More businesses are realizing the value of video marketing for attracting prospects, nurturing leads, and converting leads to customers. But when it comes to strategy, there’s a lot to consider, from SEO to marketing channels such as social media and email, what types of videos to create to meet marketing goals, and more.
To help you make sense of the many strategies, tactics, and other considerations that go into creating and executing a successful video marketing campaign, we reached out to a panel of marketing pros and business leaders and asked them to answer this question:
“What’s the #1 video marketing strategy you’ve had the most success with (and why was it so effective)?”
Meet Our Panel of Marketing Pros and Business Leaders:
Find out what video marketing strategies you can put to use to generate better results by reading what our pros had to say below.
Steve Pritchard
Steve Pritchard is the Search Content Manager for giffgaff.
“As well as a good story, the key to a successful marketing strategy is practicing…”
Good Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Properly and carefully optimized videos are more likely to gain success, and fast, because it is a speedy way of reaching a large audience. Think of it this way: you are more likely to click on a video than read a block of content, because in our busy day to day lives, visuals are quicker and easier to access. Plus, Google is a big fan of video content because it provides an honest and effective way of engaging with the consumer.
Although videos do take longer to create than content, they reach the consumer quicker, which is vital in the marketing world. A successfully optimized video strategy is more likely to increase traffic when the video is being shared; you are targeting a lot of people, all at once. With the right keywords, a video is instantly easier to discover and as a result, makes it shareable. Why? Because it’s easy to click and share, and can be done within a matter of minutes. So, it’s vital that you enhance your video marketing campaign with good SEO.
Jason Cummins
Jason is the owner of a heating and cooling installation service called All Hours Air.
“We experimented with a quick video marketing strategy for one of our social media accounts…”
And we found that the most effective strategy is posting the videos in the form of a teaser. People like looking at videos and end up having to guess; we get more responses that way.
Chris Barrett
As Mustang Marketing’s vice president, Chris Barrett is an expert on each and every client, accumulating a wealth of knowledge about industries, audiences, competitors, and products. He has been published in Print’s Regional Design Annual and “1,000 Restaurant, Bar & Cafe Graphics.” Chris’ design expertise has also helped Mustang earn nearly 30 American Advertising (ADDY) Awards and GDUSA American Graphic Design Awards.
“Retargeting ads on YouTube are a great way to stay top of mind with people who have visited your site…”
You can change what videos display to introduce new products or reenergize old ones. I also love how retargeting can reinforce the message to an internal audience as well, getting staff and executives excited about how often they are seeing there brand and message across the internet. This can also be a cost effective method to reach a really targeted audience with an excellent ROI.
Elizabeth Giorgi
Elizabeth Giorgi is the Founder and CEO of Mighteor, one of the world’s first internet video production companies. She is an Emmy-winning director, writer, and editor whose work has appeared on PBS, the New York Times, The Huffington Post, National Public Radio, Scientific American, Gawker, Wired, Forbes, Fast Company, and many more.
“In the last year, there has been one MAJOR game changer for video…”
And that’s mobile. Mobile is now making up more than two-thirds of internet traffic. And more than half of all video views on Facebook will be on mobile this year. That means that video has to be made to look beautiful on mobile.
As we have noticed this shift in viewership, we have changed the literal shape of the video we create for our clients. In the last year, we produced more squares and 9×16 video than traditional aspect ratio video. The result? 400x improvements on viewership on mobile. We believe it’s successful because the media is built for the medium it’s delivered on – thereby catching attention more easily. But most importantly, you can’t argue with those kinds of numbers!
Swapnil Bhagwat
Swapnil Bhagwat is the Senior Manager – Design & Digital Media at Orchestrate, implementing marketing, social, content, digital, design, and web strategies for the group companies. He is integrating marketing strategies with compelling design to delight customers and drive revenue growth. Swapnil has worked for more than a decade across a range of businesses for the global markets. He is an MBA graduate with working experience in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe.
