An Ultimate Video Marketing Guide To Build Your Business

Video is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. It can tell a story, build trust and authority, and inform an audience in ways that text-based content simply cannot. But not every business is ready or willing to jump into video marketing. If you’re on the fence about video, here are a few reasons why it’s worth exploring. And if you’re already making videos, here are some practical tips for making the most of that investment!

1. Why you should be using video in your marketing strategy

Video marketing is one of the best ways to get people interested in your brand. It’s a great way to connect with customers and build trust and credibility. A lot of people are visual and like to see and hear what you have to say. When you create videos, you can create a more personal relationship with your audience. A well-produced video should give your audience something to look at, listen to, or visualize. As we mentioned, brands usually hire someone to create their videos, so in that sense, a professional doesn’t exist. Video is all about artistry, and creating content that is memorable and compelling.

Let’s say your brand wants to tell an inspiring story about a product. You could film yourself conducting an on-camera sales pitch or talking to a customer about the benefits of your product. Or, you could record your own interviews with influencers who have a deeper connection with your target audience. Regardless of whether you decide to film yourself or interview others, the point is that a well-produced video should give your audience something to look at, listen to, or visualize.

If you’re a brand that’s focused on creating emotional or value-oriented content, and you focus heavily on emotions or customer needs, then video marketing is an obvious choice for you. Most of us have heard of the flip-phone. You move the dial to the ‘left’ so that the long haired lady on the other end of the line sounds far away. Because not everyone has one, telemarketers have had to adapt.

2. What are the best ways to get started with video marketing

The best way to get started with video marketing is to start with a plan. You need to decide what kind of videos you’re going to make and what your goals are for making those videos. No matter what your business offers, the best way to start is with something simple, that people can easily understand, follow and share.

Find inspiration and data. Do some shopping around. When you have your overall plan and a list of the videos you plan to produce, create your gear list. I always have a laundry list of equipment that I need, so it’s helpful to do your research before you dive into purchase.
This might be time-consuming but it will be worth the effort. In a very meta way, you are essentially going to be a store guinea pig. Most people think about recording in a studio and putting it on YouTube for millions of people to see. That’s not the only way to create videos and content. Building your proper gear set up upfront will help you avoid technical issues when you launch your channel. It will also make the content an end product, instead of a means to an end.

Most content is not going to be sold. As you publish more videos and grow your following, you are going to change the rules of what content can or can’t be monetized, starting with shared assets, featured stories, and other types of social media assets. Night sky is also worth exploring for some deeper astrophotography. Make clips. Use clips for everything and short clips in particular should be the focus of your vlogs. You can be creative with the setups and capture your audience’s attention fast.

3. How to create videos that convert viewers into customers

The most important thing to remember when creating a video is that you want to grab your viewer’s attention right away and hook them into watching the whole thing. Ask yourself what your viewers’ biggest pain point is, and how your product or service can help them with that pain point. If your video has a boring beginning, ending, and nothing to show in the middle, chances are nobody will stick around. You may have already learned all you can from the content, and the brand will lose leverage.

If your video has boring content on top of that, it’s just going to turn away viewers who want to skip straight to the punchline. It’s even worse if your video is long, contains a lot of information, and has very little action. (The exception is if you’re an educational brand that wants to provide more context in its videos — more on that later.). If you want people to stop and watch your video, make the content engaging. If you want to stay relevant at the top of your player or the top of your feed so that your audience keeps coming back for more, make the videos informative.

Because your video is going to be shared and viewed over and over again, just making your content interesting enough is not enough. The people who are interested in your niche and constantly search for information will remember your video. And if you can hook them immediately with useful content, they’ll keep coming back until they find what they like. “If you’re not interesting, you’re not memorable. It’s the difference between talking to someone once and talking to them thousands of times. Are you gonna tell them what you did today? Or are you gonna remember what you did 50 years ago?” — Jonah Berger

As much as your video needs to be informative and entertaining, you also need to capture attention right away so that your viewer can begin to form associations between yourself and your brand.

4. How you can use videos to drive traffic to your website

Video is one of the best ways to reach your audience, especially on social media. Don’t just use videos for marketing, but also use them to show your audience behind the scenes and make them feel like they’re part of your company. This is a brilliant way to engage and deepen relationships with your audience. This can even make customers feel like you’ve taken the time to meet them face-to-face.

Engagement videos have become such a commonplace part of modern marketing. With platforms like TikTok and Instagram exploding with content creators making millions of dollars from this strategy, it’s no wonder why marketers have jumped on board. It turns out highlighting a video’s impact on a consumer’s experience actually hits home how powerful videos can be, especially when used in tandem with content across channels. Despite this, many companies make rookie mistakes when setting up their videos. Here are four things to keep in mind to make sure your video marketing succeeds.

There are so many benefits to investing in video content as a marketing strategy. It can boost your engagement with your audience, drive traffic, drive lead generation, and follow up on previous content. It turns out videos are also great for driving views, views that are likely to convert into sales. Not only that, but video content allows you to weave the communities you’re a part of through the creative process. These communities are your actual marketplace. Sure, your customers aren’t hitting your website, but they’re sharing their skill sets and what they’re willing to share with you. This is exactly how your ideal clients and customers talk to you — and why buying from you is a close second to saying “hello.”

If done well, video opens the doors of possibilities for you. It gives you leeway to be a little bit more creative and expressive with your content, while also giving you a fresh opportunity to build brand loyalty and authority. Don’t forget to spend some time SEO’ing your video too!

5. What are the best ways to measure the success of your video marketing?

To measure the success of your video marketing, look at a few key metrics: video views, video length, click-through rate, comments, and shares. Video views and video length are the most important indicators of the success of your video marketing. If viewers are engaged, they’ll watch your video to the end. If consumers aren’t engaged, they won’t keep watching your video.
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. 52% of consumers view online videos daily, so connecting with your audience on YouTube is essential. Connecting with your influencers, community managers, and community speakers is a great way to engage with your audience on YouTube and to drive traffic back to your website.

If consumers are watching your video, then they are more invested in watching it and will be more open to sharing it whenever they want. Share your video to your network of influencers and community managers to encourage sharing and build relationships on the platforms where your customers and community members hangout.

If you’re not yet producing video and you don’t have a fan or following on YouTube, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat can be incredibly powerful tools to help you connect with your audience. If you haven’t yet joined the video game on these platforms, remember the 50/50 platform approach. This simple principle allows you to publish your video to a number of different channels to test different promotional and monetization strategies before you fully commit to your YouTube channel. Nevertheless, just because social media shares are important doesn’t mean they’re the only goal of your video marketing efforts. If you’re looking simply to drive more traffic back to your website, reaching out to your Facebook fans and Snapchatters can be just as powerful.

With these tips and tricks you too can become a video marketing guru. Check out our Video Marketing page for more information about branding for your business!