Creating the Ultimate Video Marketing Strategy

Video is emotive, entertaining and engrossing, and a successful video marketing campaign is one of the most effective ways of reaching your target audience. Creating the ultimate video marketing strategy involves more than just coming up with the concept for a great video, however, so here are some guidelines for building a comprehensive strategy that gets results.

Your brand identity should be at the forefront of any video marketing strategy. Having a great idea for a video or series of videos isn’t that useful if it doesn’t gel with your brand in a clear way. You also need to identify what your message is, as this will help to define the story, among other things. Any ideas you come up with should be scrutinised ‒ ask yourself honestly if they represent your brand’s ethos.

When setting your goals, the first question you should ask yourself is why you are starting this campaign in the first place. Is it to attract a new audience, launch a new product, or are you rebranding your business? From this, you can set specific goals such as an increase in web traffic, increased sales on a particular product line, new customer sign-ups, or even video shares and view numbers. Some of these goals will need to be measured using analytics, but more on that later.

The story you want to tell is more than just the plot of the video, it is the essence of the piece and what you want your audience to take away from it. Perhaps you want to showcase the hardworking people behind your brand that make your business succeed, or how your product or service can change people’s lives. Whatever the story you want to tell is, your script should come from there.

You may have grand ideas in mind, but these might not be feasible with the financial backing you have available. Setting your budget is a crucial part of your video marketing strategy, but a small budget doesn’t mean you can’t make something great, especially with the right team. Your budget doesn’t just cover the production costs, however. You need to factor in any money that you will need to spend on distribution as well. You can have one overall budget and then split this between the different elements of your video marketing strategy.

Just like setting your budget, your initial ideas may be a little out of your reach when it comes to the logistics of filming content. If you have a particular scene in mind, do you actually know how best to set it up or shoot it? This is why it’s usually best to hire a professional videographer, who has first-hand experience in turning visions into achievable productions. A lot of logistical concerns come down to budget, but the best videographers will have creative solutions to make difficult ideas possible.

One of the easiest ways to go over budget is to run over schedule, so an essential part of your video marketing strategy is creating a timeline, from initial ideas through to distribution. You also need to keep everyone informed of this timeline. The timeline should include detailed plans for pre-production, the shoot itself, post-production and distribution. You can also track the results of your campaign far more easily if you know when to expect them.

Your video marketing journey isn’t over once you have the final cut. Your video marketing strategy needs to include a distribution plan ‒ after all, there’s no point filming content if no one will see it. Where do you want your video to be published? Different social media platforms and video hosting sites have different audiences, as well as varying technical requirements for the uploaded videos. You need to research the platforms your target audience is using and start there. You may also consider options such as paid search and appearing on third party sites.

One last point to consider when formulating your video marketing strategy is analytics. You need to know where your video hit the mark and where it fell short. Google Analytics is a good way of measuring the audience engagement with your content in clear numbers and percentages, but comments and feedback are also invaluable tools when analysing the effectiveness of your campaign. When you come to your next video marketing campaign, all this data will be available to you to capitalise on the most effective parts and rectify any mistakes.

Hopefully these pointers have been useful in creating a more comprehensive video marketing strategy. Just remember that, to create the most effective video, it is best to enlist the help of professionals who can not only shoot your film for you but can help to plan it too.

If you have any questions at all, or you are looking for someone to film or edit your video content, you’re always welcome to get in touch.