You don’t have to break the bank to create a video asset that works for your video marketing strategy. Sure you can get a lot of value out of an expensive video from a big budget production company or you can shop out your explainer video to an editing house but did you know that you would just be shelling out some major dough for something that you can do yourself? You’ll also be surprised to see that your do-it-yourself videos can produce better results. Think about it for this perspective, who can tell you company’s story better – a production company or you? The answer is obvious which is why I’m here to give you 7 Video Marketing Tips for Do-it-Yourself Success from a video marketing agency.
Tip 1- Start with the data and create the right story
You need to look at your customer data and how your current and prospective customers operate throughout the buyer’s journey. Where are they falling off? What is missing? Once you have identified the place that needs to be boosted you need to create a story that will target that.
Tip 2 – Use the equipment that you have available to you.
It’s 2018 people, everyone you know has a smartphone and every smartphone now has a camera on it. One of the best tips that I was ever given was to just press record. No matter what equipment you have, just press record and tell your story and deliver your message. This can help you to dial in your messaging, your delivery, and your overall execution before you begin to invest in equipment.
Tip 3- Engage your audience in the first few seconds
This part ties into your initial messaging. Create a strong hook to get your audience engaged immediately. You need to give them a reason to watch the rest of the video and the first 10 seconds of any video is crucial.
The other thing that you can do for this is to use an interesting thumbnail. Catch them from the very first moment they see your video player on YouTube or the embed. Whether you have intriguing graphics or a funny screen capture, choosing the right thumbnail is a great way to entice your viewers.
Tip 4- Make your video engaging with and without audio
When you look at video statistics you see that over half of video content is viewed on mobile phones and 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. It is imperative to make your social videos easy to view without audio. Using subtitles is one way to do this but also creating a video that uses text callouts instead of voiceovers.
Tip 5- Use CTA’s
Closing out your video is very important. You need to tell your audience where to go after they are done watching. This can be done by utilizing annotations on video marketing platforms like 23 where you can create clickable buttons and links to send viewers to a landing page or product page. This not only helps make it easier for the viewer but can ultimately lead to more business.
Tip 6- Optimize Your videos for search
Once you have a well-produced video it’s time to get it published to your video marketing software of choice and with that, optimize it for SEO performance. Use the same pillar page and keyword strategy that you would for any other type of content in order ensure that the video optimization is connected to your marketing strategy. Create a detailed description with keywords, and use as many relevant tags as you can.
Tip 7- Don’t focus on perfection
You can use any of these tips to make your video marketing better but the best tip that I can give you is to not focus too heavily on perfection. Create videos that work not videos that are “perfect”. Results are king at the end of the day and you can make a cinematographically perfect video but if it doesn’t produce results, it is worthless.
When you are ready to get started on your next video project or your first video projects keeps these tips in mind and if you have any other questions please reach out to one of our multimedia experts.