Video marketing is a powerful tool to gain brand awareness for your business and lead customers on the buyer’s journey. There are many different types of videos you can create so you need to first consider what marketing goal you are aiming to achieve. Whether you want more customers to be aware of your business, signup for an event, or take a specific action on your website (signup for an ebook, ) video is essential for your marketing strategy because internet users prefer videos.

According to Hubspot, 78 percent of people watch online videos every week, and 55 percent do so on a daily basis. By 2022, online video will make up 82 percent of internet traffic.

Many businesses feel overwhelmed when thinking about getting started with creating video content. That’s understandable because there are so many different types of videos: brand intro videos, how-to tutorials, case study videos, testimonial videos, animated explainers, behind-the-scenes vlogs, and product videos.

Before you begin producing your video, you need to establish your reasons for doing so. You also need to know who your target audience is and on which platforms you plan to use to distribute your content.

So, you might be wondering how to get started. Here are our top 5 essential video tips for marketers:

1). Research your competitors.

A great way to get started is by looking at what your competitors are doing. Take a look at the biggest names in your field and work out what they are doing right, and what you believe your company can improve upon. Focus on the unique selling proposition for your company and create a vision for your video strategy that will make your company stand out. Pay attention to not only the video production quality, but also analyze their video distribution strategy.

2). Leverage social media.

Once you’ve decided on the video format you will use to achieve your desired marketing goal, it’s important to really hone in on the social media distribution strategy you will use. Too often, marketers are eager to get their social media pages filled with videos – but they don’t stop to think about how to present their videos on each platform. You will need to shorten the length of your videos for social media and present them in a way that is appealing to the audience on each platform.

3). Incorporate compelling music.

Music sets the mood and tone of your brand and message, and can take your videos to the next level.
Remember that your audience will not remember every fact and figure you present in your videos. The human brain is wired for emotion connection. Music is crucial for building an emotional bond with your audience and giving your video impact. You can find free music from the YouTube Audio Library or Archives.org. If you have a budget for music, you can find inexpensive tracks on Audio Jungle, or Audio Blocks.

4). Use DIY (do-it-yourself) video tools.

There are some great tools out there to help you film and edit your videos. These tools are great for getting started with video + making your social media posts stand out. Some of the tools I recommend are: Biteable, Animoto, Adobe Rush, and Soapbox video.

5). Always Use Captions

Billions of people every day are watching videos on their smartphones. This is good news because viewers can watch videos in a public environment such a gym, library, or coffee shop. According to DigiDay, 85 percent of internet users watch Facebook videos without sound. Closed captions make videos accessible to those with disabilities, but research studies show this benefits all people. They help improve focus, comprehension, and brand recall, according to a study by the University of Iowa.

Marketers can use these tips to make effective videos that create a ROI for their investment. Making videos can be time consuming so it’s important to be mindful of the goal you want to achieve. Spending a bunch of time and money making videos that don’t bring value to your business can be deflating. Remember to start with the end in mind and you’ll be on your way to successful video campaign.

If you need help with your video campaign, we are happy to help out. Signup for a free 30 minute video consultation today.