“There is no magic in video marketing which if followed would give phenomenal results…”
The magic happens when the goal of the video is followed, right from the beginning until the end. Broadly, there can be five types of video marketing campaigns, namely: awareness, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy campaigns. The videos should also be different according to the campaigns and the objectives. If the videos fulfill the set objectives, they have to be marketed accordingly with a proper and fitting marketing plan. The key metrics of measurement for their performance should also differ.
For a video made for an awareness campaign, the number of shares, tweets, likes on social channels and the increase in website visits and referral sources may be significant. In contrast, engagement metrics would be the rate of video completion or product videos viewed per session with the number of CTA clicks, email open rates, and landing page visits. Thus, each video is made for a specific objective, and the metrics would also vary and the strategies should be accordingly formulated. If the objectives, measurement metrics, and the strategy are in tandem, it’s bound to be successful.
Walt Bayliss
Walter (Walt) Bayliss is an online entrepreneur, a professional software developer, and an internet marketer.
“The strategy I initiated was…”
Using automated webinars as a list building and sales system. This was the type of program I executed when opening a feature up to affiliates. I successfully ran two automated webinars a few weeks ago. And here are the statistics:
- We added 3642 people to our database – a plus for lead generation.
- We pulled in over $20,000 in recurring sales from those two webinars.
Cristian Rennella
Cristian Rennella is the CEO & CoFounder of oMelhorTrato.com.
“In recent years we have tested 27 different strategies to make a video for our company that generates excellent results…”
From videos where the founders of the company appeared to animated videos.
Finally, we found the magic formula to generate new clients through videos is education.
The best way to generate sales is by first educating your potential customers. If they receive value from your knowledge, they will have you as a resource, and it will be you they will come to when they need the type of service you offer.
Thanks to this strategy, we created 1,073 videos in the last 4 years, where we educated with various animated videos of different topics of interest, answering questions and queries of users through YouTube.
This allowed us to increase our sales by 39.4%. No other channel was more successful than video!
Ben Cecil
Ben has always been passionate about the ever-evolving world of branded video content. It’s a big reason why he spent the first half of his career in brand management and promotions for several local TV news outlets. In 2009, Ben decided to get serious about his passion, helping co-found UPG – a video marketing agency. For the last 8 years, Ben has led the UPG team in the pursuit of engaging branded content, cinematic storytelling, and an elite client experience.
“The most successful video marketing strategy has always been…”
Those campaigns that make the viewer feel like it’s actually about them – and only them. Too often, brands think of themselves as the hero or the main character of their story. They’re not. Their customer is the actual hero.
After all, nobody would watch Star Wars if it were just about the light sabers.
Wanting to scream how awesome you are can ruin the beginning of any relationship, especially those you hope will fill your sales funnel.
At UPG, we have achieved this for our clients by creating Video Case Stories that are told exclusively from their customer’s perspective. It’s a story about them. And it’s a story other prospective customers will identify with. Sure, our client’s product/service is an integral part of the story, but only because of the context in which their customer used it.
The Video Case Story is an evolution of the Video Testimonial. The main difference is in the starting point. Instead of “Let’s get our clients to say nice things about our brand,” it’s more like, “How can we show prospective customers that we understand their struggle or need and have a solution that makes sense to people just like them?”
Chad Reid
Chad Reid is the director of communications at JotForm, a San Francisco-based online form building software with three million users. Chad holds a master’s degree in communication and lives in Oakland with his cats and girlfriend.
“Over the past year and a half, JotForm has adopted a much more robust video strategy…”
And it’s been great. What we’ve had the most success with is developing user case study videos. It’s one thing for us to talk about ourselves in a video, but it’s so much more effective finding really fascinating businesses and letting them tell their stories and how our product helps them. The videos provide social proof to other potential users of our software; they’re helpful to show when pitching reporters, and they just look great. We even hired a full-time videographer to help produce more of them.
Deborah Sweeney
Deborah Sweeney is the CEO of MyCorporation.com. Based out of Calabasas, CA, MyCorporation is a leader in online legal filing services for entrepreneurs and businesses, providing start-up bundles that include corporation and LLC formation, trademark, & copyright filing services.
