Video Marketing 5 Keys to Success
The curtain has all but closed on traditional marketing strategies. In the past, television, radio, and newspaper ads were crucial parts of advertising your brand and products. However, the steep decline in popularity has drastically limited the effectiveness of these mediums. This is especially true for brands targeting a younger audience, which overwhelmingly prefer social media and the internet over traditional forms of media.
This poses the question – with traditional means of marketing on the way out, what can fill the void? Thankfully, a solution already exists in the form of video marketing. Though a relatively new approach to marketing, it has had a meteoric rise in popularity. Proving itself to be highly effective in marketing strategies. Whether through social media, a video hosting platform or on your own site, video marketing is a tried and true path to increasing your authority and traffic to your website. Moreover, with the reach of traditional marketing diminishing, contrasted by the sharp rise of video marketing, there has never been a better time to get started.
What is video marketing?
Video marketing is a modern approach to marketing, using video content, often uploaded to social media or embedded into websites, to increase brand awareness, traffic, and, most importantly, conversions. Video marketing is a significant offshoot of digital marketing. Making it one of the best methods available to cultivate close engagement with your audience. Something traditional methods have a much harder time with. Because of this, in addition to its ever-increasing popularity, it’s a good approach to be knowledgeable about, regardless of whether you decide to employ it.
Know your audience
As with any marketing strategy, knowing your target audience is key to success. This is no different with video marketing, with the close contact you have with your audience. Arguably making it more important than previous strategies. As such, one of the first steps you should make in video marketing is defining your target audience.
One of the best ways to identify your target audience is by imagining your customers as an individual. Your products or services will appeal to certain aspects of this customer. Such as meeting their needs or interests and will be more satisfactory to this customer than anyone else. You may have heard this concept referred to as the “ideal customer,” and once you have identified them, you will be able to orient your marketing approach accordingly.
It goes without saying that ideal customers will differ from business to business. As such, it may be more difficult for some businesses to identify an ideal customer than others. There are two effective options available to help achieve this: data and your knowledge.
Data is Key
Data is vital in all avenues of running a business, with identifying your target audience being no exception. These days it is easy to come by, which certainly makes the task of finding your ideal customer easier. You can find basic information, like age and location, quite simply, with more details being just as easy to find if you are prepared to put in a bit of effort. This can include anything from hobbies to profession, with all of it useful. Once you have your data, the next step is to look for patterns, then factor that into your marketing approach.
The second method is much more barebones, relying on your understanding of your audience and your brand. As you are working without hard data, this method can be considerably less reliable, though it is worth doing in the absence of data. Consider what your brand is offering, what needs you aim to meet, and who might benefit most from your product or service. You will need to start big, then slowly narrow down the type of person you are targeting. For example, start with broad categories like age or gender, then narrow down to smaller categories like hobbies or financial means. Once you have done so, you should be left with a clear image of your target audience.
Consider which type of marketing video to use
Video marketing is quite a broad term, referring to many different approaches to creating content. Naturally, some strategies fit some brands better than others, making this decision quite an important one. Before you dive into video marketing, it’s a great idea to investigate the options available to you. For reference, we have summarised a few types below.
Infographics
An infographic is a great way to present information visually without boring your audience to tears. Done right, they can blend educational materials, like charts and data points, with entertainment. Additionally, they can be used to show your audience that you are an authority on your subject, that you have done your due diligence, and can be a trusted source of information.
Sales videos
What springs to mind when you think about marketing is that sales videos are a direct call to action for your audience. They can vary in approach, often taking other types of marketing videos, though all have the same purpose of driving conversions. As such, you can get quite creative with sales videos, using infographics, animations, user testimonials, or a mix of your choosing. Be careful not to appear too pushy in your videos, though. Generally, it is best to focus on building a good relationship with your audience and providing entertainment first, relegating your sales pitches to a secondary priority.
Explainer videos
While great for marketing, explainer videos are also a fantastic way of providing educational and entertaining content. As expected, they centre around explaining a concept in an eye-catching and entertaining way, often using animation to do so. They are often used to drive conversions. With links and calls to action being placed throughout the videos, though they can double as an effective way to raise awareness.
Creating your content
Once you have your audience identified and video type chosen, your next step is to get creative. There are plenty of ways to tackle video production, with some being more hands-on than others, though a common theme for success is planning. Writing scripts and storyboards are the foundations of creating a good video yet are often not given their due care and attention. They provide structure and direction to your videos, making it easier to add the meat of your content later. Once you have done this, your next steps are filming and editing your content, which should be straightforward given your rigourous planning. Videomaker and editing software is easy to come across today, with almost all budget ranges and needs catered for, so finding something that ticks your boxes should be a breeze.
Alternatively, countless templates and video creation companies are available if you would rather skip the creation process. It can be a time-consuming and challenging process, especially for newcomers to video making. So, don’t be afraid to explore these options if you think they would be useful.
Creating great content is only half of the battle; the other half is getting people to see it. Using a video hosting service, like Wistia, to post videos on your site is an excellent place to start. Doubly so for the control they give you, alongside all the analytical tools and other perks. However, this still doesn’t entirely solve the issue of getting people to your site in the first place.
This is where social media can be a great tool to use. Social media and video marketing are almost always used in tandem, often to significant effect.
By posting your content to social media platforms, like Youtube, Facebook, and so on, you can advertise your brand to their massive user bases. In doing so, you can increase traffic to your website as your social media presence grows. Additionally, having links from social media pointing back to your website is brilliant for SEO. Which only further increases your visibility and, hopefully, your audience.
Formulate a marketing strategy
The last major point in video marketing is strategy. As mentioned before, there are many different variables to consider in video marketing, be they approach, audience, or otherwise. This is just as true for social media platforms and other methods of distributing your content. You will need to consider the audiences of said social media platforms. What content gets searched for, what formats are supported, and so on. Additionally, you may want to consider the timing of your uploads. Some demographics will be more active at certain times than others, so to ensure your followers don’t miss out, you will need to upload at a time that suits them.
Though this all may seem quite overwhelming, following these steps in practice is quite simple. Provided you do your research; you will be on your way to a successful marketing strategy in no time.
