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Marketing

Can you afford to ignore a video marketing strategy?

Video-based marketing is currently exploding online with YouTube as the number two search engine in the world, receiving more unique hits per month than Facebook. With around 400 hours  of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute,  it is very clear that video is where people are spending time. In 2015, video accounts for 57 per cent of consumer internet traffic (almost 4x as much as web browsing and email), this will grow to 69 per cent in 2017 and 79 per cent in 2018. An active video marketing strategy is not a “nice to have” option anymore, it’s an expectation in today’s digital landscape.

Video gives your business a personal face and showcases your personality – through video you can create a direct relationship with your target audience. The presenter of the video is able to look into the camera and directly engage your audience with your brand. At the same time the viewer is able to look the presenter in the eye and see the authenticity that you bring and a relationship is formed.

Video builds trust and positions your business as the experts in your field. In a world of short attention spans, video grabs interest and helps you stand out from the competition. Today’s savvy marketers are using video to convey rich information and meaningful content making it more effective at closing sales and generating leads.

How do you develop a successful strategy?
Content has and always will be king. Unique, valuable, core content must combine your company’s value proposition and your target audience’s key interests and desires. Design your content to inspire, educate and build trust. The more specific your video is, speaking to a limited niche, the better it will perform when it comes to conversion because it wont be saddled by unqualified views, or those that have no interest in your offering. If you narrowcast a specific message that capitalises on the pain points of your ideal prospect, your video will retain viewers who are actually interested in what you do and they’ll likely have the budget to spend on your offering.

Top of funnel evergreen content should form the foundation of the strategy. This content is designed to pull the viewer in based on search and earn your audience’s loyalty through valuable education. The primary objective is to introduce prospects to your brand. Examples of evergreen content include:

  • An explainer video – outline your value proposition and differentiated benefits
  • Company culture and staff profiles – who is Mr. Company Owner and why should your audience care?
  • Your brand’s principle story about how you help customers do amazing things and importantly, why you bother?

Complement this with your mid funnel content designed to convert prospects into qualified leads with product demonstrations, services overviews, client testimonials and case studies. Frequently asked questions and answers to buying objections are excellent opportunities to engage your audience at a deeper level. Share your expertise and give away your best content for free up front with a weekly update. This will aid in the growth your subscriber list and keep your audience coming back for more.

Action tip: create a stockpile list of video titles to serve your market. Video’s should be posted online on a consistent basis – a key factor in growing your online community.

In house vs. outsourced
Keep your videos short, anything longer than three minutes will have a dramatic drop in views. In house video production can be achieved with most modern smart phones or laptops. Technology advances make this easier than ever however consideration must be provided to ensuring your final production reflects your company brand image. Awful audio quality with background noise will make your video un-watchable while shadows and poor lighting will distract from your key message. A badly edited video is worse than no video at all. Soundtracks, branding, graphics, fonts, links and a call to action should be applied to the top and tail of your footage. An outsourced approach will take care off all the details, produce a professional result and allow you to focus on your core business.

Ready to hit publish
Your shiny new video is ready to release to the world, you hit the publish button and eagerly check a few days later only to find dust gathering. In order to be effective your video strategy must dovetail with an overall marketing campaign. Make sure your videos align with your content marketing strategy and adhere to your company’s tone, style and messaging. This must include setting targets, measuring KPI’s and monitoring comments. There are many approaches to maximise your reach beyond the traditional YouTube channel. Website landing pages, blog articles, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, email are just a few of the options available for leveraging this visual medium. Understanding where your audience spends time will allow you to focus your efforts.

Video is the future of online content marketing. Production costs have tumbled significantly making it both inexpensive and achievable for any business with a modest budget. By careful preparation and evaluation of results, video can be one of the shrewdest and effective content marketing tactics to jump on.

Brett Ginsberg is founder and content producer at Brett Ginsberg Visuals. 

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