“As a small business, MyCorporation prefers to…”
Send out a monthly newsletter! This is a great way to keep your clients in the loop and your employees up to date. You can include links to articles that pertain to the industry, as well as information about where you can be found on social media. These links can include your Twitter, Instagram, and one of our favorite accounts, Facebook.
On Facebook we choose to post videos from inside our open floor layout office in Calabasas, CA. Whenever we have fun activities or employee events, we try to catch it on video to share online for all to see! We consider it “behind the scenes” and believe that sharing video content can enable viewers to become followers by building that interactive and personal relationship with them. This encourages everyone to stay involved while online and helps the company gain more engagement and likes!
Matt Edstrom
Matt Edstrom is the Head of Marketing for BioClarity.
“Two good rules of thumb to follow for successful video marketing are…”
Quality Over Quantity: When producing a video for marketing purposes, avoid subjecting your viewers to information overload. Instead, keep your video short and to the point. Studies (such as this one) have shown that on average, single-topic videos that range from 30 to 90 seconds in length receive the most views. Now more than ever people desire instant gratification. By keeping your business video precise and dialed into a single thought, you can expect to increase your engagement metrics tremendously.
Promoting Through Social Channels: Although you should definitely upload your video to YouTube for easy sharing, the uploading shouldn’t end there. Rather than simply uploading it to YouTube then sharing the link on your social channels, upload your video to the given social platform directly. This will allow you to take full advantage of the autoplay function social channels like Facebook have put in place. By presenting a good video with autoplay, rather than click to play, it will allow you to attract additional viewers that would have otherwise proceeded to scroll over your post.
Bradley Shaw
Bradley Shaw is a serial entrepreneur with a focus on online marketing businesses since 1997. His companies have driven over $150 million in sales. Currently, he resides in Dallas, TX and is the CEO of SEO Expert Inc, a digital marketing company.
“Something is addicting about watching a live stream…”
People spend 3x more time watching a Facebook video that’s live compared to recorded video.
The great thing about live video streaming is that it doesn’t require a huge budget, just an iPhone and decent lighting. You can run a simple webinar or Q&A through Facebook Live video streaming and witness a boost in engagement. Facebook sends a notification to your followers when you go live. So you get a massive engagement bump right off the bat as soon as you go live!
Ajay Prasad
Ajay Prasad is the CEO of GMR Web Team, an Orange County-based digital marketing and web design agency.
“The most successful video marketing strategy we’ve used is…”
In-stream video ads. Since we were at the market penetration stage and we had to start with creating a demand for our product, we chose this path to put forward our introduction video. Our product, RepuGen, is an online reputation management software, especially dedicated to the healthcare industry. Here is the step-by-step route that we followed to make our video marketing strategy a success:
1. Carving the path to reach out to the target group.
We picked up broader YouTube keywords that our target segment was using. For example, instead of going as specific as “online reputation management tool for doctors” or “healthcare reputation management tools,” we went for keywords like “healthcare marketing strategies,” “clinic management software,” and “surgery videos.” The reason was that the average monthly searches for these terms was considerably high and we could be sure that healthcare professionals would use these search terms. Our campaign was a success, and to be precise, we got over 10k views and 18 Subscribers on spending just $100.
2. Engaging the audience in the first 10 seconds.
If we do not do this, especially in the case of in-stream ads, the audience can easily skip the ad. So, this was the flow of our video:
- Assuring the audience that the video is for them: The starting statement of our video is, “If you are a doctor in any field..”
- Creating a sense of urgency or compulsion to watch more: The line that follows next is, “this is something you don’t want to miss.”
- Demand creation using the facts and figures: Next, our video immediately gives out facts about why online reputation management is vital for doctors.
- Describing how the product in question can help: There is a quick chunk in the video talking about how RepuGen works to help the doctors with their online reputation management.
- Evidence of performance: Next, the video gives a brief information about how many doctors are already using it across the globe.
- CTA: Last, the desired call to action that we want our audience to take appears. It’s better to ask the audience to subscribe to your YouTube channel when running in-stream ads. We made sure that our video is short and crisp, keeping it at just 00:44 seconds long. The viewers who were intrigued subscribed to our channel and also viewed the other longer videos present in our playlists.
