Communicating your company’s message effectively sits at the core of any marketing campaign. It’s the key to making certain your project or products can resonate with your consumers to the extent that they’re enthusiastic to engage with you. However, in our digitally-enhanced world, the best ways to connect with consumers and convert them can seem as though they’re constantly developing. It can feel like a struggle to keep up.
At the moment, video marketing has risen to the top of the tools that are most capable of achieving engagement. They are an easily consumable source of information and entertainment. They involve formats and content that make them shareable across social media spaces. Not to mention that it is also possible today to achieve high production values on a tight budget. Yet, knowing just how great a marketing tool video can be doesn’t get you any closer to achieving those all-important sales increases.
So, let’s take a moment to go through some of the primary points of focus for a video marketing campaign.
Understand Your Audience
Your marketing is only effective if you can meaningfully connect to your audience, and you are only able to achieve that by getting to understand them. You might see limited success with marketing videos designed to be generally popular based on what others are doing, but they are unlikely to move your target demographic down the sales funnel. Rather, you need to commit to better understanding your audience’s relationship to video. Just edit the video yourself for better quality.
Thankfully, there is a significant amount of market data on how and why certain people respond to videos. Between the insights gained through YouTube and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, you have access to data about how long specific demographics tend to stay engaged with a video. A recent study reported that YouTube users spend an average of just over 11 minutes a day on the platform, so you’re competing for a portion of that time. Find out what makes viewers switch off, even the times of the day that they are most likely to access the content. Whether by examining your accounts yourself or teaming up with data analytics experts, you can create plans for the points you need to hit in your video marketing.
That said, it’s important to understand that even when you create content geared toward your audience, reach is still a significant factor in the success of your marketing videos. Your strategy here should include learning not just what videos your audience wants but also where they are most likely to find and watch them. Take the time to learn how subject, topic, and format match up to the hosting venue. In essence, this is all about being more intentional about directing your video marketing efforts.
Consider Your Format
Marketing videos are not all alike. You can’t just dive in and record something about your company or product and hope it will connect. While production is cheaper and more accessible, you still need to take the planning process seriously. This begins with ascertaining what video format is most appropriate to your goals.
Some ideas here include:
● Behind the Scenes
This can be a good choice if your goals surround making a more meaningful connection between your brand and your consumers. It allows you to take your audience into the workplace itself, and showcase the elements you’re proud of. Often these will include employee interviews and details on how items are made — this gives a sense your business is being open, honest, and accountable. As such, it’s often best applied to promoting your values, such as sustainability.
● Explainers
One of the main reasons people tend to engage with videos is because they’re eager to learn something. This is where explainer videos can be effective tools. Unlike a promotional video, explainers are strictly geared toward helping people and providing them with useful information. As such, there needs to be a focus on clarity, utilizing a combination of narration and graphics to illustrate the points being made. When used as part of a marketing campaign they can build trust in your brand, and even credibility as there is usually no overt promotional intent.
● Product Feature
This is usually the most directly promotional of the marketing video formats. It explicitly showcases a product and will often use influencers to review it. Though it is promotional, being straight about this fact can make it an effective piece of content. You’re directly pitching it toward people who are interested in this type of product and are seeking information to help reach a decision. When you are clear about your intentions in this type of video, you can then make better choices about partnering with influencers your demographic trusts, and visuals they find engaging.
Review Your Posting Approach
Once you’ve created your marketing videos, your task isn’t complete. This is really where some of the hard work truly begins. Don’t think of your video content as disparate pieces people will consume and then decide whether to buy from you. It’s more active and interesting than this. Rather, videos are tools to spark ongoing interactions with your consumers, each bringing them further toward not just one conversion but repeat engagement.
This means you need to pay attention to how you post your video marketing. Don’t just show your consumers something, but invite them to interact with it. In the description of the video, there should be links to follow-up information, and a call to action (CTA). Don’t just make your CTA “buy this product,” it should be more engaging. For instance, a call to show their own life hacks to a problem after watching your tutorial videos, or creative uses of your product is a great way to get your consumers involved.
When you post the videos to social media, make sure you are responsive to comments. This builds a personal connection as a result of the video. Indeed, be active in utilizing their suggestions to inform your next videos and your approach. You can also solicit user-generated video content in ways that help you to build closer relationships with your consumers and drive more sales.
Conclusion
Videos aren’t a magic tool that will increase sales. You really have to be intentional in their use to be effective. Review your demographic’s relationship to videos, understand what formats are most appropriate to your campaign. Importantly, make your posting interactive, and develop relationships that drive consumers to conversion.
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