Video Marketing Tips

Videos have consistently grown in popularity in recent years and are a big part of most marketing budgets. However, you can spend a lot of time and money creating ones that have little to no impact. There are some key features every successful video marketing campaign must have to reach your target audience and turn browsers into buyers.

The average person watches about 90 minutes of video a day. Video gives you a chance to reach people you might not reach any other way. Since you want your videos to be the absolute best reflection of your brand possible, here are 14 ways of improving your marketing videos:

1. Set a Goal

Before creating a video, set a goal for the marketing endeavor. Do you want to inform your audience, reach new customers or use the video to convert site visitors into fans? Once you know your goal, it’s much easier to decide on what kind of content gets the job done and where to share your video. Make sure your goal meats SMART standards and is specific and measurable, so you know if you hit the mark or not.

2. Develop a Brand Personality

Every company has a personality it presents to the outside world. Think about what impression you want to leave with people. Is your brand strong and reliable? Perhaps your business is youthful and fun. Your personality is about how others see you as well as how you see your brand. Think about the story behind who you are and use your videos to introduce your company to others.

 

Six Flags has used a little old man for years who dances to fun music and motions people to follow him to the theme park. Because it’s an entertainment venue, it wants people to associate it with fun. This video marketing campaign with catchy music and bright colors screams a good time.

3. Be Consistent

If you start off as a fun, hip company, stick with that theme. Don’t switch between a serious, studious image and a fun one. If you aren’t consistent in your branding, in both video and other mediums, then the consumer may not feel you’re very reliable. When you start a video series, stick with the theme all the way through. However, also be cautious of changing the tone of your videos from campaign to campaign.

4. Study the Competition

You can learn a lot about creating successful videos by studying your competition. Spend time on their websites and social media channels. Do they offer videos? If so, watch the entire video once and then go back and watch it while taking notes about what you feel is particularly successful. Do you notice any themes? While you never want to copy what a competitor does, you can certainly learn about the best ways to reach a target audience and discover areas they haven’t yet covered.

5. Show Off Your Expertise

Images get the point across much more quickly than words, so video is a great way of showing off your knowledge of the industry without tooting your own horn or sounding conceited. Show your best workers in action, discuss big projects you completed and highlight the unique value your company brings to the consumer.

 

H.O. Penn runs a video in the background of its landing page that highlights its machinery in action. This shows what the equipment does and how many types of machines the company offers.

6. Tell a Story

Around 92 percent of consumers state they want brands to create ads that feel like a story. They stay with people far longer than information or a sales pitch. You can utilize them in your video branding by discussing your founding, sharing customer testimonials or creating a story around your product. Think about some of the storylines from big-name companies, such as Geico and its cavemen ads or Subaru with its stories about how the car grows with and protects the family, featuring different scenarios.

7. Consider Mobile

Make sure your videos adapt to mobile. If you upload to a site such as Facebook or YouTube, the video will automatically be optimized for smaller screen sizes and adjust for whatever device the viewer is on. However, if you place it on your website, this becomes an important consideration. Around 85 percent of U.S. internet users watch video each month on their mobile devices. If they aren’t mobile ready, you’re missing a lot of potential traffic.

8. Think of a Unique Twist

Try to think of a unique way to highlight your product or service. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you must present your business in a new, fresh style that also highlights the value of your offerings. You may even want to hire a professional advertising firm to come up with a campaign theme for you. While you might not have the funds to pay them for every aspect of production, just having a plan in place helps you stand out as unique and creative.

 

Blendtec’s “Will It Blend?” video campaign series shows the resilience of its product by mixing things you normally wouldn’t place in a blender, such as glow sticks or an iPhone. The videos are entertaining and unique but also highlight the power behind the technology.

9. Include a Call to Action (CTA)

Make sure you add a strong CTA to the end of your video. When users finish watching it, they should know what action they need to take to move forward. A CTA can be as simple as “visit our website” or as specific as “order the XS500 by calling 1-800-XS500.”

10. Keep It Short

Although it’s tempting to record long videos, the shorter it is, the more impact it’s likely to have. People are busy today and have short attention spans. If you can get your message across in a minute or two, then you have a better chance of the consumer sticking with you through the end of the footage.

11. Create a Thumbnail for Your Video

If you plan to upload your video to YouTube or some of the other social channels, you’ll want a thumbnail that clearly defines what it is about. You may even need a headline to grab user attention. Spend some time on YouTube looking at the thumbnails and take note of the attention-grabbing ones. Watch a few seconds of the video and see how well the thumbnail reflects what is highlighted.

 

My Little Bakery highlights different creations you can grab in the shop. Note how the thumbnails highlight a still image of the finished product. However, if you click on any of them, you get a video that shows the process of creating the treat.

12. Add Tags

Use your description and any areas for tags to define your audience — this is particularly helpful for social media posts. One simple way of finding popular hashtags is searching on Twitter, Instagram or YouTube and seeing what people search for and are talking about. You may even be able to tie your video marketing campaign into a particular event or holiday.

13. Consider Foreign Visitors

Do you have a large number of site visitors from another country? You can always add translation text so both native speakers and foreign visitors understand the video. Your site stats will show how many visitors you get from each area of the world and help you make an informed decision about whether it’s worth the investment to reach out to a particular market segment.

14. Educate and Entertain, but Don’t Spam

Have you ever watched part of a video that was such a strong sales pitch you clicked away? No one likes advertising that seems spammy. Instead, educate the public or entertain them, but don’t shove your product at them and demand they buy it. It’s a big turnoff for most people, and they’re much more likely to just bounce away from your offering rather than taking action and buying from you.

Video Marketing Is on the Rise

Whether you like video marketing or not, it’s becoming more popular. Now is the time to perfect your video advertising skills and learn what your audience responds to. Hone in on the finer details of video, and you’ll have much greater success than you imagined.