It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. At 30 images per second, a video under two hours is worth more than all the words in English.
Even if that old saying isn’t literally true, video and strategy Behind it is undeniably one of the most important tools in the modern marketing toolkit.
This episode of Marketers – a series of videos for marketers – breaks down the art and science of video in your marketing mix. Explore key concepts in this post, then watch to uncover insights, including insights from video expert A. Lee Judge.
Table of Contents
Why is video marketing important?
Digital video really started as part of a marketing and communication strategy in 2005, with the launch and massive rise of YouTube. Within six months, the site was attracting more than 2 million daily visitors. Within a year, YouTube saw 20,000 new videos uploaded daily and more than 100 million videos daily. And then Google bought it.
The reason digital video is suddenly so hot with marketers is because of one word: search.
Creating a two-way street connecting content searchers and content creators is like magic for digital marketers.
# YouTube has created a two-way street for #video – connecting searchers with #content works, said @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. #MarketingMakers Click to post It won’t be long before YouTube claims the position of the second most popular search engine – right after its parent company main business – Google.com.
As you might expect, marketers have started using YouTube as a content channel. And so the hyperactive growth of all kinds of videos on this channel – video tutorials, commercials, music videos, training movies and most recently live video about anything you can think of.
YouTube has almost turned into its own internet: a global platform of one kind of content.
Video Marketing Strategy in 2021
Media planning now includes digital video format. Videos appear in many places besides YouTube.
Private distribution networks and hosting services allow viewers to avoid advertising on powerful sites like YouTube – and they can provide marketers with analytics on who’s watching.
You can have videos on webpage content hub, email, mobile apps, social media channels kiosks or hundreds of other interfaces where our consumers can view video content.
In 2021, think about video differently than you did recently in the middle – 2000S. At the time, many corporate groups created as much digital video as possible. It becomes a by-product of marketing and advertising efforts.
In 2021, think of #video differently than you did recently like in the middle – 2000 s, @Robert_Rose said via @CMIContent. #MarketingMakers Click to Tweet And that’s where many brands remain to this day. They simply upload TV commercials, voiceover webinar slides, and other content not explicitly created for the digital video channel. Certainly the videos are searchable. But are they as compelling as a digital motion picture experience?
Your digital video content must be strategic. Make it more than just a by-product of a common digital strategy. Like any content strategy, video needs to have a purpose and must be created, managed, and activated with structure and optimization for all channels the video may encounter.
If you produce:
- Seminar: Think about how they can be optimized into a digital video version. Don’t just upload slides and sounds and call it a date.
- Audio files: Intended to do more than stream audio via a video platform like YouTube. For example, record a podcast as a live video show.
- Product Instruction Video : It’s no longer good enough to reuse your sales training videos. Create current, purposeful, and specific content that lives within a compelling context for viewers.
- 30 – second ad: Create a deeper, more engaging version for 30s unlimited channels.
Simply put: Treat your digital video strategy like you would your content strategy. It’s an active product ecosystem; Plan to create content that is purposefully optimized for the channel it will be experienced.
Treat your #digital video strategy like you do #ContentStrategy. Use it as a working product ecosystem, @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent said. #MarketingMakers Click to Tweet
Elements of a digital video strategy
As you might expect, a digital video strategy includes the same elements as any content strategy:
- Strange target
- Video story structure
- Video production plans and guidelines
- Distribution plan
- Measurement plan
Goal
You need a mission clear for sections, sets or structures. Think about which part of the customer journey you want to optimize with video. How does this help your customers?
Architecture story
Great marketing campaigns have a message architecture . Great video projects have a story structure. In a TV series, a producer would call this the “show bible.” It’s a clear description of everything from what’s allowed in this universe to key message points to tone, visual aesthetic, sound and editorial guidelines, and sometimes even drama. version for the story.
Great #video projects have a story architecture. In TV it’s called the show bible, says @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. #MarketingMakers Click to Tweet
Video production plan
As you build your story structure slow down, take the time to consider all the areas where you might want to use video and production requirements for each type.
Suppose you have a customer or a influential people join the video. Think about all the aspects of production you might need. Do you need a short and long version? Do you need behind-the-scenes footage? Do you need an interview with the star or other participants? Do you need different versions, cameras, or aspect ratios (e.g. high-end vs iPhone.)
Consider your production needs to make as much content as possible from your video opportunities.
Distribution strategy
Where do you want to distribute this video? Not all videos are suitable for every channel. But don’t rule out channels simply because they’re not part of the main marketing campaign. You never know how something will take off. If you dream of a video social media campaign – and only capture it in one vertical video format with poor audio – what happens when that video goes viral and you want to play it on television? Understand the options behind your distribution strategy and how they may change over time.
Measurements
By creating it as an integrated content strategy, you should understand which channels, formats, and stories resonate the most. The Indicators It will also put you in a good position to extend the parts that work well – you can duplicate them and reuse them in a different context.
The future of digital video in content marketing
The upcoming video interactivity will give you a tool to add engagement to your powerful visuals. Your audience will see the world through the eyes of the video creator and help shape that world, too. Interactive technology will transform the video interface from a one-way experience to a multi-track journey.
By the way, clothing retailer Ted Baker – one of my favorites – has integrated this beautifully with click to shop video – where interactive links to buy the clothes you are seeing are embedded in the video.
Walmart offers another example of engagement with its Cookshop channel. Viewers can click on areas of the screen to view or purchase an ingredient list, or select the story they want to see after a brief introduction. The example below shows an interactive set of Veggie Boost with Jamie Oliver.
Ask yourself how you can push the envelope and create a memorable and useful interactive video for your audience.
That is the future of digital video – and marketing.
What mar interested producers know about digital video
Video technology has been democratized. Anyone can create a video in a fraction of the time, budget and effort they put in. Just making a video is not a differentiating factor.
But the power of video has nothing to do with technology. It involves everything related to content and creativity in video.
The power of #video has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with #content and creativity, said @Robert_Rose via @CMIContent. #MarketingMakers Click to Tweet This is your secret ingredient. Treat your digital video strategy like a content strategy. Build it to amplify and optimize your big ideas and you have the chance to create the iconic images of tomorrow.
Simply put: Don’t turn your static content into a video. Make video content. Create content with a video interface from the ground up.
As you rethink video – and your ability to truly create stunning, remarkable, extraordinary experiences – remember the classic quote from media professor and author Marshall McLuhan: “When whatever new form comes before everything, we’ll naturally see it through the sound system… We’re just trying to bring the old stuff into a new form.
Today’s digital video is a new form. Take the time to see how you can expand it to all new locations. You can see it allows you to create iconic images that shape a culture.
That’s what marketers do.
Cover photo by Joseph Kalinowski / Content Marketing Institute
