– Starting a video marketing campaign can be daunting if you've
never done it before, and the one thing I talk
about a lot on this vlog is getting clear on your
video marketing strategy at the very start. Previously, I've talked
about the three end goals of any video marketing campaign. Figuring out which one of
these best fits your strategy, whether it's to teach, inform, or inspire, is essential to setting the tone, content, and style of your video. But what else do you need to think about when starting a video marketing campaign? Whether you're producing
a series of video blogs, a new promotional video, or working on your employee engagement, here are three things that
you need to think about when beginning your
video marketing campaign. Hone your key messages. An essential part of any successful video production campaign is
having a clear understanding of what your video's key messages will be.
This will involve talking to all stakeholders in the project, both internally across departments and externally if you're working
with agencies or partners. Key messages shouldn't be shoehorned in halfway through the production process, so make sure anyone who's
invested in the project gets to have their say from the start. The problem here is that
you may get inundated with opinions on what everyone thinks are the most important key
messages for your project, and they may not necessarily
match what your intentions are. So don't try to make everyone happy.
After all, everyone has their own opinion on what they think's important. Overloading your film
with too many messages can make your film difficult to understand and leave your audience confused. The solution? Try to keep the key messages
in each film down to a minimum. Have a look at simplifying your messaging or splitting your project
into a number of films rather than just one video if you do need to include
a lot of messaging. As a general rule, the more
messages you have in a video, the more bloated it could be. Every key message in your
video should be partnered with a compelling call to action. So if there isn't a strong
enough urge to take action, maybe you need to revisit, simplify, or lose a message altogether. Remember, keep your video marketing goal in mind throughout this and don't be afraid to have difficult conversations with some people about what you feel is
important for the project. Get a grip of your budget. If you're starting a
video marketing campaign, have a chat with whoever
holds the purse strings and get an idea of what
budget you have to work with.
As we all know, getting
money out of people isn't always the easiest thing to do. But there is a simple way to
weigh the odds in your favor so you can hopefully get all the cash you need for your project. Get at least three quotes from different video marketing suppliers and present these to your boss. This will help you both clearly illustrate what the spend is for and justify the spend against your proposed return on investment. A good video production proposal should be easy to understand by anyone, whether they're familiar
with video marketing or not. Understanding the costs that go into producing professional video, such as script writing, filming, editing, and video optimization or video SEO, is also a good thing in itself. It helps you anticipate and estimate costs of future campaigns. We always give clients
a detailed breakdown of what goes into each part
of the production process and the associated costs, so it's easy for anyone to understand. We try and keep our project proposals free of technical jargon and include lots of information on the key benefits of a project, as well as examples of previous
successful campaign too.
All of this information
should go a long way in helping you get all the cash you need. Understand how the video will be used. A crucial part of a
video production strategy is understanding how your video will be used and distributed
once it's complete. Video SEO is a big hurdle
for a lot of companies because there are so many
ways to distribute video. Plus, with it being the
final part of the process, it's often overlooked. Think about your video. Is it meant for an internal audience only or is it a testimonial video that you can share on social media? Perhaps it is a testimonial, but the featured customer
is a bit sensitive about where it can be shown. This is where it's important to be cautious of scope creep as well. If a project begins life as a post sales or onboarding video for new customers, but further down the
line your boss suggests adding in more salesy information, the video ends up having too many messages and becoming bloated. If the video ends up trying to
serve more than one audience, this can add complications to how to distribute the video.
Keep an eye on the
intended use of the video and make sure it doesn't creep
into an area it shouldn't. The way you distribute the finished video is important to get clear too. If you plan a big social media push, an email sequence, or
YouTube advertising campaign, make sure there's the
infrastructure in place to get your video campaign the best distribution it can possibly get. If there are gaps in your organization and you can't distribute
your video as you would like, have a word with the production company or agency you're working with. A good video production
company will help with things like video SEO, email marketing, and so on to make sure your video
gets out into the world and doesn't just sit gathering
digital dust on your desktop. The better you understand,
plan, and implement these points when planning your video
marketing campaign, the more likely your videos
are to connect to your audience and give you a return on investment.
I always say that pre-production and the planning that
goes into a video project cannot be underestimated, so investing the necessary time and effort to focus on your strategy
is a guaranteed way to ensure that the rest of
the project will go smoothly and accomplish your marketing goals. For more handy tips on how to get the best out of your corporate video project, subscribe to us on YouTube
or find us on social media. (upbeat music).
