Create a Video Marketing Strategy for your Business
“It’s not what you upload, it’s the strategy with which you upload.” — Will Keenan
Marketing. Strategy. It’s important. You know, I know it. Having a plan for everything you do is critical for success, so it definitely applies to video marketing. It’s important to have a plan and get it right from the start, otherwise you’ve wasted countless time and precious money.
Let’s jump right in to the good stuff — how to create a clear video marketing strategy for your business.
Step 1. Set your goals
Ask yourself: Why do you want to use video? What do you hope the videos can do for your business? What is the action you want viewers to take upon watching your video?
It’s important to set an overall goal and vision for your strategy, then break it down into smaller steps.
- #1 Define your Vision and Top 3 Goals: Set your Overall Vision, including why you’re using video and what you hope to achieve — pick your top three goals and rank them from 1–3 so you know what to focus on first.
- #2 Describe your Ideal End State: this is what success looks like. This will help outline how you define and track your success, and what metrics you will use to measure your efforts.
- #3 Determine your Content: Determine the type of content you will create, the distribution channels you will you use, and define your rules for how you will make sure the content you create will stay true to your vision and goals.
No matter what, creating a plan and establishing your goals will provide the most direction for what content you need to create.
Step 2. Outline your Video Content
What kind of videos should you make? Well, there’s almost too many options!
Here’s a fun list that I recommend you read through carefully, and consider how you can find unique, new ways to use each of these videos to achieve your business goals:
Commercials, Explainer Videos, Tutorials, Product Demos, Educational Content, Origin Stories, Customer Testimonials, Event Videos, Holiday Greeting Card Videos, Recruiting Videos, Employee Onboarding and Training Videos.
Remember, as much as you love your business, your customers likely rarely think of you, and your potential customers may not even know who you are. Your video should not be built around you, it should be built around them, your customers. Your business adds value to your customer’s lives, and your video should be centered around them. What do they need? What messaging will resonate with them?
Early on in Bootkik, we used video to build brand awareness by leveraging the expertise of well known entrepreneurs in our community. These videos were not about Bootkik, but they were about a) the experts, and b) the viewers. We were just along for the ride.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, but about the stories you tell.” — Seth Godin
Two tips I can give you when you’re considering what content you want to make:
- #1: Get influencers involved
- #2: Emphasize storytelling
We told the stories of Canadian entrepreneurs, and put their wisdom into bite-sized content designed for social media. Not only did this help us build out awareness for our brand, it also positioned us as the medium for distilling expertise to our target audience (small business owners), allowing us to connect with them and build trust in ways that we couldn’t on our own. Plus, this strategy helped us build relationships with industry experts, which has opened up more doors for our business.
We’re in the age information and education, and video presents an incredible opportunity to educate and add value to your customers lives.
As with most things, everything is connected, so you can’t know what videos to make unless you know where it’s going to be played.
Step 3. Choose your Distribution
Where will your content be viewed? Social Media? On your landing page?
If your primary way to save money and reach the largest audience is by using social media, you’ll need to determine which social channels would be best for the kind of videos you want to create.
If anything, distribution is more important than video quality. In this step, make sure to outline your budget. If you have $1,000, 40% should go to video production and 60% should go to distribution.
Again, choosing your social channels will be based upon your understanding of your target audience. This means you will need to do some pre-work and basic research to figure out which video friendly channels (Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat) your audience hangs out on the most, and which platform will have the most impact.
Once you’ve picked your number one channel that would like to focus on, this will create the framework for type of content you need to create.
Here is a quick list of effective types of videos for 3 of the most popular platforms:
YouTube: Youtube is great for DIY videos, explainers, tutorials, and customer engagement videos. There are many different approaches to this, from vlogging with a dedicated personality, to behind-the-scenes style like VICE, or a strictly motion graphics heavy series for educational content. The options are endless with YouTube.
Instagram: Instagram is great for posting videos from industries in food, fitness, fashion and photography — anything with products! Great nature shots, landscapes, fancy dishes, cool clothes or revolutionary tech products will do well on Instagram. Definitely utilize Instagram stories, to tell a unique story through the 10-sec videos and pictures.
Snapchat: Snapchat is the fairly new kid on the block, but is a great tool to experiment with innovative ways to market your videos, especially real-time events or utilizing filters for special occasions.
Step 4. Create your Content
This is the fun part. There are plenty of options of different kinds of videos you can produce (refer to the list above).
There’s many types of videos you can create, but the most important thing to keep in mind when creating your content is to make sure it fits with your vision, your brand and your voice.
One of biggest trends within the last few of years has been educational marketing, with large brands using “How To” videos to help consumers solve problems in their lives or to educate and raise awareness for social change or larger initiatives.
A good popular example is Kurzgesagt, the small design studio that strives to explain science topics in a visually beautiful and humorous manner:
This channel not only was such a success that it became a new company supported through Patreon, but it was initially a way to advertise their design services as a studio. They earned a reputation for creating high quality content, and found a unique way to raise their brand’s awareness.
So, to create your videos, you’ll have to think about what you can do differently. How can you disrupt the trends that are currently happening? How can you find new ways to educate and entertain customers? It’s time to use your noodle and define some of those tactics in your strategy.
And once you actually get to production, you’ll either have to roll up your sleeves and learn the art of visual storytelling, or you can hire it out.
See this article for helpful tips to create an explainer video on a budget, and make sure to check out the importance of nailing the script.
Step 5. Review and Refine
Make sure to set your posting schedule for the next month, and review and refine your strategy often. Keep track of video plays, clicks and links, and any other analytics provided on the platforms where you post your content.
Your strategy should always be analytics driven, and any changes made should enhance the product you present to your viewers.
Thanks for reading! If you have any additional tips for creating a solid video marketing strategy, please post in the comments below!