3. Continuously monitoring and optimizing the campaign.
Starting off the campaign with a broader targeting option and narrowing it down according to the responses you get is the best video marketing practice, especially when you are in the demand creation phase. Since our audience is global for the software, we started with a set of broad YouTube keywords and targeted All Locations. We let the ad run for a week and noticed that we got the biggest response from US and India.
We also identified the keywords we were getting responses from. So, we limited the target location only to India and the US. We fetched location-specific keywords similar to those we got the responses from. This increased the relevance of the views we were getting and also accelerated the response rate.
Ulysis Cababan
Ulysis Cababan is an SEO Specialist for RapidVisa Philippines.
“I think the most important video marketing strategy is…”
A video on a sales page that that is optimized for your keyword, ideally an embedded video from YouTube with a with a subtitles. It is effective since most visitors prefer to watch a video explaining things rather than reading content on the page.
Bob Bentz
Bob Bentz is president of mobile-first digital agency Purplegator. He is also the author of Relevance Raises Response: How to Engage and Acquire with Mobile Marketing. Bob is an adjunct at the University of Denver.
“We’ve all heard about short attention spans…”
And there’s even been a ridiculous comparison of human attention spans versus those of goldfish. Well, I happen to think that our attention spans shouldn’t be compared to goldfish, but there’s no doubt that those attention spans are indeed decreasing.
That’s why it’s so important for a video to immediately grab the attention of the viewers. Do something outrageous at the beginning to get their attention. And, if you don’t succeed, be sure to mention your brand in the first 3 seconds.
Paul Allen
Paul Allen is the CTO at Dublin SEO.
“My best strategy for video marketing has nothing to do with the video content itself…”
But to do with Adwords and paid advertising instead.
Regardless of what video you create to promote a given company, I have found it possible to get 1-cent views from Google Adwords.
This has a number of benefits as part of a marketing strategy.
First, and obviously, this is a great and cheap way to get some branding exposure out there.
Second, these views count towards Google’s algorithms, which increase the probability of the video showing up in search engine results.
And third, and most importantly, you can connect your YouTube Account to your Adwords account and use these 1-cent views to build up a remarketing list.
With this list, you can then use Adwords Display Network remarketing to have your ads follow people who have viewed your video around the internet.
This is especially effective, as the potential customer is already familiar with your brand which cost you only 1 cent, meaning the click-through rate on the Display Network is quite high and relatively cheap, too, when compared to the Search Network.
William Gadea
William Gadea is the Founder and Creative Director of IdeaRocket, a maker of animated videos for business.
“There is no one-size-fits-all video marketing strategy that will work for everyone…”
Having said that, the clients we’ve talked to that have enjoyed the biggest boost from video have been companies with complex business propositions that struggle to explain what they do succinctly. An above-the-fold video that states their offering in 90 seconds or less often has a dramatic effect on conversions. There are many other uses for video – email, social media, advertising, trade shows – but for that sort of new economy company, none has as much bang for the buck.
Agus Esperon
Agus is a graphic designer and illustrator who specializes in motion graphics. He is the co-founder and UX and Art Director of Wideo, an online tool for intuitively creating animated videos without previous graphic design or video knowledge.
“My #1 new video marketing strategy is…”
Using video for a sales or promo announcement.
Social platforms such as Instagram are especially popular for promoting e-commerce. A short and catchy 5- to 30-second promo video is a great watch to catch people’s attention on social media. Don’t forget to add the right calls to action, tags, and links to direct viewers back to your website. This grabs the viewer’s attention in a way that text just doesn’t!
Kyle Golding
Kyle Golding is the CEO and Chief Strategic Idealist at The Golding Group. He has 20 years of business ownership, management, and marketing experience in manufacturing, non-profit, and entertainment. He is also a Co-Founder and the CMO of med-tech startup Vorttx Training and Testing.
