Who doesn’t love a good movie, or like to watch a short funny clip as you are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram on your lunch break at work? Humans are visual creatures; we rely so heavily on our eyes and for good reason. Vision is one of our primary senses and videos are the best way to engage this particular sensory organ. Let us have a look at how this can be used to push your marketing campaign through the roof.
What Is Video Marketing?
The use of videos in marketing is something you will see even the biggest of players doing and for good reason. Videos are essentially a visual form of storytelling. The great thing about them is that you are able to fit large amounts of dense information into a streamlined and engaging format. Add on to this the fact that it can be utilised across many digital and social platforms and you have yourself a real winner.
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With the rise of the digital era comes the rise of more and more visual content. Video marketing is the convergence point where versatility meets marketing strategy.
Developing Your Video Marketing Strategy
There is no hard-and-fast rule about what is the perfect method for video marketing. It all depends on the needs of the business and the type of promotion that you are attempting. Having said that, here are a few key guidelines you will want to keep across the board:
Allocating resources
Before starting the shooting process, you need to establish the rough scale of the production. Is it a huge set? Is it for a global or local audience? These questions will help you narrow down the scope. From there you need to look at the quality of equipment you need to hire for the shoot, the crew to handle the set, a good editing software, and a marketing team to push the video once it is done.
Be a storyteller
You need to communicate a meaningful message, not just an advertisement. The video is a versatile format and can do much, but it too has its limits. A video is only as good as the narrative it holds within its frame.
Keep it crisp
The beauty of video is that you can fit a lot into a short amount of time. Though there is no rule saying you have to stick to a particular amount of time, the rule of thumb is that you should keep it as short as possible. The shorter the better. Audiences in general do not spend much time on a video unless it is super interesting.
Spread it and monitor
When it comes to publishing the video, make sure you hit every platform, social media account and the websites you have access too. You have a lot of tools and platforms at your disposal so use every single one. After that, all that is left to do is to track and analyse the numbers. See who is seeing it, for how long and why.
Why Do Video Marketing?
Connect with your audience
You can talk about trust and your good intentions for the audience all you want but nothing beats getting to see it for yourself. It is true what they say about ‘seeing is believing’. You could try something like a blooper reel, a live Q and A with the audience or a behind-the-scenes shoot to show the audience the human side, they will appreciate the transparency and connect with the brand more.
Better SEO engagement
Posting videos on sites like YouTube, which is owned by Google, will greatly help increase your SEO engagement if you use the right key phrases and tags.
More retention
There is a shift in audiences’ preferences these days. They seem to prefer video formats more and more. The more visually engaging, the better. This preference actually corresponds with a higher retention level. Visuals engage our senses more and so the recall is better.
The point at the end of the day is to make things easier for the audience. The less effort they have to put in purchasing a product or understanding a business, the better for you. The modern audience wants to be catered to as much as possible and a business that takes care of that is a successful one.
Types Of Videos
Demo videos
If you want to showcase your new product or service and explain to the audience how it works, then this is the perfect format to adopt.
Brand videos
This type of video is a small part of the overall marketing campaign to raise brand awareness. It showcases the business’s mission, vision, products, services and so one.
Event videos
These videos are essentially short reels that make the audience aware of any events you are hosting or are going to a part of like fundraisers, panel discussions and competitions. It is like a behind–the-scenes kind of video.
Expert interviews
Getting bytes and short clips of industry leaders who are experts in the field can lend itself to establishing your business’s authority and authenticity with the audience. Influencers are also a great option. Check out our article on influencer marketing to learn more about that.
Live videos
The live format is a great way to make your audience feel like they are a part of the action. It also presents an opportunity to interact with them instantly. This back-and-forth communication will show them that your platform is on their level. Your business will establish rapport with them.
VR and AR videos
These are relatively new and developing formats but good options nonetheless. VR or virtual reality is when an audience is transported to a digitally created space. AR or augmented reality is when that digital space is layered over what the audience is currently seeing, like a hologram in the middle of a living room. The point is they are excellent venues to give your audience an immersive viewing experience and show them that you are ahead of the curve.
The Technical Execution Of The Video
Regardless of the type of video you choose to execute, you need to follow certain steps in order to ensure a smooth and thorough process.
The plan
Before any of the actual shooting or editing can take place, you need to have a direction. Figure out the angle of the video. What is the exact message that the audience needs to hear? The more you can narrow it down the faster the shooting process will go when the time comes. When you are planning, try to think of the timeline of when you would ideally need to get it out, the budget needed and who the target audience is to name a few parameters.
The script
Though off-the-cuff shoots can be dramatic and authentic, that usually does not work for advertisements or marketing videos. A script is a crucial part of any shoot and it can save you tons of time down the line. A detailed script means a more fluid production. A good rule of thumb when it comes to scripts is that one page of a script is generally representative of one minute of screen time. So, keeping in mind that you need to keep it short, you will get an idea of how many pages to write.
The shoot
The next step is to actually shoot the video. Set up the studio, make sure you have all the equipment and the talent is ready as well. High-quality equipment and good actors ensure a better end product. Nowadays you can get away with shooting on iPhones though. Phones have increasingly higher camera resolutions. It majorly depends on your creativity.
But no matter how good the equipment it will be a waste if you do not hire a crew that knows what they are doing. This means handling shoot schedules, visual compositions, getting the right background music, making sure to use the right lighting and so on.
Editing
People often mistake this stage as the point where you ‘fix’ the footage. No, editing is simply the stage where you put the footage together in a manner that is pleasing and logical. Sometimes mistakes might slip through and can be managed in the edit bay but there should be minimal mistakes over-all. Your script, planning and hiring of the right crew should have ensured that there were no mistakes. Do not rely on editing to fix the mistakes. This ensures a habit of maintaining a higher quality of work during production.
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Not everyone can become an influencer from the get-go. The market is saturated with video content. It needs a strong marketing strategy to back it up in order to be successful.
Challenges To Keep An Eye On
Video marketing may seem simple but as you might have noticed, there are a lot of steps and nuances that make a quality output. To achieve that quality, you need to put in time and effort with a healthy mix of good talent. This should yield the perfect recipe for your video marketing strategy.
It also helps to keep in mind that video marketing is simply a small part of the overall marketing and brand awareness campaign. Check out our article on ‘marketing’ to get an idea of the bigger picture.
