With every passing day, the world of marketing is getting more and more competitive. Brands are in a race to establish their importance in front of the target audience. In such a situation, video-based marketing is a powerful tool for brands to convey their message. With videos, brands can personalize the marketing journey and develop a one-on-one connection with their potential customers.
However, you need to realize that the scope of video marketing is diverse (look at these breathtaking video marketing statistics from invideo). Unless brands define a clear strategy, they may get lost in the humdrum of the digital world. To avoid such a situation, here are ten time-tested tips on setting up a video marketing strategy that holds good in the competitive digital world of 2024.
1. Focus on Your Customer Persona
Today, on-demand content has overpowered television, and 6 out of 10 people prefer watching videos online instead of on the television. The reason for this change is that videos give the viewer a more personalized viewing experience. As a brand, you can leverage this trend by focusing on your buyer persona.
Start your journey by envisioning who your ideal customer is. Factors like their age, gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, etc., will help you chalk out their persona. Once you have a clear picture of who your ideal buyer is, it will be easy for you to decide the product’s tone. You can then script, film, edit, and upload the video. However, all this time, keep the expectations of your customers in mind.
2. Convey Your Brand Image
Research reveals that 64% of consumers purchase a product after watching a video of the brand. Thus, by maintaining consistency across all videos you post, you are likely to win the trust of your target group. As a brand, ensure that you convey the right message from your videos.
Try to incorporate your brand colors, logo, or tagline in your promotional videos as they strengthen the brand image. If a video introduces a change in branding (change of logo or festive branding), make sure that it is cross-promoted across multiple platforms. That way, your followers will be in tune with all your branding updates.
3. Come Up with a Video Content Schedule
Consistency is the key to digital marketing success. Therefore, keep a schedule for posting videos. Remember, creating a video takes more time and effort than writing a blog or editing an image. So, plan your schedule keeping resource availability and other such considerations in mind.
Once you have a basic schedule, make sure you stick to it. For simplicity, have a realistic target and make sure you are ahead of your timeline by one or two videos. That way, even if some urgent work or some unforeseen situation comes up, your followers will not miss out on the video content. Regular posting of video content will allow you to establish brand familiarity among your target audience.
4. Plan Your Budget
While marketing initiatives involving video gives smaller brands a fairground to compete with the well-established ones, the fact remains that merely creating a video does not guarantee success. Videos on LinkedIn get 24 times more comments and 7 times more reactions as compared to textual posts. However, a look at the videos on the professional networking site will reveal that not all of them were shot or edited with high-end professional tools.
As a brand, focus on your marketing goals and audience preference and then plan your budget. For example, a predominantly solvent middle-class audience would enjoy a brand video that has an industry influencer. On the other hand, a brand whose target audience consists of teenagers and students would do better with popping fun colors.
5. Diversify Your Videos
Today, one-third of all online activities revolve around watching video content. This trend has resulted in several promotional videos, and brands need to diversify their video offerings. Recorded webinar videos and product demonstrations are some of the most popular forms of videos in recent times.
You can experiment with how-to videos, behind-the-scenes videos, interview videos, and customer testimonial videos as well. As of 2022, the popularity of educational videos and those demonstrating tips and tricks are ever-increasing. Therefore, consider these in your video marketing strategy.
6. Chalk Out the Tasks
Once you have the basic strategy in place, break up the process of video-based marketing into several small tasks. Writing scripts, arranging the lights, video recording, editing, and uploading the video are some of the activities to consider. List down all the tasks and set a deadline for each of them.
If you have a team to assist you in your video-making journey, ensure that you designate tasks to individuals at this stage. Depending on the scale of the project, you may have several sub-tasks. That is why it is a good practice to have a POC for each work. That way, there is ownership of responsibilities, and the video gets created much more efficiently.
7. Plan the Filming & Video Publication
Mobile video consumption is increasing almost 100% every year. That is why you can expect a good ROI on your video preparation. Start by identifying the type of video content that you will create. Then propose topics and outlines for the same. Have a detailed plan on the shooting and editing itinerary to ensure that you do not deter from the goal.
Plan the publication medium before you start recording the video. For example, recording and editing the videos on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook give the videos an air of authenticity. On the other hand, editing the videos with a professional editing tool gives it higher perfection and makes you come off as professional. You can also consider adding voiceovers to your videos using a text to speech software to make your video compelling.
Also, look at the viral video marketing ideas:
8. Optimize Your Video
Another essential step in ensuring that your content gets visibility is to optimize the video for search engines. Use any keyword application to identify keywords that are relevant to your video content. Use such keywords in your video title and description for maximum visibility.
Further, restrict your video’s length between 3 and 5 minutes for maximum views. Opt for close captioning of your videos so that the search engine recognizes the video content and displays it to people looking for similar content. Since a good fraction of video viewers stream on their mobile devices, you may want to shoot the video in portrait mode.
If there are any definite actions that you expect off your viewers, ensure that you have a CTA at the end of the video. There are several intros and outro-making tools that you can use to optimize your videos for maximum viewers. An intro maker helps you ensure that the viewer is glued to the video and does not abandon it mid-way.
9. Do Not Ignore the Sound Effects
Videos have better engagement rates because they appeal both visually and audibly. One of the most common mistakes that novice video editors make is that they ignore audio. In the competitive marketing scene of 2024, this is something that you cannot afford.
Focus on sound mixing and narration so that you can perfect your foley effects, audio levels, narration volume, and other technical details. You will be surprised how a simple ambient sound layer over a quiet scene can change the overall video appeal.
10. Prioritize Your Video Content Distribution Channel
Once you have the video content ready, the next step is getting your target audience to watch it. Start by posting the video on popular video distribution channels such as YouTube and Vimeo. While posting on YouTube, it is a good idea to do so from your business account.
Depending on the video, you can also post that on your blog or website. If you have a video testimonial, try to post that in the ‘Customers’ Reviews’ section of your website. Similarly, you can create a video wherein you talk about your brand journey and post it in the ‘About’ section of your website.
A look at video marketing statistics reveals that emails with the word ‘video’ in the subject line are 7 times more likely to be read than others. So, share promotional videos through email newsletters for higher click rates. Also, share links to your promotional videos across all your social media handles.
Video marketing strategy for 2024: final thoughts
The above step-by-step approach to develop a video marketing strategy will help you stand out from the competition. It can also help you bring your product to the limelight and increase its reach among your target audience. This way, it will be easier for you to convince them about your products or services.
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