“Don’t stop at a single version of video content…”
Repurpose the same video content over and over again. Long version, short versions, quick pull quotes, links with different headlines, change the graphics, etc. to keep using the same content several times over. Major brands run the same TV commercials over and over, both short and long versions. Do the same with your video marketing. The key is consistency in topic and approach. Stick to core topics and always keep the same “voice” for your brand videos. This can be serious, funny, helpful, sarcastic, or any other style that matches your brand identity.
Tracy Julien
Tracy is the VP of Marketing at GuidedChoice. Tracy has over 15 years of experience working in consumer marketing, and her main passion is to serve the needs of the consumer best by uncovering insights that are crucial to a brand’s growth.
“Integrate video within social media..”
The most successful marketing strategy, in regards to video content, is using video as a supplement to your marketing efforts, especially in conjunction with social media. Video works well within social media as an engagement tool to keep your target consumer interested and engrossed with the content that you are distributing.
It’s the most effective because consumers have a short attention span, so any way that you can grab their attention for a short period of time can have a great impact on creating lasting brand loyalty. However, it’s important to understand how each social platforms’ users digest video before making a campaign around it.
For example, Instagram is usually muted, so you might need to add subtitles or have written visuals. Time is another important factor to consider. Facebook users are more likely to watch a 30 second video than Twitter users due to the platform experience. In this example, a company should make separate cuts of a video for each platform.
Using both video and social media in tandem can actually be a stronger strategy to use to differentiate what you are posting and to keep your consumers captivated.
Jesse Reynolds
Jesse Reynolds is the Search Coordinator for Efferent Media.
“We started by running an actual TV Commercial that they were running on television networks in the tri-state area…”
I took the commercial and optimized it within YouTube creator studio. We put a budget on it as an exposure campaign, along with a YouTube card directing users to click through to their catalog download portion of the website. After collecting 3 months of data, we tuned in to our perfect demographic.
This led to our localized Long Island video campaign. The purpose of this campaign was to drive foot traffic to the new Design Center. The design center featured examples of the different paving stones shown in the form of patios, fire pits, driveways, and other outdoor structures they offer. I was able to get the national campaign down to $.9 per view. The data from the national campaign allowed me to optimize the Long Island campaign to a $.13 per view. We have seen great results in both the exposure national campaign, and we’ve also seen engagement conversions on the Long Island Campaign.
The biggest part of the strategy is utilizing the Video Targeting in Google AdWords. When utilized properly, you can define your video to target people with specific interests such as:
- Home & Garden
- Home Improvement
- Outdoor Items
- Lifestyles & Hobbies
Also available are specific Topics:
- Home & Garden
- Domestic Services
- Property Development
- And much more
There is also keyword targeting, demographic targeting, placements, and remarketing. Through Interests & Topics, I have been able to maintain a low cost per view and a high click-through rate. This is so effective because you are only placing your ads in front of people who have already expressed some kind of interest relevant to your product.
Adam O’Leary
Adam O’Leary is President of Encite International, a Denver-based marketing and advertising agency. He is a graduate of Colorado State University and has experience on both the client and agency side of the marketing world. He sets the strategic direction for all Encite projects, developing integrated marketing campaigns that bring results. He takes a consultative approach with clients, educating them about how the process works, and keeping them in the loop about end goals, steps, and tasks.
“Video is the new popular medium for content marketing…”
Whether it be embedded in emails, on the home page of your website, or pasted across social media outlets is in high demand for customers. Since the introduction of live video on various platforms, it seems to be the best way to engage your audience while calling them to action by sharing your content, commenting, or subscribing, and it keeps your company relevant. Live video not only creates content in the moment that appears as a “glimpse in,” but it can also engage customers after the initial stream, creating video content for the audience members who were not able to tune in. The fundamental techniques remain key to video success: high quality video so your content doesn’t look dated, messaging that tells a story and is attention-grabbing to the customer, calls to action, captioning, etc. Overall, 2017 has proven to push video to be one of the most demanded content marketing strategies for customers and needs to be added to nearly all marketing strategies.
Sam Olmsted
Sam Olmsted is a a consultant for Southern Dental Care and director of Search and Content at Online Optimism, a digital marketing agency located in New Orleans.
