V-I-D-E-O Marketing Tips

Over the past few years, marketing with video has erupted in popularity. And rightly so due to, in no small part, the excellent video recording and editing capabilities built into most of our smartphones. In and of itself, just the ability for you or me to produce and upload — in just a few minutes — a video for the world to see is incredible. Businesses have discovered the power of video as virtually any company website and social media feed can attest. With ongoing COVID-19 concerns and social distancing measures, harnessing the capability of video for marketing your business just became all the more important. Whether you’re already entrenched in video marketing or contemplating it, here are five tips for doing it well.

V – Value your audience.

Just because you can create an online video doesn’t mean anyone will want to watch it. As with any marketing communication, thoroughly research and know the intended audience. While most people aren’t averse to the medium of video, you need to make it worth a viewer’s time and effort to make video marketing successful. This means careful regard for not only the message of the video, but also how to best use it as a channel of communication.

Viewers may be best served by a video of you simply facing the camera and speaking. Or, they may prefer a hands-on demonstration of the product or service you’re promoting. Or, they may want to see an actual customer using the product or service. Maybe a video comparing a product against another would be helpful. In any case, ask current customers why they buy from you. Their feedback should provide many insights as to what your video messaging should be.

In researching your audience — which should be a constant pursuit — find out what works in terms of video content and especially length. No need to have a 30-minute video when five or 10 minutes will do.

Finally, after a few months of using video as a marketing tool, keep an eye on analytics — the data showing how many times videos have been watched, when and what happened after — and read the comments as well. If you’re new to using video, the initial analytics may seem to demonstrate little interest. Or a poor comment may seem to unravel the point of the video.

Don’t give up, though. Keep on listening to the analytics and audience, and tweak your videos as needed.

D – Deliver what you promise.

Naming or titling a video accurately and explaining up front in your video what it’s all about can be the difference between attracting and keeping viewers or turning them off. So make sure your video and title/intro match. Too many videos make initial claims that aren’t backed up by the content. As an example, some product “review” videos are titled and promoted in such a way a viewer might expect a more honest, thoughtful evaluation of a product and instead are merely given an overview of a product using basic information available in many places. Some automobile dealers use this tactic, offering a “review” of a vehicle for sale on their lot when it’s actually just an overview or a walk around with little real use of or evaluation of the vehicle.

Ask current customers why they buy from you. Their feedback should provide many insights as to what your video messaging should be.

The right way to do this type of overview video is to call it an “unboxing,” “out of the box” or a “what’s inside” video and literally take video of someone opening a product from its factory packaging (or from the package in which it was mailed). In this type of video you approach it and comment on it as a consumer would, noting the features and details and so on. An actual “review” of the product would be a helpful but separate video unless you’re able to roll right into an actual, hands-on review right there.

It’s also helpful to explain up front in the video what you don’t intend to cover or can’t cover and what the viewer may do to learn more, such as by offering a link to another resource.

No matter the content subject, say what it is up front and deliver on it.

E – Expect to make mistakes.

Many people struggle to speak or act when being recorded; further, you may be averse to the whole enterprise of “putting yourself out there” for all to see. What if you misspeak or stutter? What if you come off as nervous and distracting?

These are all legitimate concerns, most of which can be alleviated with time and practice, but they also underscore another important factor video marketing offers: authenticity. In other words, you and I are real human beings who mess up sometimes. You can always re-record a portion of a video where there’s an error or something you don’t like — but you don’t have to.

No matter the content subject, say what it is up front and deliver on it.

Many of the most engaging videos out there draw viewers because they contain real people who at times misspeak or flub a word or whatever. When it happens, laugh it off and just keep going. Any objective person who’s grounded in reality knows we all make mistakes. Of course, there’s a point in any communication enterprise where too many mistakes are actually too many. But the occasional goof-up usually isn’t a big deal and can, in fact, lend to greater authenticity and genuineness over time.

O – Organize content ahead of time.

Having just excused you from the burden of delivering perfect video content, I do want to encourage you to organize content ahead of time. Think through and write down an outline of what the video will cover. Write out a manuscript if it helps, but do give some thought to how best to express the ideas you want to cover in the video. Then, record yourself just speaking through the text/content and edit out whatever’s unnecessary. Record it again. It’s okay to go from 30 minutes of content down to two minutes — as long as you’re covering the important parts.

Very few marketing videos need to be longer than 30 minutes; most should be under five. It just depends on the intent and how much material you actually have to cover. If you have a lot of content, consider breaking it up into smaller chunks — separate videos to cover over time.

Finally, give some thought to a content cadence. Your videos could follow some kind of formula: intro statement (10 seconds), intro “splash” graphic (three seconds), summary intro (30 seconds), the rest of the video content (several minutes) and parting thoughts with pointers to additional resources (10 seconds). Use supporting music/sounds to help the video along, include banners and labels and call outs as needed and use “b-roll” (supporting, secondary video clips) to mix things up.

In any case, get all these things organized on paper, create the video and then have a trusted friend critique it. If you find you need to keep making the same changes in your videos, note this for the production of future videos. Be sure to plan to include a disruptor video every so often — something that breaks the normal cadence and takes your viewers by surprise!

Share your success! Dealers, send us an email with your unboxing videos and we’ll feature a few on our channels. comments@shootingindustry.com

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