DO: Think Like Water
If internet traffic is like flowing water, then video is the mighty Amazon river- vast, high volume, with a massive influence on the environment around it. Business Insider says that by 2021, 82% of all internet traffic will be video. That means you and your business need to tap into this golden opportunity to create the leads and sales with video- in other words, ‘go with the flow’. Using high-end promotional videos are an essential ingredient for your media marketing strategy. Video marketing is indispensable if you want to boost your business and create a strong following and market your brand.
Why should your audience watch your video and not click on another one? This is an important question to have in mind when designing and placing your video content. But for sure, it’s key is to give your viewers a reason to watch and even more, to make them return to your website and help build your following. By watching your content you’ll help boost your business return on investment (ROI) and this will reflect either in an increase in subscribers, leads and traffic, or sales, or both!
Did you know that on average, internet surfers spend 2.6 times more time on a page that contains videos? Clearly, it’s a good idea to make videos a part of your marketing strategy to deepen your relationship with your audience.
Do: Put Yourself In Your Audience’s Seat
So where do you start when it comes to video marketing? First of all you need to find out what your audience, or buyer persona, is all about and what they would likely want to watch. This means that you need to adapt your video content to the likes and specs of your audience. Depending on that, you can choose to focus on, for example, educational or informative content. Since according to Forbes, at least 65% of the population are visual learners, promotional videos of your business, client testimonials, product information, interviews, ‘making-of’s, behind-the-scenes and a little fun & humor will work well!
Do: Make Movies… Like Pencils
An important point to keep in mind when creating videos is that short videos actually get the most views. Videos up to two minutes long get the highest viewing scores! So, like a well used pencil, keep it short, sharp and to the point.
Do: Tell Your Story
As a first step, get your team together and start writing down ideas. Write a script and create storyboards to capture the gist and mood of your video. Another great way to create content is to use blog entries or articles as the starting point for a video. Just summarize the article, and you have your basic script. What really helps is to draw up a schedule of what you would like to shoot and when. This will help you, when it comes to the editing part, to know what you did and when, bringing everything into a sequential order. Remember that good stories have a beginning (intro), middle (content/claim/problem being solved) and end (conclusion/outro), so do follow this fabulous formula.
Do: Craft A Captivating Experience
Let’s say you are working on a promotional video for your brand. What you will need is a location to stage an interview scene with the founder, where you ask him to explain the product and talk about the vision of the brand. People want to connect with their brands; they want to be part of the intangible. Show them that your product isn’t only a product, but a lifestyle. So make your videos as personal and engaging as possible, allowing your viewers to create a relationship with your brand. Getting this right is the ultimate win and a guarantee to boost ROI. So craft content that speaks to your buyer persona on a personal level.
Using sound and pictures will help to create the kind of emotive language that draw the viewer in from an emotional perspective. At the end, don’t forget to add a melodic sound to the clip, as this will heighten the impact the visuals will have on the person watching the clip. The viewers need to identify with what they see and realize that the product is something they need in their life to make their lives fuller and more meaningful.
Don’t: Waste Time Or Money
So once you have your footage, you need to start editing and combining the video clips. But do us a favor and…. don’t start from scratch. By that I mean don’t waste time downloading video editing software, watching endless tutorials and trying to learn the ropes of video production. Remember that since it’s not 1999, it’s no longer necessary to hire an expensive production company to make a professional promo video. There’s an easy, nimble online ad maker, called Renderforest. They have some really intuitive features that allow you to create brilliant high-end promotional videos.
On that website you will find easy step-by-step guides that will help you to come up with powerful promotional ads using 1000’s of high-grade templates. That means every video you make with Renderforest can be as unique as your brand.
Don’t: Forget The First Impression
With Renderforest you can also create powerful animated logo and introduction videos that will instantly hook viewers, plus they’ll boost your brand image with a slick video corporate identity.