“As a marketing professional, creating an effective video marketing campaign is one of the most interesting and creatively rewarding elements of my job…”
But, does video marketing actually work? And, if so, what gets people to watch your videos in the first place? After orchestrating countless video marketing campaigns for hotels, car dealerships, banks, and more, one stuck out most to me – dental implants.
It’s easy to get caught up in creating flashy commercials or a funny video series for a client. However, some of the fastest traction I’ve ever gotten in a video marketing campaign was for a video that simply described the steps for a typical dental implant procedure. More than being sold to, potential customers are eager to learn something from your content. By producing a video that educated our patients rather than pitched to them, we were able to not only build trust, but position ourselves as an authoritative source for dental questions. Our dental implants video was viewed almost 2,000 times in the first few weeks it was posted.
An effective video marketing is one that leads to people to come back to your content again and again. By using your platform as a space to educate your audience, you provide value to them that goes beyond your typical marketing approach.
Kent Lewis
As President and Founder of Anvil Media, Inc., Kent Lewis is responsible for ensuring the company is living its mission and vision by managing overall corporate strategy including operations, business development, sales, and marketing.
“In regards to B2B video marketing, one of the best examples I can give you is our own investment in video…”
Anvil Media’s Kent Lewis Interviewed on Worldwide Business with Kathy Ireland – this video aired on Bloomberg & Fox Business News globally and has been used in our marketing sales and marketing efforts to generate awareness, credibility, and new business.
Another excellent example of the power of video for lead generation is this landing page for the Portland Chapter of Enterpreneurs’ Organization, a global non-profit. This video is a keystone to our membership prospecting efforts, as it tells the story of EO Portland better than any other way. We just turned on a marketing campaign to drive traffic to this landing page and hope to have solid results in the coming months.
Jennifer Cloer
Jennifer Cloer is the Co-founder/Exec Producer for Wicked Flicks Productions and The Chasing Grace Project.
“Create a story with your video as the anchor and pitch it to media…”
Getting your video embedded in an article on a major media site significantly increases its reach and views. The video alone won’t be news, but if you can attach it to a story or news piece, you will be more likely to compel a reporter to include it in their story. Also, reporters are often asked by editors to include dynamic media in their stories. Videos give them a boost. Everyone wins.
Devin Stagg
Devin Stagg is the CMO of Cambo Ties and consults for other content and Ecommerce websites. He specializes in brand identity and creating real connections with customers. Cambo Ties sells unique handmade Cambodian ties that empower families in Cambodia.
“The single most successful tactic we have found with video is…”
The creation of custom audiences through video views. On both Facebook and Adwords, you can create audiences of people who have viewed x% of your video content.
We have found great success in pushing top-of-funnel video content to cold audiences on Facebook and YouTube. We then categorize these videos (i.e., specific to one product line) and create an audience of anyone who has viewed 10 seconds or more of any video related to that product line. We then retarget those viewers with a sales offer (typically a discount on our product).
The results have been extraordinary. These video viewer audiences have the highest click-through and engagement rates out of all our audiences. These people are so much more likely to engage and purchase because they have expressed interest in the relevant video content previously. It is the easiest and most effective funnel creation. It is the new website visit, as people are qualifying themselves to which product they are interested in.
Gregory Golinski
Gregory Golinski is a digital marketing executive for YourParkingSpace.
“We’ve been very successful with a video marketing strategy that people don’t always think about…”
The use of animated GIFs on social media. GIFs on Facebook or other media channels can reach much more people than traditional video clips. They catch people’s eye because they’re fun, short, and to the point. There’s an immediacy to GIFs that makes them a great marketing tool, especially since our attention spans are getting shorter due to digital technology.
Franklin Goldberg
Franklin Goldberg is the Senior Director of Marketing for Zondervan Bibles with over 20 years of Sales and Marketing experience in 4 distinct industries.
“We’ve used YouTube ads to help promote our videos…”
They are featured on our websites, in emails, blogs, and they are shown in loops at conferences and in retail stores that have monitors. But the best results by far come from targeted Facebook ads.
