Use Video to Heighten Your Marketing Strategy

Getting started with video marketing

In the current market, videos are key to a competitive marketing strategy – they allow you to interact with your audience on a more personal level than even the best copy. Introducing video content into your marketing strategy gives your business a human element and connects your brand with real faces to help build more meaningful relationships with your audience.

Using video as a tool for brand awareness and lead generation – from tutorials to social posts to hero videos – is only growing in importance. According to Social Media Today, 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. While the current pandemic may prevent you from hiring an outside specialist or going to a professional studio, there are many ways to kickstart making videos and increase engagement. We’ve gathered some tips and tricks to help you incorporate videos into your marketing strategy right from home.

Start simple

“People consume content at a faster rate each year, and most of the time they don’t expect a huge budget production to go in that type of content,” says Vincent Beck, a video producer at Ontraport. Recording videos in a properly lit set with expensive gear can take days if not weeks and, if you’re just starting out, you may not be ready to invest in professional equipment. Instead, use the camera on your smartphone and begin there. These smartphone recording tips can help you achieve professional-looking business videos through the device in your pocket, enabling you to post more frequently and increase brand exposure.

While using your smartphone is a great starting place, researching the basics of video production is crucial to driving website traffic, and more than 84% of businesses that employ video marketing have said that it has helped them increase this activity. There is plenty of free online education that makes producing polished videos from beginning to end relatively easy. Here are 15 tips to help you get started filming and editing your own marketing videos.

Decide which videos to create

When starting the video marketing process, it’s important to focus on the content first. “Put yourself in the viewer’s position and make sure the message creates excitement around your brand or product,” says Dylan James, a video producer at Ontraport. While there are many different kinds of videos that increase brand awareness and engagement, here are a few of the key types and some tips for creating them:

Hero videos

Hero videos offer a core explanation of your business, telling what you are offering and why your audience needs it, and they should be the center of your video marketing strategy. They might convey a new idea or announce a new feature and are usually 4-5 minutes long. They live on a website’s homepage or YouTube page, but they can also be run as an advertisement. Dylan James recommends that you draw out a storyboard and cement your ideas before filming or animating.

Live webinars

Live webinars are real time videos that a company’s audience can interact with. According to GoToWebinar, “73% of B2B marketing and sales leaders say webinars are the best way to generate high-quality leads.” This is because the host on a live stream can talk with people who are participating, allowing the audience to connect with your brand on a deeper level. Webinars will live on your website and usually require registration, which boosts your email list and generates leads. Of course you’ll want to be well-prepared in order to ensure your audience will come back for more, so here are 10 things you should know before launching a live webinar

Tutorials

Tutorials are educational videos that show customers how to use a feature of your product or explain how to do a process step-by-step. They are packed full of information, which means they are great for helping your audience learn more about how your brand will benefit them. To ensure your tutorial videos are getting you the greatest exposure, upload them to YouTube. Here are 7 tips for making effective, educational and interesting tutorial videos.

Social post videos

Social post videos are digestible pieces of content repurposed for your audience on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social sites. The video options are endless: highlights of your tutorial or hero videos, videos showcasing your company culture, sharing product updates or bragging about how awesome your office dog is. Whatever you choose to do, it’s important to make sure your video gets straight to the point within the first few seconds – eye-catching media will encourage viewers on social media to stop scrolling and click through, thus allowing you to add them to your marketing funnel.

Take advantage of multiple platforms

After you’ve determined which type of videos you want to create and gone through the production process, it’s time to integrate them into your marketing strategy. Here are some popular platforms the Ontraport video team shares videos on, as well as some strategies for execution.

Homepage

Your homepage is a platform for videos that present your audience with a problem and show how your business offers a solution. Videos on your homepage should consist of motion graphics, product screenshots and live action clips which can all be edited together to drive your message.

Because homepage videos are an introduction to your brand, make sure they have a cohesive visual language. For example, video producers at Ontraport use the same title sequence and same style of lower third across all homepage videos. This catches the attention of viewers and builds consistency, leading to better recognition of your brand on other platforms.

Email funnels

Including video in your emails can boost your click rate by 300%. Whether it is persuasive pieces convincing leads to buy or members of your team educating customers, attaching videos to your marketing email funnels is a great way to increase engagement. Having a series of short, 2-3 minute videos in a weekly email explaining how to get the most out of the product or service can increase retention by letting customers know you are there to support them.

Keep your emails short. If you are linking to another platform, explain what the video will be about in one sentence, then drop in your video’s thumbnail linking to the web page where your video is located. Your video thumbnail should be engaging, fun and feature a teammate’s face. It should make readers want to watch your video. Here are some video thumbnail tips to make sure that happens.

Social media

According to Lemonlight, “93% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media.” Sharing videos on social platforms — whether on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or elsewhere — can boost your engagement and share counts by getting your content out in front of a wider, more demographically diverse audience. Social platforms are a gold mine for any business looking to build outreach with video marketing.

A great social media strategy can be also expanded to include lots of different content on many platforms. You can upload videos to YouTube or Vimeo, set them to private, and have them embedded on a course site so only people who have access to your site can view them. This will encourage viewers from social media to consider becoming a member of your business so they can gain access to the content they’re missing out on.

However you choose to start incorporating videos into your marketing strategy, the most important thing is to not be afraid to jump right into it. Take advantage of online resources and focus on finding an authentic voice that resonates with your audience. Then you can begin to build your visual brand and take your video marketing strategy to the next level.