Video content can engage and educate customers in ways that otherwise were only achieved via in-person experiences before today’s technology. As a result, video can increase leads and sales when implemented correctly. Here, we’ll show you how to launch a successful live streaming marketing campaign and other video strategies.
Why Video Marketing?
When it comes to educating customers, generating leads, and converting those leads into paying customers, there’s no strategy like video marketing. The importance of video content isn’t new; what is new, however, is the need for it to be on every single platform and channel.
Video production used to be extremely cost-prohibitive and challenging to accomplish. With today’s smartphones and other easy-to-access devices, you can shoot high-quality videos without needing the assistance of a professional.
Even still, getting the video made is one thing; you also need to have a solid video marketing strategy behind your efforts to ensure you’re targeting your audience and engaging with your potential customers in the right ways.
Smartphones not only make it easier to produce videos, but they also make it effortless for consumers to watch them. As such, expectations around video content are high these days. Audiences watch as much as 19 hours of video content online each week, so you absolutely cannot afford to ignore this option as an element in your overall digital marketing strategy.
Here are a few other reasons video content is essential.
Video content encourages social sharing
By nature, video content helps boost engagement on social media platforms. It’s the second most popular type of content on these platforms in terms of engagement. Think about it — some platforms, like YouTube and TikTok — were founded solely based on video from the very beginning. That says a lot!
Even platforms that aren’t inherently built around the idea of video content see far more engagement when a video is brought into the mix. Pinterest, for example, reports that almost a billion videos a day are watched by its users.
Video content boosts SEO efforts and aids with leads, conversions, and sales
Although the algorithms that determine SEO rankings are a bit mysterious, many companies report a boost in their rankings when they start adding video content to their pages, blogs, and social media accounts. One reason is that when you have videos on your pages, people automatically spend more time on them.
Long page visits show the search engines that people think your content is valuable. As such, they’re more likely to rank you higher than a competitor that doesn’t have those long visits from their audiences.
Search engines aside, video is an excellent tool for your sales team throughout the entire buyer journey.
Using backend analytics, your sales team can help qualify and prioritize cold or unresponsive leads, then approach them with video content that can easily explain how your products or services will make their lives easier.
Mobile users expect video content
Mobile users are the main driving force when it comes to the consumption of videos. Over three-quarters of mobile phone or tablet, users report watching videos on their devices.
Video content helps you educate your customers and build trust with your audience
The majority of video viewers report that they’ll watch any type of video, but around one-third specifically seek out how-to videos, and about 30% want to see educational video content.
The options are seemingly endless when you want to engage with these audiences, as you can create a more personalized experience by presenting your followers with:
- Onboarding videos
- Knowledge-based videos
- Meet-the-team videos
- Support call videos
- Customer stories
That last one is important! People like to learn from the brands they follow but also want to learn from their peers. Consumers, especially in the millennial and Gen Z age groups, often prefer lower-quality video content that’s authentic over high-quality content that seems inauthentic and artificial.
How to Create a Video Content Marketing Strategy
Just like you wouldn’t send an email blast to everyone who’s ever interacted with your company without first doing some strategizing, editing, goal setting, and careful assessment of what you hope to achieve, you shouldn’t start blasting videos out into the universe without some forethought, either.
A little research and planning can go a long way in ensuring you’re touching base with the people most likely to engage with your messaging.
1. Start With Your Goals
Before you can do anything, you need to outline your goals. Ideally, you’ll create a video for each stage of the marketing funnel, but first, you must decide which stage is the most important for your initial outreach.
- Awareness. At this stage, a challenge or opportunity is defined, and the searcher discovers they have a problem. Video content at this phase should attract users and introduce your brand to a new audience.
- Consideration. People in this stage now understand they have a problem and are considering ways they’ll solve the issue. They research, look for recommendations, view product review videos, and compare costs.
- Decision. This audience has found a few options and now just needs to narrow it down to one solution. Your video content should present prospects with proof of customer satisfaction and showcase why your brand beats out your competition.
Don’t forget about people who have already converted into paying customers! You can always create video content that delights those who have already purchased from you.
2. Discover Your Target Audience
Now that you’ve defined which buying stage is most essential for you; you need to figure out where your audience hangs out. This is crucial because if you create video content without a specific audience in mind, you’re most likely not going to accomplish your mission. The people you want to target and get to watch it won’t, and those who do won’t convert because they’re not your target consumer.
This is where the buyer personas become invaluable in the marketing world. If you already have buyers’ personas built out, great! If not, it’s time to get to work. This is usually done when a company develops a new product or service offering. In the end, the people you want to buy your product or service are the people you’re trying to get to watch your video content.
When your buyers’ personas are mapped out, you should know exactly who your target audience is so you can answer:
- Who is my product or service for?
- What is the purpose of my video?
- Where will I find these target consumers?
3. Determine What Story You Want to Tell
This part of the process is usually the most fun AND the most work. Outline the following four elements to serve as a basic framework for your storytelling process:
- Protagonist with a goal: Make sure this person aligns with your target demographic.
- Conflict: This will speak to your customers and express their main pain points.
- Quest: This will introduce your brand’s products or services to your audience.
- Resolution: At this point, the viewers will see how your brand can swoop in and solve the problem!
By laying your story out like this, you are taking your viewers on a journey where they can see themselves in the roles played in the video.
Be sure you keep emotion in mind. Do you want people to crack up as they’re watching your video? Or are you trying to inspire them to go out and do something huge tomorrow? Whatever emotion you want your audience to experience, think about it as you write your script.
4. Keep Creative Requirements in Mind
Be aware that you’ll likely need to get buy-in from various stakeholders within your organization, so be careful about making any last-minute content changes to the script that could throw off the final review process. Owners, managers, and marketing departments often have to have a say in the video content produced before it finds its way onto the internet.
If you don’t leave time for feedback and edits, you could find yourself in a world of hurt when crunch time rolls around.
Try to stick to a timeline and assign reviewers their own timelines to ensure everything stays on track and gets out the door on time. Aligning all the various individuals and departments upfront will help ensure the success of your project, as each segment will likely have its own ideas of deadlines if you don’t communicate your needs directly up front.
5. Stick to a Realistic Budget
Your creative planning and strategizing are vital, but you can’t do anything if you’re unrealistic about how much money you can spend on this project. Plan for the money and resources you actually have at your disposal. If you have in-house resources you can lean on, do that, especially if you’re on a shoestring budget.
If you’re looking outside your organization, shop around before committing to one vendor partner.
Ask video content industry experts how much they charge for certain services, such as scripting, sound editing, social media distribution, and SEO analysis. Knowing how much industry gurus charge will help you understand what you should expect from the various companies you’re considering partnering with.
In the End
Video content does take a bit of work and planning, but the results are usually well worth the time spent preparing the campaign to launch. Today, you simply can’t afford NOT to participate in video marketing. Give it a try!