We might get 10k views on YouTube, but we can reach 500k via targeted Facebook ads. And we’re trying new ways of increasing their effectiveness, such as experimenting with different lengths, types of content, ways of telling compelling stories, and orientation (portrait & landscape), and we’re starting to work with Facebook Canvas ads as well.
Video isn’t always the highest converting medium in our media mix but it is one we are working to optimize for our customer journey.
Adam Alson
Adam Alson is the founder of DoubleDown.Digital, a 360 degree digital marketing agency. His agency supports prominent athletes, entertainers, brands, and startups. Adam has spent 20 years working on the digital footprint for renowned names including the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, Muhammad Ali, Vince Carter, The Jonas Brothers, Cedric the Entertainer, among others.
“We recommend a raw, not-overly-edited or produced feeling video…”
In the age of Snapchat and Instagram stories, people want to feel as if what they are watching was casually shot on an iPhone. Any video that feels overly produced or scripted is viewed as being not authentic and does not resonate with today’s viewers. The video can be as simple as someone speaking into the camera with music in the background. This technique has proven effective because it allows a connection with the viewer. Today’s social media users want brands to make them feel special and by having a video that feels personal, it creates a deeper relationship with the brand.
To gain more mileage from events or photo shoots, we recommend releasing a behind-the-scenes video and Instagram stories. This gives additional mileage to the time and money spent on the event/photo shoot, and allows the viewer to feel a part of the process, like they are getting an inside view of the experience.
Andrew Chwalik
Andrew is a videographer with two marketing degrees helping couples and businesses tell their stories through video.
“Video marketing is one of the best ways to get people interested in your company and products…”
There are multiple avenues you can pursue with your video strategy, but I’ve seen the most successful to be those that are paired along with a direct call-to-action content. It’s not enough to simply tell your viewers to go like your Facebook Page or buy your latest product in your videos; you need to supplement them with actionable content. I’ve seen too many companies waste marketing budgets on great videos, but fail to generate awareness for the objective of the video. Here’s an example of a successful campaign we recently created:
A dating company wanted to generate awareness for their first date kit and company. We helped them produce a fantastic video, but made sure they were set up for success by structuring a campaign around the video that included graphics, blog content, a new webpage, press releases, keyword optimization, supplementary video clips, and other fun content. The key was making sure every piece of content had a consistent call-to-action that related to the core message of the main video. Newsletter signups and site visits went through the roof, the exact call-to-actions the company was aiming for.
Getting that quality video created is step #1. The second, more important step is structuring your campaign with content that gets people excited about your video and the message you are communicating. Videos are not a standalone marketing strategy; they need a little tender loving care to generate the results you’re hoping to see.
Vincent Goodbrand
Vincent Goodbrand is the PR Coordinator for SmartBuyGlasses.
“The main thing we look at after posting videos is when most people stopped watching…”
Sometimes it can be right at the end when the logo shows up, which is logical and understandable. Sometimes, however, we notice that people stop watching at another point of time in the video, and it is in these moment that we need to analyze why. Great insights can be found in analyzing when and why people stop watching your videos. Perhaps they start getting to repetitive, or maybe no new feeling is added, or a lack of feeling, being able to understand WHY people stopped your video is key to understand how to best get them to keep watching your video.
Csilla Gemmecke
Csilla is a Social Media and Brand Awareness executive at global e-commerce start-up LoveCrafts, which was named one of Europe’s fastest growing companies by the Financial Times. Csilla has been responsible for building a community on the LoveCrochet social channels as well as broadening brand awareness in Germany.
“A moving image is of course more engaging than a still one, especially if it tells a story, gives some great inspiration or inspires the viewer to go try something new…”
We’ve tried various different types of videos, but have seen the most success with quick tutorials that teach a new skill in a few minutes. Crafters are always excited to learn something new, and they usually already have some materials on hand at home to grab and try a tutorial. That’s why our fish video did so well!
Another format that’s done really well is our street style video, interviewing people and asking their opinion on a topic they maybe don’t know too much about. This was particularly useful in filming our World Wide Knit in Public Day video. That format gave us fun, lighthearted content that was easy to consume and iconic enough to share with friends!
