Video is everywhere these days and it’s no surprise when you consider the 15 reasons why video marketing boosts business that I revealed in a previous post. However, now that everybody seems to be doing video it can be difficult to cut through the noise and reach your target audience and this is where the importance of developing an effective online video strategy becomes clear.

Many businesses understand the importance of using video in their marketing and outreach efforts but too often they are focussed on video from a form-driven approach. Video for video’s sake is what I call this “ Everybody’s doing video, so let’s make a video!”

But, if you’re considering using video within your business I would like to, first of all, ask you why?

• Why do you want a video?
• Is it just a video that you want or is there more to it than that?
• What is it that you really want that you’re hoping a video will help you with?
• Do you want a video or is it that you actually want the results that video can bring?

If you want your business to grow, change or you have identified something else within your business that needs to improve, then it’s true that video content can help you achieve that but you must be strategic in your approach.

How and why a strategy-first approach will shape your video production

A strategy-first approach to video production will help you to define how you’re going to use video to grow your business.

• Do you want to tell potential customers about your brand?
• Do you want to increase the sales of a specific service?
• Do you want people to sign up to your mailing list?

These are just a few examples of the kind of goals you might have for your video marketing but each of those goals would require a different type of video.

For example, increasing bookings for a specific service might entail showing the service in action or filming a case study and client testimonials.

On the other hand, if you want to grow your mailing list, you might create a tutorial video explaining possible solutions to problems your clients often experience.

Once you define what you want a video to achieve, you can frame every decision you make about the video in terms of, “Does this serve the ultimate goal of the video?”

This will include the content, style, length, format, where you host and share the video, and much more.

The benefits of having a video production strategy

When supported by a strategy, marketing videos should:

Strike a chord with your target audience

You could have a great message to share but if it’s heard by the wrong audience, it just won’t have any impact. Imagine, for example, a large corporate law firm accidentally reaching sole traders and freelancers with limited budgets – it’s not that the service isn’t great but that the audience is wrong.

A properly targeted video will resonate with its audience, speaking straight to the heart of what they need right now and demonstrating how your company can help.

Stand out from the other videos seen by your target customers

With more than a billion hours of video being watched every day, video marketing is a double-edged sword. Yes, there’s a huge demand for video content but there’s also a lot of competition.

Videos that are supported by a marketing strategy tend to stand out from the noise. This is because they have a clear message for a clear audience.

Perform well to key influencers in your industry

Another benefit of a carefully crafted video that’s supported by a strategy is that it should resonate with influencers. These are people who are respected and followed by your target audience. If an influencer shares your video, it acts as a vote of confidence about the quality of your content.

Attract engagement on social platforms

By planning how to use your video on social media, you can increase the amount of engagement it receives and extends the reach, i.e. how many people see it. This means you can get in front of more of your target audience.

It’s important to understand which platforms your target audience use and look at different distribution and sharing options. For example, are you going to host the video on your website? Do you plan to set up a YouTube Channel or host your video on Vimeo?

Does the format need to suit Instagram? Are you planning to run video ads on Facebook?

Having a strategy will help you answer all of these questions and pinpoint the best use of your budget.

Again, the key thing to remember is the overall goal for your video, then use social media to serve that goal.

Convert well for your goals

Speaking of goals, if your video is underpinned by a clear strategy then you should see conversion rates that reflect all of your groundwork.

According to a survey by ReelSEO, 73% of B2B organisations that use video marketing report a positive return on investment (ROI).

The risks of not having a video production strategy

The alternative is to leap into making a marketing video without a plan. The risks of this approach include:

Failing to resonate with your target audience

Too many businesses go to great lengths to reach their target customers only to waste the opportunity with a weak marketing message. A strategy will help you determine exactly what you need to say to get the best results.

Lack of views and engagement

If a video fails to resonate or it isn’t shared on the right platforms, you will find that it disappears into the ether with very little engagement. This is a waste of what could have been a fantastic opportunity to connect with your customers.

Lack of reach

Due to the way social media and search algorithms work, a lack of views and engagement will mean that your video has limited reach. This is because the various platforms use engagement as one of the signals for sharing high-quality content more widely.

Low conversions

Videos that don’t have a clear message or audience suffer from low conversion rates. This is because people don’t watch the video to the end or fail to take the action you want them to take after watching.

Spiralling costs due to an ever-changing or poorly defined brief

As I’ve mentioned above, a video production strategy will help you streamline your decision-making process. Every element of your video marketing can be steered by how it fits with your overarching goals.

The flipside of this is that you end up with an organically-evolving video that has no clear purpose. Constant tweaks and changes of direction can quickly eat into your budget.

Low ROI

In the absence of a strategy, all of the above elements can combine to give you a low or even a negative ROI.

In fact, without a strategy in place, it will be hard to track your ROI at all as you will not know which metrics to monitor.

Summing up

Unfortunately, many businesses go wrong by failing to adopt a well-thought-out video content strategy. When the video doesn’t deliver the results that they wanted, they conclude that video marketing doesn’t work.

In reality, almost any business can enjoy huge benefits from video marketing but the strategy has to come first.

What do you want video to do for your business? Let me know in the comments section below or contact me directly. I’d love to hear from you.

In my next post, I run through how to create a video marketing strategy that is aligned with your audience, the platforms on which they spend their time and your business goals.

‍