The year is 2020, if you are not taking advantage of Video Marketing, then you need to create a video marketing strategy ASAP!

81% of American’s have smartphones on them at all times and it is the perfect way to take advantage of Video Marketing. Before you create a video marketing strategy, there are a few steps that you should take.

You wouldn’t just jump in the car and go on a road trip without making a plan! Get your pen and paper out, or use the notes section in that smartphone you are more than likely holding right now.

You probably have a product or service you want to share. You would think that making a video and posting it online will get the ball rolling, but unfortunately, it doesn’t take off. Don’t worry, take a deep breath, and reset. We got this!

Research Your Audience

A simple step that can be overlooked, researching your audience will increase your chances of conversion. When you are doing research for who your audience is, think about what your product or service will do and what problem it will solve.

Look at the data you currently have on your customers. Do they have shopping habits? Do they research what they buy for long periods of time?

Perhaps you find out that they buy after being on a website for longer than 2 minutes. Track what pages of your website they gravitate towards and find ways to make the rest of your website have the same effect.

In regards to digital marketing, look at what social media platforms they are using most. Determine where your efforts should be put. Some companies might find that their customer base is on Facebook, but not on Instagram, or vice versa.

Finding this information will help you take advantage of every marketing opportunity. Then when you find out which service they use most, study that service and how to effectively market on the platform.

If they use Facebook, create targeted ads that would entice them. If they use Instagram or Youtube, create content that will keep the consumers coming back to. If they use Twitter, find a clever marketer who knows how to interact with other brands in unique ways.

Each case is slightly different, so research is key.

Create Buyer Personas To Help Target Your Efforts

A persona is essentially an imaginary customer, the perfect customer, the person you should be marketing your product too. After you have done all the research, it should be easier to compile all the information and create this persona to add to your video marketing strategy.

Working backward, think about the most basic categories possible. Age, gender, education, marital status, and income range. This will help create the most basic personas.

Make sure that you keep the number of personas low, if you create too many, it is very possible that you could ruin your targeting efforts by overlapping personas. Blending all of your research into one mega persona.

Then use your imagination to put yourself in this persona’s shoes. Really dig deep and try to understand their concerns and even objections to why they might not want your product or service.

This could be an opportunity to even find and interview some customers who fit your personas, go straight to the source and ask them what is holding them back. Determine their motivations as to why they would be for your company.

Then make sure to highlight those features. Now that you have your personas and you will be able to really lock down how to build an effective video marketing strategy.

Build A Video Marketing Strategy Around Your Personas

With all of your research done and your personas been created, making a video marketing strategy will become easy. Instead of determining what type of content to create with what type of branding, it will become obvious.

The map will be there, it only takes someone to read it to find out where your campaign will go. The next important step is making sure that your video marketing strategy has a cohesive brand message. These messages can change over time, but that usually means it is the start of a new brand.

Some good ideas for campaigns start from a desire to spread awareness or inform customers of a new product.

A great example of a great video marketing strategy is that of Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries. The campaign informs the consumer of the new product that they offer. The message is always consistent. Since everyone already knows who Taco Bell is, the important thing is to now spread the awareness of how Nacho Fries will only be here for a limited time.

For your video marketing strategy, your company will more than likely be just a campaign of awareness. Sit down with your team and decide what your brand will be and what you want your personas to know about you.

Find a way in which you can tell a story or trigger some type of emotion. This way your campaign will have the maximum effect on a one time viewer.

Set A Budget

Not all video marketing strategies are created equally, not everyone has endless funds to pour into their marketing budget. That is why it is important to find a video production company that fits your brand and most importantly, your budget.

Hopefully, in your research, you find what kind of content your personas will prefer. Maybe your personas are a younger generation that likes cartoons or quick videos.

Don’t spend all of your money on one huge shoot. Be creative, maybe a homemade video like O.K. GO’s music video will be your ticket to success!

Perhaps your budget will allow you to do something like bring in a Key Influencer for your market. Finding someone who is well known within the community can be a great tool to bring in trust and build credibility in the eyes of your potential customers.

They could potentially also be more cost-effective than some corporate video production company. There are always ways to save money without reducing the importance of your brand or product.

Optimize Your Video

Finally, after all is said and done, make sure to optimize the content you are creating. Maybe your users are all on smartphones, like 81% of Americans.

Make sure your content is smartphone accessible. Don’t be afraid to do A-B Testing to determine which material will be more effective on a specific platform.

Perhaps you can have a catalog of content for viewers to binge at your disposal. Get it all out there, like a shotgun shooting a clay pigeon.

Another important aspect of optimizing your content is making sure to point all content back to each other. If you create a video about a service, make another video about pricing so you can refer your customer to the next step in the buyer’s journey.

Make sure that these videos create a smooth flow through that journey so they are encouraged to continue to watch. It is much easier to watch a video then it is to read a bunch of pricing.

Don’t be afraid to go back and change things if needed, there is no such thing as failure if you have learned a lesson from your process.

Call To Action

Simply put, ask your consumers to buy, subscribe, or visit a website. Whatever your end goal is, let them know. Just like when you are optimizing your content, ask them to view the next video. This step is crucial to your video marketing strategy because without this call to action, your viewers will just move on.

Some simple tips for your ask would be to make it time-sensitive, encouraging them to act fast.

Maybe you could make it an exclusive club or deal, as an example, give them the opportunity to have exclusive tips or tricks or more information if they sign up for an emailed newsletter.

Be creative with your call to action because it will determine if you will be able to capture them later down the customer journey.

Conclusions

The process of creating a video marketing strategy can be stressful, but if you break down the process and take it one step at a time, life becomes a little easier.

In fact, a lot of it naturally leads from one step to the next. So, remember to collect data from your current customer base. From that data, create personas so that you will be able to rely on when it comes to imagining what their needs and desires are.

Create your roadmap to get that personas problem to their solution. Then with that map, set a budget and stay within it.

Then optimize your product, make sure that your consumer base is actually taking advantage of the materials you have created specifically for them.

Finally, ask you, customers, to purchase or act. Otherwise, this content will just be content for content’s sake, without a call to action there will be no benefit for you and your company.

I will add one more important final tip, have fun with it!

If you the creator of the product or service are not having fun, then neither will your consumers. Find a way to build that emotional connection with the product, just like you have.

Now you just have to get started, what video content are you going to create?