Modern digital marketing puts the video in the center. What does it mean? The brands are willing to incorporate video marketing strategies into their overall plans. However, if the media is saturated with this type of content, how to do it right?
Before answering this question, let’s consider what the video content marketing strategy is and why it is essential for marketing today.
What is a Video Marketing Strategy?
The particular strategy contemplates contacting the potential customers, leads, or prospects and turning them into clients, developing interests, and affecting the decision to buy the product. Yet, how is it different from others?
The primary means of this strategy is the video that conveys a message. Usually, it presents the product’s features and invites the prospects to buy it. Nowadays, marketers try to use stories in their digital video marketing production to engage with leads better.
Why is Video Marketing Important?
Videos have become extremely popular for communication and information exchange. Why? It is very convenient for large masses, can present information, and get viewers’ attention.
Yes, information is perceived better when the visual story backs it up. It makes the video very useful for marketing in times when the media produces so much information. Besides, it attracts leads despite the decrease of the attention span of people worldwide. As a result, the importance of video marketing is enormous, especially considering the effect of such social media as Tik Tok and Instagram.
How to Create a Video Marketing Campaign
A marketer should know that any video marketing guide recommends starting with basics, like the preparations and the development of a plan. To do video marketing right, you should determine the goal of the video content strategy, examine the audience, and define the form of the video.
In this regard, you should focus on the sales funnel, pain points and consider the ways for the distribution of the video. What are the primary steps when making an effective video content strategy, then?
Pick the stage of the funnel to target
The video piece you design for a content video marketing strategy aims to affect the audience. Thus, the very first step should come from knowing why you are doing this. In this regard, you should start with the sales funnel. Which action of the audience do you want to trigger by applying video marketing? Should your video raise awareness about the product, develop an interest or trigger the purchase?
As there are different stages of the customer journey, create a video that would reflect them. If you target the higher stages of awareness increase, show the problem your product solves to get the leads’ attention. On the other hand, if your aim is to develop an interest or affect the consideration of your product, show its value.
If they already know about your strengths, focus on the advantages and outcomes supported by the social proof. That way, by targeting a specific stage of the sales funnel, you would get a better reaction. Moreover, if making a series of videos for different segments of the target audience, you would be able to accompany leads in their customer journey and boost sales.
Determine the video type to use
Notably, when you know the role the marketing video would play, you can pick the correct format and type of video. A marketer can have various pieces within their video marketing strategies. They refer to commercials, social media clips, product videos, explainer pieces, and testimonials. The first one is the most appealing and comprehensive video type that can work on the first stages of the funnel.
The social media clips are great for developing and supporting interest. The product ones are made to show value and present the solution. Explainers are suitable for retention as the customers love to learn new things, while testimonials serve as social proof. Each of the types can be a decisive factor, yet, everything depends on the campaign’s goal.
Study the recipients
At the same time, you have to research the target audience. What are the likes and preferences of your audience? What are their values? As you convey a message, you may want to reflect the characteristics of your buyers’ persona.
Their pain points would be crucial for the development of the video, affecting the plot. For instance, before developing a video for content marketing strategies, you should define points that will make such a video useful for the audience.
Moreover, you will need to consider where they spend their free time. Do they watch YouTube or devote time to TikTok or Instagram? The answer to the last question would be necessary for the distribution of the videos.
Distribute it right
The way you distribute the video is crucial for engagement with the video. As a marketer, your main goal in the distribution is to pick the right channel and ensure that the recipients will open it. If you use owned media, you may want to ensure that you have no limitations.
For example, for an email channel, you may want to create a healthy email list. To improve the existing one, you can verify the existing emails or find the prospects’ new emails via the following tool: https://getprospect.com/email-finder. In the case of distribution via your website, you should make sure that it fits well on your page. In terms of social media, you would need to adjust the video to the appropriate format and definition. Thus, leave room for tests and experiments.
At the same time, there are paid options. You can use paid advertising and launch the video on Instagram or Youtube targeting specific groups. Notably, it is a smart way to promote your products today. In particular, using a video for content marketing can help to make the content more unique.
Besides, you can share your video as sponsored content. Yet, it means you would need to contact influencers or journalists for the proliferation of the video. In the end, everything depends on the place where your target audience spends time.
How to Use Video for Marketing Right
At the same time, many things depend on how you make videos. Thus, when you create a video marketing strategy, you should remember specific tactics that can help you connect with the audience.
Have a Story To Share
Storytelling remains an essential tactic in digital video marketing. Why? It develops connections and allows showing the values of the brand.
Usually, the brands create the conflict of the story to show the pain points of the customer and offer the resolution at the end of the video to present their product as the solution. It is a way to be memorable, yet, everything depends on the story you choose to share. Thus, looking for a good copywriter or scriptwriter may be a good idea. You can find emails of some experts in databases, use LinkedIn to extract them from profiles, or use special platforms to hire specialists.
Underline Values
When making a video, remember the principles that the character of the story has. Your character’s actions and motivation can be a key to engagement. Why? The main character is associated with the target audience, and they may see themselves in it. Thus, you can specifically reflect their wants or desires. Do research beforehand; otherwise, the video can backfire and push the audience away.
Insert CTA into your content piece
Remember that at the end of the video, there should be a call to action(CTA). It is vital for almost any type of video, triggering the following step within the sales funnel. As soon as you capture the audience’s attention, it is essential to hold it and elaborate on it, while the CTA button will help to do it. Nonetheless, the best practices for video marketing underline that your message should not be pushy or invasive.
Use keywords in your video content strategy
Notably, the rules applicable for other strategies, like SEO, can work for content video marketing too. It refers to adding keywords to descriptions of the video. For instance, on YouTube, adding keywords can help you get into recommendations. Besides, some underline that effective video marketing would add to the brand’s visibility if optimized with SEO keywords in the description.
