2020 was a pivotal year for many companies. Not only did the appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 result in an almost instantaneous shutdown of the global economy, driving the world into the worst recession since the 1930s Great Depression, but it also forced businesses to pivot their operations to an online, Work from Home (WFH) model.
Content marketing has been an integral part of a successful digital marketing strategy for a long time. However, 2024 has forced the content marketing industry to shift its priorities to cater to consumer habits that drastically altered due to the global lockdowns. Consequently, the digital space is now a tightly contested marketing space where millions of companies worldwide fight for the consumer’s attention.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also resulted in the rapid increase in the adoption of online video viewership, resulting in the adoption of video marketing as a crucial part of a digital marketing strategy. Statistics reported by Statista.com show that the coronavirus pandemic led to a marked increase in video and streaming media consumption during March 2024. These numbers show that time spent watching online videos increased by between 32% and 40% in European countries like Germany, Austria, and Spain.
YouTube figures show that the total number of monthly active users is over 2 million users per month. And more than 30 million viewers are active every day. Lastly, 72% of all consumers prefer watching video to reading text for receiving brand marketing information. And 43% of consumers are reported to find video content more memorable than text content. Therefore, as highlighted by the figures quoted above, and echoed by the video experts, including video marketing into your digital marketing strategy is a good idea. Maybe stating that it is mandatory is too strong a statement. However, the facts point to the need to add video marketing to your content marketing strategy.
Now that we understand the importance of video marketing, let’s dive into the mechanics of creating a successful video marketing strategy.
Source: ManyCam
Contents
1. Determine who your target audience is
Before starting with the video planning process, it is essential to determine who your brand’s target audience is. This is usually decided by creating individual persona types for the different people that fit into your target audience.
In summary, personas are “fictitious characters, which you create based upon your research in order to represent the different user types that might use your service, product, site, or brand in a similar way.” Ergo, creating these persona types will help you gain an insight into your target audience’s needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals.
It might seem easier to skip this step because you will more than likely have a broad idea of who your target audience is. However, the video production process is not cheap. Thus, the more time you spend on the initial phases of this process, the more targeted your videos will be, the greater your ROI, and the higher the customer conversions and sales numbers.
Source: makingstrategyhappen.com
2. What is your goal?
Marketing videos are designed to connect with the brand’s target audience on an emotional level by speaking to the consumer directly. Consequently, it is essential to decide what your video’s marketing goal will be before you start creating the video script and putting together the storyboard.
For instance, there was a stage when GoPro cameras were relatively unknown. GoPro’s marketers decided to publish videos shot with GoPro cameras to highlight the product line’s unique selling points to create brand awareness, increase customer conversions and camera sales. Needless to say, the footage shot by these cameras was superb, and as a result of this marketing campaign, over 30 million cameras were sold.
Source: moneycrashers
3. What is your budget?
Videography resources are not cheap. Therefore, it is essential to work out what your budget is before creating the video. Additionally, it is vital to produce the highest quality video possible because a low-quality video can give consumers the impression that their products are not quality products.
Let’s consider the GoPro example cited above. If the video creators had used low-quality video footage to build the marketing videos, viewers would more than likely have perceived that the GoPro cameras only shoot low-quality footage. Thus, instead of increasing their sales figures by about 30 million, GoPro would probably have lost money creating these videos.
Source: Digital Marketing Institute
4. Where will you post your videos?
Once you have nailed down your budget, the next step is to select the social media platforms to publish your videos. There are a wide variety of choices, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, YouTube, and the brand website. It is untenable to post your videos on every single channel. Therefore, the way you choose which channels to utilize is to check which channels your target audience spends time on.
For instance, GoPro camera clients will more than likely spend time on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and possibly Twitter. GoPro would only consider publishing videos on platforms like Crunchbase and LinkedIn if they were planning on targeting business clients.
Source: youtube.com
5. Which video types are best suited to your marketing campaigns?
There are several different types of marketing videos, each with a unique purpose and function. Here a few of these video types, each with a brief explanation attached.
Explainer videos
They are designed to explain the details and unique selling points of each of your products or services. It is important to note that explainer videos should only discuss one or a maximum of two points; otherwise, they will end up taking a long time to view, and consumers will more than likely not finish watching a very long video.
Testimonial videos
They are created to create an emotional connection with prospective customers. They are also designed to address possible pain points and concerns potential customers have about purchasing your products or services. A targeted testimonial video will often close the deal after all of the customer’s questions and concerns have been addressed.
Source: Medium
Product videos
Lastly, product videos are used for advertising a specific product or service. They must be short, dynamic, and targeted, providing information about a product or a particular element of a product or product line. These videos are designed to convert customers, drive up sales figures, and increase the company’s top and bottom lines.
