How to Create a Video Marketing Strategy with 5 Easy Steps

• Updated on: 2017-09-24
• Read original article here

Whether you’re a small business or nonprofit, you need to consider a solid video marketing strategy to grow your business.

Recent research found that 33 percent of online activity is spent watching video, and marketers using video grew their revenue 49 percent faster than non-video users because people simply love video.

Statistics are great, but how do you make them work for you? Let’s take a look at how to create a video marketing strategy with five easy steps.

Whenever I’m on stage at a business event, I always ask the audience to close their eyes and envision their ideal buyer: gender, age, race/ethnicity, location, lifestyle, and more. This mental exercise is the beginning of building a buyer persona, and it’s critical to developing the right content for your audience.

Your buyer persona is your “true north” when navigating your video marketing content strategy. Everything you script, film, and upload should speak to your buyer persona. The content needs to answer his or her questions, resolve pain points, and provide targeted calls to action.

The buyer persona will also determine your brand’s tone, which is very important when recording your videos. Will you be fun and entertaining, or does your ideal buyer prefer a serious, more professional approach? Ultimately, nothing is set in stone, and you’ll be able to adapt the message and tone in your video marketing strategy as you start publishing.

They key to outlining the content in your video marketing strategy is to look at a calendar and determine your content schedule. How many videos do you plan to publish and at what frequency? Can you cover one video a week, or does two videos a month make more sense?

Once you figure out your content schedule, you’ll want to diversify the types of videos you offer. In fact, there are many types of content from which you can choose:

When starting, choose two or three types of videos and create a bullet list or spreadsheet with proposed topics, a brief outline, and estimated length of the video. Keep in mind that videos up to 2 minutes long tend to get the most engagement. You also want to make sure that each video has a specific call to action for your viewers like subscribing to your email marketing contact list, calling your office, or purchasing a product on your ecommerce storefront.

After planning out your video content, you need to figure out how you’ll publish your videos. Will you increase the authenticity by filming live video on a platform like Facebook or YouTube, or would you prefer to record, edit, and upload your final product to ensure perfection? Of course, there are benefits to both, but it all depends on your audience and message.

Once you finalize your content strategy and publishing platform, you’ll need to delegate tasks to get the videos recorded. Assuming you have a team to help you, critical tasks will include:

If you are a one-person crew, you can still make your video marketing strategy a reality, but you’ll need to plan and schedule these different tasks. From experience, I recommend blocking out a considerable amount of time (or using your invaluable weekend time) to prep and record in batches.

Once you’ve recorded and edited, you are ready to upload your video content. It’s important to note that you won’t need to edit or upload your videos if you are filming live. During a livestream, the video simply plays for your audience, and on certain platforms, you have the ability to upload your live video for others to watch later.

If you are recording, editing, and uploading your video content, then you’ll want to choose an appropriate platform: YouTube, Facebook, or Vimeo.

YouTube is the second-highest trafficked website in the world with over a billion users and more than 500 million hours of video content watched daily. YouTube is also owned by Google, so you are feeding content directly into the world’s most popular search engine, which provides an SEO benefit.

Here’s an example of a “how-to” video we uploaded to YouTube to show viewers how to create a great real estate email marketing template.

Uploading videos to Facebook is advantageous if you have a substantial following on the social media giant. In fact, when compared to YouTube links, native videos on Facebook have 10 times higher reach. In essence, Facebook wants to reward you for uploading your videos to its platform.

Here’s an example of an educational video we added to the BJC Branding Facebook page all about why you should use email marketing.

Vimeo is not as popular as YouTube or Facebook, but its affordable paid subscriptions allow you to upload and customize your videos for placement on your website, landing pages, or email campaigns. A paid subscription removes ads and suggested videos after your clip ends. At BJC Branding, we opted for a paid Vimeo plan, so we could upload video content to our website and share via email marketing.

Here’s an example of a “tips & tricks” video we added to the BJC Branding website about creating Facebook Ads.

Notice how we spotlighted this same video in our recent email newsletter:

So, you’ve envisioned your audience, fine-tuned your messaging, planned your content, recorded your videos, edited to perfection, and uploaded to the appropriate channels. As they say, “If you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing,” so it’s important to keep an eye on your metrics.

To help further develop your video marketing strategy, you want to look at metrics like:

Once you collect the data, you want to analyze it to make informed decisions on your future videos.

If videos have a high number of views but no engagement, then you touched on the right topic, but maybe your tone or messaging was off.

If videos have a high level of social media engagement, then your audience is telling you they want more of the same. If you see high levels of engagement, but your conversion rate is low, then maybe you need to bolster your call to action.

If videos don’t have many views nor engagement, then you want to find new ways to promote the video like social media posts or dedicated email campaigns. If, after a second round of promotion, your video metrics remain stagnant, then revisit your buyer persona and reconsider your video topics.

Again, pay attention to those numbers before you spend the time and resources to record your next set of videos. Measuring and analyzing will help you make a greater impact on your audience.

If you have a smartphone, you can get started on your video marketing strategy. You don’t need an expensive camera or a Hollywood crew behind the lens. You simply need to follow the five steps above and know that as awkward as it feels at first, it will help you grow your business in the end. Break a leg!

About the Author: Bryan Caplan helps businesses elevate their digital marketing. CEO of BJC Branding and professional speaker, Bryan travels the country, presenting on a wide range of digital marketing topics.

Bryan is also one of the nation’s first Master Certified Local Experts with Constant Contact, having provided digital marketing strategy to well over 1,000 businesses since 2010. Bryan is a guest lecturer at the Sawyer School of Business and a contributor to several websites including Constant Contact, BlueHost, BusinessTown, and the Boston Business Journal.