We all know that video marketing has become an integral part of any business’s marketing strategy. And it's no longer a choice whether or not to include video in your marketing, it's a no-brainer that you need to be using video marketing.
From engaging with your ideal clients to increasing brand awareness to getting leads and driving sales, the benefits of video marketing cannot be overstated.
So today, I'm exploring why video marketing is essential for businesses and providing you with tips on how to get started with your video marketing efforts.
Let's start with the benefits of video marketing
Video is an incredibly powerful tool to reach your ideal clients and create a more personal connection with them. It allows you to tell stories, showcase your products or services, demonstrate how your business can help people, and so much more.
Videos can be more engaging and,.often, can capture the attention of your ideal clients more easily.
Plus, video marketing has the potential to reach a larger audience as it can easily be shared and viewed on multiple social media platforms.
So, let's look at how to include video into your marketing – starting with strategy.
Crafting your video marketing strategy
To get started with video marketing, you need to have a strategy.
And this starts with defining your goals. Do you want to:
- Increase brand awareness?
- Generate leads?
- Boost sales?
- Achieve something else?
You also need to identify your ideal clients.
- Who are you making these videos for?
- What drives their decision making? (ie What are their interests, pain points, and needs?)
- Are they emotive or logical decision makers?
- Why would they choose you?
The more you know about your ideal clients, the better you can tailor your videos to their preferences, which means you're more likely to achieve those goals you have set.
So, when you have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, and who your target audience, aka your ideal clients, are – then you can start planning your videos accordingly.
Tips for Creating Effective Videos
Before you start creating your videos, you need to keep a few things in mind.
- Keep your messaging simple – Make sure your videos are easy to understand and have a strong message that resonates with your ideal clients.
- Keep It Short – Who wants to sit through long, drawn-out videos? Nobody, that's who. Try to keep your videos short and under two minutes if possible.
- Optimise for Mobile – Remember, most people will be watching your videos on their mobile, so you need to optimise accordingly.
- Use Interesting Visuals – Great visuals are key to keeping people interested in your videos. So, try using interesting visuals to make your videos stand out from the crowd.
Types of Videos You Can Use in Your Marketing
The types of videos you create will depend on your goals and your ideal clients. And there are quite a few different types of videos you can use in your marketing, which I've listed below. You don't have to create all these videos but don't be afraid to test and measure and work out what works for you and your business.
- How-to Videos – These videos demonstrate how your products or services work by giving a step-by-step overview.
- Explainer Videos – Explain complex concepts in an easy-to-understand format with visuals.
- Testimonial Videos – Let potential customers see other people’s experiences with your products or services to build credibility.
- Interview Video – Exactly what it sounds like; interviewing others or being interviewed yourself, talking about a relevant topic for your ideal clients.
- Q&A Videos – Again, exactly what it sounds like. Answer frequently asked questions by video.
- Live Streams – Connect with your ideal clients in real-time and build relationships with them through live streams. These can be broadcast across a range of platforms. Remember to use the platform that your ideal clients are most likely to be using or present on.
- Promotional Videos – A great way to really show what your business can offer your ideal clients.
- Product Videos – Give people an up-close look at your products and highlight key features.
- Behind-the-Scenes Videos – Show people what goes on behind the scenes at your business for a more personal touch.
- Animated Videos – Create visually appealing videos with animations to capture attention and help explain complex concepts quickly.
These are just some of the types of videos you can use to market your business. Experimenting with different formats will help you find the ones that work best for your ideal clients.
Repurposing Your Content for Video Marketing
Repurposing your content for video marketing means taking something that you've already made, like a blog or a social media post, and turning it into a video.
Doing this can be a really helpful way to not only save time – you get more use out of the content you've already created. Plus it's an easy way to come up with video content ideas.
For example, if you've written a blog about something related to your business that your ideal clients loved, you can turn that into a video by creating a simple slideshow with some of the main points from your blog. Or, you could record yourself talking about the same topic and use that as the audio for your video.
Repurposing your existing content into video is also an awesome way to keep your content fresh and interesting for your ideal clients.
Sharing Your Videos Far and Wide
Now that you've created your videos, it's time to get them out there. And here are some ways to do that:
- Social media – share your videos on your social media channels. Remember to play where your ideal clients play. In other words, focus on the social media platform that your ideal clients are most active and engaged.
- Website – embed your videos on your website to increase engagement and dwell time. Make sure embedding doesn't slow down your site though as this can hurt your SEO.
- Email marketing – include videos in your email marketing campaigns to increase click-through rates and engagement.
- Paid advertising – if you're running ads, use your videos to potentially reach more of your ideal clients, build brand awareness, and generate leads and/or sales (dependent on what your video marketing goals are).
Analysing Your Videos for Maximum Impact
Once you've created and shared your videos, it's important to track their performance to see how well they perform and how they're supporting your marketing strategy.
Now, remember those goals you set – how will you know if you've achieved them if you don't track your results?
By using the analytics tools of whichever platform you are sharing your awesome videos on, you can get valuable insights into how your videos are performing.
But how do you know what to track?
Well, you can track metrics like:
- the number of views your videos receive
- how long people are watching your videos
- how engaged they are with your content.
- clicks to your website
- sales of your products or services.
Tracking and analysing your results will help you identify which of your videos are performing well and which ones are not resonating with your ideal clients.
You can then use this information to create better videos that will help you achieve your goals.
At the end of the day, tracking your results and using that information to improve your video marketing strategy will help you achieve your goals and maximise your return on your video marketing investment.
Maximising Video Marketing for Your Business
Video marketing is an awesome tool that, if you're a small or medium business, you should definitely consider including in your overarching marketing strategy. From increasing brand awareness and engaging customers to boost conversions and driving sales, it has the potential to do a lot for your business.
By repurposing existing content, sharing your videos far and wide, and analysing the performance of each video, you can maximize the impact of your video marketing efforts and achieve real results. So get started today and see what video marketing can do for your business!
