Video Marketing 101: 4 Basics Marketers Can’t Miss

 

If you haven’t gotten the memo, video marketing is where its at.

The average consumer spends nearly 7 hours per week watching online videoOpens a new window , with younger demographics such as Millennials watching at least one video per dayOpens a new window .

That’s why nearly 82 percent of all internet traffic will come from video by 2020, and why 87 percent of all marketersOpens a new window use video for marketing right now.

The rewards from video marketing are clear, too. More than half of all consumers want to see more video contentOpens a new window from brands and businesses they support, and upwards of 80 percent of marketersOpens a new window are happy with the ROI from video marketing on social media and in ads.

The stats could keep going, but you get the picture. Video marketing matters.

Despite the fact that almost all marketers are using video, however, not all are doing so properly. Just as the list of reasons for video marketing is long, so too is the playlist of exceedingly ineffective videos coming from marketers. Using video is not enough. Marketers need to use it right.

With that in mind, here’s a quick primer on what every marketer should know about video.

Plan Before You Shoot

Video production takes more time and coordination than written content, and changing video takes more effort than cutting and pasting words. So while all content creation benefits from strong planning, video marketing requires it.

“A good video is incredibly useful, but if the media plan doesn’t effectively optimize its reach or get it in front of the right people, it’s not worth much,” notes Chris Reynolds, a content creator at video production house, Demo DuckOpens a new window .

This starts with knowing your audience segments and what drives them, and having clear campaign goals. But video marketers also should have a strong awareness of where each video fits in the funnel, and plan the various ways that video will be used throughout marketing efforts. This helps a marketer create the right videos with the right messages, and in the right format for each channel where video will appear.

Make sure the brand’s overarching message and identity is front and center during this process, too, because video marketing easily strays from brand identity.

“Modern video marketing has to be coordinated across multiple channels. It can be easy to lose alignment as you try to customize content for each platform,” says Brian Tane, founder and CEO of creative video agency, TaneOpens a new window . “This is why it’s crucial for every brand to have a North Star or purpose that can be revisited when things start to veer off track.”

If you’re new to video planning, Vidyard has a good guideOpens a new window .

Remember, Video is Storytelling

There’s the tendency for marketers to treat video as an end unto itself. Video itself is the content.

But that’s not true, of course, and successful video content marketing starts the same place as any other piece of good content: with a clear message.

“Video for the sake of video has little to no benefit,” says Reynolds. “It’s important for your video to offer something worthwhile to the people watching, whether that’s valuable information or a product that solves a problem.”

More than that, video is a medium that leans heavily on emotion. There’s the music, the opportunity for strong storytelling, the multimedia aspect to it. So marketers succeed when they not only start with a strong message, but also play to the medium’s strength.

“Video is an emotional medium,” says Tane, “so knowing how to utilize things like scriptwriting, music, and pacing to effectively communicate your message and brand story is key.”

There might have been a time when just having a message in the form of a video was enough. But those days are gone. Videos are now as pedestrian as written content, so the bar is raised. Only good video content matters.

Online Video Isn’t Television

While there are parallels between online video consumption and the television viewing habits of old, marketers should also understand that online videos are not like the TV video content they grew up with.

First there’s the length.

“Our collective attention span has dwindled,” notes Reynolds. “It’s important that your video marketing efforts are as short and simplified as possible.”

Not every video can fit everything into just a few seconds, obviously. But try to keep it as short as you can. If your video message is long, spin it out into a series of videos instead of one longer video. Each idea can be its own video, and it is okay for videos to interrelate. While longer articles are all the rage, video is moving in the other direction as a result of placement on social media and the overall expectation from viewers that it engenders.

Then there’s the issue of sound. Online videos often don’t have the benefit of sound, even if a marketer adds music and voiceover.

Roughly 92 percent of mobile consumers watch videos with the sound turned off, a recent reportOpens a new window by Verizon and Publicis Media discovered. This means that videos should be built so they communicate their message even without sound. Many marketers include captions within their videos as a workaround.

Production values are different for online videos and those that make it on the cable networks, too.

While there’s a trend toward upping the production value of online videos as competition heats up and video production technology makes it more possible, consumers also have come to expect DIY video from brands. Off-the-cuff videos come across as more authentic because they looks like the stuff coming from consumers themselves, and the sheer volume of video required today necessitates at least a little video with questionable production quality.

Video marketing doesn’t require big productions, something many marketers forget.

Marketing Rules Still Apply

There are some foundational marketing activities that should be a part of every video marketing effort, too. These are not specific to video, but they often get lost in the adoption of the medium.

The first is building videos around a clear call to action. CTAs are part and parcel of written content, but a surprising number of videos ignore the CTA or rely on accompanying written content for the action.

This is a throwback to a day when video served several uses, however, and that day has past. Video can and should have a CTA within the actual video itself unless it exists strictly for brand awareness (and even then a good CTA never hurt). A video production might still serve several uses, but marketers should be making these multiple versions of the video at the video editing level, not as an after-the-fact through accompanying copy.

Testing and iteration, staples of good marketing departments the world over, also still apply. Video creation is not one-and-done, so old footage can be re-edited based on performance data after release. Or re-shot. Good video marketing tests and iterates the same way as good written content marketing.

Then there’s content repurposingOpens a new window . Video creation takes more time than the creation of written content, but marketers can get a lot out of each production.

If video repurposing is planned from the onset, a single video can easily be used for 10 to 20 different purposes. Content repurposing in general is a powerful tactic, but it makes even more sense for video content creation. Unlike written content, however, video repurposing often must be planned during initial ideation for best results.

If your video footage is not getting used in multiple ways, that’s something you should explore and nail early in your video marketing evolution.

Just like all areas of marketing, there’s an infinite number of deep-dives and tips for getting the most from videoOpens a new window . But start with the basics. If you haven’t mastered the above, all the tricks in the world won’t help your video marketing efforts.