Crash Course: Video Content Marketing

These days, customers are going to research online before they buy. They search the web to get more informed about products or services before they commit to any one company.

Without web video content, your business is essentially invisible to a very large population of web browsers. Because web videos are all but expected today, it’s no longer a question of whether or not to create video content. It’s only a question of how to create the best video content possible.

People are also pretty savvy when it comes to shutting out the white noise of invasive or interruptive advertisements, also known as push marketing, online.  “Push marketing” is when an advertisement seeks its audience out and tries to force an audience to pay attention. The far less aggressive strategy of “pull marketing” is where content marketing falls. This is when you try to generate interest in your audience that makes them want to seek you and your content out. In order to get into a relationship with this audience, you need to deliver what they want: Information that will help them with purchasing decisions.

This is why content marketing is becoming so important. Content marketing is basically giving your customers interesting and valuable information. This will develop a relationship between you and your audience, increase your authority and remove the barriers between your customer and a sale.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to effectively use video in your content marketing strategy.

Step 1. Pinpoint what you want

Be specific with what you want out of the video content. Having a well-defined goal and audience for your videos. This will:

1. Save you money. Being too vague or broad will lead to an unfocused, a meandering video that will speak to no one and is a waste of time and production.
2. Resonate with your audience. If you speak to your viewer’s specific needs, they will feel like you are talking directly at them, making them more likely to take action.
3. Lead to focused SEO. Being too broad with SEO will see you competing with larger companies with more money to put into a wider net. Be specific and you will save money on marketing and be more effective at the same time.

There are so many ways to measure the success of your videos, so you need to ask yourself question like: What exactly do you want your content to achieve? When do you think the content will be “successful”?

Possible targets could include:

• Making a sale
• Demonstrating a new product or service
• Generating inbound leads
• Building brand awareness
• Educating your audience or market
• Entertainment

Step 2. Know Your Audience

It’s also important to know who exactly is your audience. Being able to talk directly to your specific audience is really important to the success of your video content.

Here’s an example: Imagine you are targeting an audience outside of your industry. Using jargon or technical phrases will be confusing and useless to your audience. Talk to your audience in a way they will understand and relate to.

The best way to pinpoint your audience is to create a Customer Avatar.

Step 3. Choose a Style

So you have a purpose and audience for your video content, now its time to choose a video type.

Some basic video styles to consider are:

• Interview
• Presentation
• Behind the scenes/documentary
• Animated cartoon
• Product demonstration
• Case study

Each style brings it’s own tone and feel to the video. Will your video need to be corporate or creative? Humorous or serious? Technical or colloquial?

Step 4. Decide on Length

Once the style is chosen, the final part of your video content is the length. A humorous videos can be 30 seconds or less, but a product demonstration will need to be around 90-120 seconds.

Crafting video content that is specific and targeted to your audience is necessary to deliver your specific objectives.

This brings us to:

Video Marketing

Producing great video content is one thing, but getting this content out to your audience is another. You may have the best videos for your targeted demographic ever made, but if people can’t find them, they are useless.

Properly marketing your video content is absolutely vital.

3 key things to remember in order to make your video content visible and effective:

Produce lots of content

The top YouTube marketers have an average of 181 videos online. That’s a lot of videos. The bottom had just 29. Make sure you have enough content to keep your audience engaged.

Broaden your range. Having videos of different length and descriptions will give your video content more flavour and generate more interest. Nobody wants to see the same video over and over.

Create synergy between YouTube and your Website

61% of the top 100 brands embed YouTube videos on their web page. 63%of them customize their YouTube channels to co-ordinate with their current online presence. Creating a seamless relationship between your media outlets is the most effective way to market your video content.

Engage with the community

A viewer is 10 times more likely to engage, embed, share and comment on video than blogs or other social posts. Use this to your advantage. Engagement is critical in order for brands to engage back. This method of interaction helps drive views and action.

Content marketing is a great way to not only build a relationship with your audience, but it helps reduce the friction between your client and a sale. By following this guide, you can make sure your video content is as effective as possible.