Don’t: Think SEO Is Just For Nerds
You’ll also need a strong SEO strategy to analyze your online performance from time to time. And how do you do that? There are some key principles that we will look into now, that will take your next to the next level. SEO is an abbreviation for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. The term basically means that your video entries are indexed and rank in connection with search engines (e.g. Google) when certain keywords are being used. SEO means you need to use keywords so that your website appears on search engines when typing in those keywords. So it is important that you use descriptive words that explain your videos and are relevant to your viewers. Do some research as to what keywords are most relevant in your field. Also ask yourself, are those keywords interesting and compelling? Would you click on them to watch the video? Not only are those descriptions and keywords important to drive your viewer to click on the ‘play’ button, but your search engine optimization (SEO) will increase that way, too. So you see, SEO is for all wise video marketers – not just the geeks.
Don’t: Think That Platforms Are Just A Type Of Shoe
Once you have finished making your video, you need to place it on the right platform to create the traction that your business deserves to build the brand. Choosing the right thumbnail is vitally important, as it will draw in the attention of a person scrolling through hundreds of videos. Think of your thumbnail as a book cover or the landing page of your website, and make it as engaging as possible!
The most obvious place to host your video is your website. So besides having a write-up about your company, adding a short promotional video that will give some insight about your company and the history will increase traffic and inform your audience about your brand. An extra advantage of using a service like Sprout Video is that unlike other video hosting platforms, Sprout Video won’t draw people off your website onto their 3rd party video platform, so you stay firmly in control.
Use your most popular video as the first video on your website. Google will only use that first video to be indexed to their search engine, so you should use the best performing or most compelling video from your website as the first video. Google will then identify and index it as the one coming up when searching for the keywords. Make the video the focal point of your page and it will receive the traction it deserves. You don’t want your viewer to have to scroll endlessly before finally finding the video. The danger is that your viewer could get bored or loose interest and ‘abandon’ which in industry speak means they leave your website. So make your video entry the focus of your page in order that people easily notice and click to watch it.
Don’t: Be Afraid Of Being Exposed
‘Exposure’ is not a dirty word. Exposure these days means getting maximum views for your video to maximize your ROI. So I recommend getting some really decent exposure. Here’s how:
- Share your video on strategic, high-traffic websites to increase its exposure.
- Ensure your videos are optimized for mobile viewing. Statistics reveal that over 50% of people use their mobile phones to browse the internet.
- Make use of other online platforms and don’t solely rely on your website. For example, use social media like Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to amplify your brand’s video. Another way is to cooperate with other thought leaders and influencers in your field, and partner with them to have your videos embedded in their online profiles.
Don’t: Ignore Competitors
Even if you already have a sound strategy, it is always useful to stay up to speed as to what your competitors are doing. Look at how they are approaching their online and video marketing and see how you can apply what you learn.
Do: Get Smarter- Think ‘AI’
Commercial video production is moving into the modern age. That means we’ve moved from the era ‘BI’ (Before Internet) to ‘AI’ (After Internet). Your video production needs to move with it. As much as traditional techniques of video production are still valid, there are new approaches and new priorities- for example, using Renderforest to make your video and the internet to publish it! (By the way, I almost forgot to mention Renderforest uses real AI to produce its videos). So, go all out and do a strategic audit before launching your next video ad… and then go with the flow. Follow some of these tips to make your video truly shine online so that it’ll rain money down on your business.
In conclusion, the digital landscape is evolving rapidly, and video marketing has emerged as a powerful tool to connect with audiences and boost business growth. With the ever-increasing prevalence of video content on the internet, harnessing its potential is essential for success. To make the most of video marketing, businesses should think strategically, tailor content to their target audience, and keep videos concise and engaging. Leveraging tools like Renderforest can streamline the video creation process. Additionally, employing effective SEO strategies, selecting the right platforms, and staying competitive in the digital space are crucial steps in ensuring that videos yield maximum exposure and ROI in the AI-driven era.