video; a great rule of thumb is to have one in the middle and another at the end.
#6: Target your viewers with zeal
When creating your video marketing campaign, make sure you have a clear vision of the audience you are targeting.
Are you targeting teenagers or corporate CEOs?
The target audience will determine the kind of video you are creating as well as the narration you include in the video.
A video for teenagers would have visuals and lingo that they are familiar with, and the same goes for a B2B video.
You must know the language and the type of visual language that appeals to each segment of your audience.
#7: Know which platform is the best for disseminating your video
Putting a 3D animated video on LinkedIn may not get you as many viewers as you would get if you posted it on YouTube or Facebook.
You must know which is the best platform to disseminate your video.
Each platform has its own rules governing how you should upload the video, what size of a thumbnail to use, the age restrictions, etc.
You must be familiar with the rules, and make sure that you have separate versions of your video for each platform.
#8: Optimize your video
This is an often overlooked part of video marketing.
It’s not enough to simply upload a video and hope that viewers will stumble upon it.
You must use keywords relevant to the product or service that you are talking about, in the title, description, and tags; you should even use the keywords in the file name of the video.
Optimizing your video with timestamps is a great way of getting ranked higher on YouTube.
See this related article and see how you can optimize your videos on YouTube.
#9: Create a video for every stage of the customer journey
When writing content, marketers know that they should create pieces targeted at every stage of the buyer journey.
You should do the same when it comes to video marketing.
Make sure that you have a different video for each stage of the customer journey:
- Attract – This is the stage where you turn curious visitors into interested prospective customers. You need to draw their attention to the unique value that your product or service provides.
- Convert – At this stage, you convert the visitor into a lead. Use a video that makes them give you information that you can leverage to turn them into buyers.
- Close – this is the stage where you finally convince the viewer to commit to making a purchase. Many video marketers fail to have videos for this stage of the customer journey.
- Delight – now that you have made the sale, you should have a video that will keep the customer interested in related products and services. Delight or retain videos will keep buying customers loyal to your brand.
#10: Analyze the results of your video marketing campaign
Whenever you create a video for marketing purposes, you want to know what sort of impact it has had, right?
You should analyze the results that you get out of your video marketing campaign
Get to know what you did right and what you could have done better.
Analyzing these results enables you to fine-tune future videos so you get better responses from your target audience.
Video marketing is an art, but you also have to embrace analysis if your long-term goals are to be realized using this medium.
Some of the data you should consider:
- View count – this is also known as the reach and shows how many people watched your video. Each platform has different ways of evaluating views. A view of Facebook is 3 seconds, while on YouTube it is 30 seconds.
- Social sharing and comments – these show how much engagement you got from your viewers; how important did they think it was, to make them share or comment?
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) – This is the number of times that people click on your CTA, divided by the views. This will show you whether your CTA is effective or not.
There are other statistical indicators that you should consider, but these three are the most important and will give you a general indication of how well your videos are performing.
Metrics such as location, and source will show you which geographic areas and platforms are bringing in the most traffic. This could help you create targeted videos for those indicators.
Bonus tips
Plan your video well
You should take time to plan your video and how it will be produced. Take time to write down a script that will determine the actions taken in the video.
Don’t think of winging it, unless you are a very experienced video marketer; even those who come to shows like Ted Talks take time to prepare and rehearse their scripts.
You should also plan on the platforms you will use for your video. Will you host them on your blog, YouTube or put them out on social media?
Get a good video production studio
Invest some time by using a great video production studio. You may create a video in your living room, but et some advice from a studio on how to light your scene, what to wear, etc.; you must look your best when you record the video.
Be aware of top-performing genres of marketing videos
According to research, there are three types of videos that get the most views:
Customer testimonials – these are videos where past customers talk about the benefits they have derived from your products or services
Tutorial videos – these are videos that show people how to use products and services.
Demonstration videos – these are just like tutorial videos, but they deal with physical products, while tutorial videos deal with digital products or services.
You should design your video to fit into one of these three categories if you want greater impact from your videos.
Take Away
Today’s marketers cannot ignore the impact and potential of video marketing and neither should you.
People access a lot of videos on their mobile devices, today’s primary mode of accessing the internet, and this provides a great opportunity for video marketers to reach their target audience.
Over 70% of consumers say that they made a purchase based on a video that they saw. Being visual creatures, our target audience is better convinced when you speak to them directly using a video.
How you produce the video will go a long way in convincing them to take action. Take time to do this well.
Video marketing has the potential to improve your lead and revenue generation in leaps and bounds; if you are not doing it, then it is time you started making your first video right away.
