Why Being Scrappy Is Better
Creating a video marketing strategy is as simple as picking up your phone
Lights, camera, action? Forget the Steven Spielberg budget. Creating a successful video marketing strategy is more about the storyline than the production value. So why invest in video in the first place? Think about it. You’re currently reading this blog. Are you really reading it? Chances are you’re just going to scan through the relevant tips.
People’s attention spans are shrinking to a mere eight seconds. A powerful marketing video can hook your audience in less than three seconds. In fact, 87% of consumers say they’d like to see more videos from brands in 2019 and 70% of marketing professionals report video converts better than any other medium. If that’s not enough to sway your opinion, these stats from Wordstream will:
- One-third of online activity is spent watching videos
- 85% of the US internet audience watches videos online
- Experts estimate by 2021, a million minutes of video content will cross global IP networks every second
How to start building a video marketing strategy
1. Craft a compelling story
Humanize your brand by telling compelling and informative stories with personality. People are far more likely to trust a brand with a smart, funny, non-judgemental approach. Make sure you have a clear takeaway at the end.
Don’t have a brand voice yet? Define your top personality traits. Ask yourself, if your brand was a person, how would you describe it? Is it the class clown? Girl next door? Hero? Underdog?
Here’s some inspiration to get you started:
Always #LikeAGirl
Lyft Undercover
Go Pro Hero
Purina Puppyhood
2. Choose The Best Format
There are many ways to tell a story through video marketing. Choose the option that will resonate best with your audience. Do you need to teach someone how to use your product? Would you rather show them how your brand interacts with people? Or could you broadcast user-generated footage to a bigger audience?
Here are the most popular video formats (Vidyard has a pretty cool infographic as a resource):
- Product Review: Influencers give honest feedback about the product
- How-To: Educate the audience on how to learn a specific task
- Vlogs: Create a video diary of someone’s everyday life interacting with the brand
- Comedy/Skit: Share the lighthearted side of the brand through a funny skit
- Haul videos: Show someone what you can buy with a shopping spree
- Educational videos: Educate your audience on a topic through informative lessons
- Unboxing: Capture someone’s reaction when first opening the product’s box
- Q&A: Facilitate a conversation between your audience and an expert
- UGC: User-generated content can be a unique way to tell a story through the lens of your audience
3. Follow the three-second-audition rule in video marketing
The first three seconds of a video is arguably the most important. It can cause your audience to stay or leave. That’s why it’s called the three-second audition. You have three sections to capture your audience’s attention. You can do that with an engaging marketing video, a powerful sound bite, or animated graphics.
Here are some examples of marketing videos I produced with this rule in mind:
(Engaging Video) Paribus App Review
(Powerful Sound Bite) Make a Healthy Wager
(Animated Graphic) Personal Loan 101
4. Get Scrappy With Your Video Marketing Production
It’s no surprise that video is a costly endeavor. It takes a lot of time for pre and post production, and the equipment isn’t cheap. On average, professionals charge $1,000 for a 1-2 minute video. But you don’t have to blow your budget to have a successful video marketing strategy.
Wisteria launched a “One, Ten, One Hundred” ad campaign to see if the production value impacts advertising. It turns out that the $10K video ad performed twice as well as the $1K and $100K ads. More important, it was the story and product connection that resonated with the audience.
Do you need a $10K video marketing budget? No way! If you craft a compelling enough story, your audience will connect with it. You can simply start by capturing footage on your mobile phone. If the Netflix movie High Flying Bird was shot on an iPhone, your next marketing video can be, too.
A successful video marketing strategy means customizing content for each social media platform.
5. Customize Marketing Videos For Each Platform
Find out where your audience is connecting with your brand. Is it on social media? Customize each video for the specific platform you’re using, and consider which aspect ratio is best for that platform. As mobile usage grows worldwide, vertical video will continue to become the norm, and so will ephemeral content. Over the past few years, there’s been a rapid growth of content that vanishes in 24 hours. For example, Instagram Stories are growing 15x faster than feeds, and 62% of people become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a story. Also, make sure to adopt both short-term and long-term video plans.
Keep these platform audiences top of mind when creating a video marketing strategy:
- Facebook – The world’s largest social network to ask questions and share and re-share meaningful content through feed or stories.
- Twitter – Popular with Millennials and young professionals, twitter engages people in conversations of 280 characters or less. Businesses can follow and monitor customers for insights.
- LinkedIn – The world’s largest professional network that serves as a standing resume. Its fastest-growing demographic includes students and recent college graduates.
- Instagram – A mobile social network of images, Instagram lets you share visual moments through feed or stories. Its largest demographic is 18-29 year olds.
- YouTube – The world’s largest video sharing social network and the second largest search engine, it reaches 18-49 year old more than any U.S. cable network.
- Pinterest – The top social network geared toward inspiring women.
- Snapchat – Largely used by teens and young adults, this mobile social network sends time-sensitive photos and videos that disappear in 24 hours.
Pro Tip: Because most audiences consume video content in public with the sound off, you’ll want to use subtitles and graphics to keep them watching. Optimize your marketing videos with SEO.
6. Do It Live
As cable networks battle with over-the-top services like Netflix, live video will continue to grow on social media. Currently, 20% of Facebook videos are live and becoming an essential part of the video marketing strategy toolbox. Having a two-way conversation between the brand and the viewer in real-time is crucial for retaining customers. Now it’s easier than ever with live capabilities at your fingertips.
7. Cadence Is Key
Whenever you decide to launch your first video, cadence is key. In order to grow a video franchise, you need to schedule consistent weekly or monthly content. Make an introduction video to tell your audience what type of content you will be publishing and how often. It’s important to not set your expectations unrealistically high. Create content at the pace and quality that is right for you.
Think of the video marketing strategy as a new product you’re launching. The first video will not be your best, but how can you grow from there? You will have to continuously test, measure, and iterate. Although you may not see an ROI right away, you will see a return on innovation. That’s a measurement to keep in mind when developing something new.
Be a Marketing Titan:
✓ Find your brand voice
✓ Craft a video marketing story
✓ Get a complimentary class on how to shoot video on your phone
✓ Reach out to Titan Publishing for a marketing consultation about how to develop your marketing strategy