Video marketing has become a valuable commodity in our heavily advertised world, and social media has only added to this. Now, the ability to market with persuasive storytelling can be the thing that levels you up and improves your sales, awareness, reach and all that other corporate stuff. We rounded up some video marketing tips from the experts to get you overflowing with ideas of how to approach this increasingly important marketing technique.
1: Videos will replace all forms of communication…
This slightly Black Mirror-esque tip comes from Andy Crestodina, CMO and Co-founder of Orbit Media. Video is quickly becoming the most impressive way to communicate, whether that’s for a business pitch, for hiring, for collaborations etc. Basically video gives you the chance to persuade your audience in way that’s way more crafted and compelling,
“Video will replace day-to-day email for all kinds of communications: marketing, sales and customer service. Video has been a one-to-many channel for 90 years. Now it’s one-to-one. Pitching an editor for a PR effort? Make a video. Reaching out to an influencer to collaborate? Make a video. Any time the stakes are high, in marketing or anywhere, video will replace text and email in 2019.”- Andy Crestodina, CMO and Co-founder of Orbit Media
2: Videos become a way to recreate that human connection…
Another tip with a slightly Black Mirror feel to it. This tip is from Tara Robertson, head of customer marketing at Sprout Social. As consumers continue to seek brands that feel authentic and genuine, videos present an ideal way to connect with your audience that goes well beyond some text on a screen or a print ad. Video gives you a lot more to play with which means emotion that can be easily portrayed to give your customer or client a better sense of what your brand or business want to achieve.
"The point of video is to really bring that human element to the table, especially when you're working with customers because we're trying to really get them to trust us. Everything comes down to trust, it comes down to value, it comes down to how we're working together and I think being able to see somebody is so incredibly important." Tara Robertson, Head of customer marketing at Sprout Social
3: Ensure your videos have social media shareability…
This tip is from Britany Berger, founder of WorkBrighter.co. Full length videos are brilliant and, as discussed, allow you to convey your message with plenty of persuasiveness. But as social media is now pretty key for brands and business to get a handle on, the ability to cut down your full length video to make it more watchable for anyone scrolling past on socials is key. This basically just gives your specific message the flexibility to be consumed by a wider audience.
"I'm heavily focused on social media distribution and repurposing smaller clips. While some people might post the whole video everywhere that they can post videos, instead, I only post the whole clip on YouTube and instead I take out a lot of :30-second to one-minute talking points and I create short really shareable social media videos out of those. Those are really great because they're more optimized for the social media platforms, which tend to prefer shorter video than YouTube and it's also a way to then drive people back to the full post because I can say, ‘if you want 4 other tips related to this one, you can go check out the full video." Britany Berger, founder of WorkBrighter.co
4: Storytelling is the most powerful tool…
Joe Lazauskaus, Vice President of marketing at Contently, understands this perfectly. Even in your B2B videos or internal company stuff, having a story is an age-old, tried and tested technique that’ll really get your point across with a lot more memorability and conviction. Think back to your favourite advert, is it your favourite because you loved the deal or the product? Or is it your favourite because the plot was memorable and the delivery was engaging, that’s really what good video marketing is all about.
“The same thing is true for any brand story you wanna tell. You need a real plot, even if it's B2B and thought-leadership. You need to be talking about the gap between what is for your industry and what are the problems we're trying to solve, who are the main characters, the main protagonist that is trying to solve that problem. What risks are they taking? How are they making bold moves to get us to a better state? These are all the things that brand needs to embrace.” Joe Lazauskaus, Vice President of marketing at Contently.
5: Look beyond your video…
This tip is from Jen Spacer, Vice President at SalesBugMedia. So, you’ve made a video and it looks like it’s racking up those views, likes and shares. All good stuff, but what if you could do more with this information? Diving into your viewers, likers and sharers is gonna give you rich data that pinpoints exactly the type of people interacting with your content. Who are they, what do they like, what are they into etc, you don’t need to be a spy for this but understanding your unique demographic through your video content will allow you to streamline your message and curate content that speaks to your audience even better.
“Keep track [of video] in your database, in your marketing automation platform, your CRM. Look at that engagement, keep track of who is consistently engaging with your videos. Then you can segment those lists and create campaigns just for those people, and have a deeper engagement with a smaller group of individuals than trying to boil the ocean with everyone in your data.” Jen Spacer, Vice President at SalesBugMedia
“The same thing is true for any brand story you wanna tell. You need a real plot, even if it's B2B and thought-leadership. You need to be talking about the gap between what is for your industry and what are the problems we're trying to solve, who are the main characters, the main protagonist that is trying to solve that problem. What risks are they taking? How are they making bold moves to get us to a better state? These are all the things that brand needs to embrace.
