6 Secrets to Better Video Marketing... Shh... It is a secret...

It is actually the worst kept secret that video has been, is and will continue to move marketing trends for the foreseeable future.

I don't need to tell you that at this point video is the most engaging form of content, and an indispensable ingredient to any marketing strategy for every type of brand, business, organisation or institution. 

While we know this many of us are still stuck on how to go from the idea of making "a video" to having a comprehensive video strategy and how we can better integrate video as a storytelling superfood for our brand.

Today I am going to share some secrets on how you can kick start your ongoing video journey and win more often with video marketing that attracts, engages and delights your audience. 

1. Start by becoming a teller of stories... Not just a seller trying to make sales...

I'm going to try and make this a simple and clear as I possibly can...

If you want your brand, business, organisation or institution to dominate against your competitors in the field of video and content marketing, start by preparing the value you want to give your audience. 

Those who merely focus on their own brand or in driving sales, are the most likely to be ignored.

The best video content is still the video content that tells stories and connects with the audience on a deeper emotional level.

Please remember too as I have said earlier in numerous other articles - a story does not need to be once upon a time, a story is a construct that makes a message meaningful to the audience.

The better and more engaging stories you tell, the better it will be for your audience to understand who your brand is and what it can ultimately do for them (and how much they need it in their lives). 

Videos have an emotive power that can work on numerous levels for your audience that you shouldn't waste by trying just sell them something... You should instead use the power of video to connect with them.

Concentrate on the story and how to connect to them and you’re off on a good start. 

2. KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. 

One of playwright, author and filmmaker David Mamet's favourite maxims is:

Keep It Simple Stupid.

In one of his many books on writing and storytelling Mamet postulates that the perfect formula for a well constructed play is that of the dirty joke (and I would attest that the same is true of most forms of visual content storytelling):

The model of the perfect play is the dirty joke. "Two guys go into a farmhouse. An old woman is stirring a pot of soup". What does the old woman look like? What state is the farmhouse in? Why soup? It is absolutely not important. The dirty-joke teller is tending toward a punch line and we know that he or she is only going to tell us the elements which direct our attention toward that punch line, so we listen attentively and gratefully.

Your viewers expect you to catch their attention fast.

If you can’t sustain their attention for at least the first 10 seconds, they will in all liklihood click away or scroll down their feeds to something else of lesser or greater importance. 

Bring your story to life quickly in a matter of seconds.

The first few seconds should give the audience the overview of what your video is about and if it is worth watching.

Make it worth their time and don't complicate it with things that don't mean anything to the story (keep to the essence of the dirty joke).

3. Create value. 

People use the internet primarily for two things:

a) To Solve A Problem

b) To Be Entertained

65% of your online audience are digital learners.

Your audience are learners who like to get value through your content. 

For example, you can find innovative and interesting ways to educate your audience how they can better use your numerous products and/or services.

Or maybe you could use a video to share some industry knowledge or thought leadership on the particular area you’re operating in.

Whatever it is, make sure you’re giving value to the lives of your audience. 

4. Attract the right audience. 

“If you have the right message, delivered to the right audience, at the right time, you can't fail.”

This formula is an old adage in advertising and it will surely work wonders if you readily apply it to all the visual content you are creating in your visual content ecosystem. 

Target your content to a highly-targeted audience to make it appeal to every member of your audience.

By simply setting out with a clear and measurable goal to reach a specific audience you will ensure that you’re always reaching out to the most relevant audience for the specific content you’re putting out there.

There’s a massive load of visual content circulating the internet right now (both good and bad), so make sure you’re reaching out to the specific audience of your choice and that you're reaching them with a relevant and targeted message. 

5. Include Call To Actions.

The point of a video is to get your audience to do something...

Video is not just there for video's sake...

If you’re venturing out on video marketing, make sure you optimise your content with Call To Actions (CTAs).

Effective and well conceived CTA's get you conversions.

They are mostly notable on websites and landing pages.

But you can also use them on videos to direct your viewers to a specific action – whether that’s downloading an app, signing up to a newsletter or an online course, or even sharing the video is a form of a CTA (and all of these are easily measurable and trackable - hello ROI).

Consider the actions you want your audience to take and try to build your content around it.

 6. Optimise your video for search. 

If you are one of the many thousands of marketing and communication teams not actively or correctly optimising your video content for search, your content is missing out on so many potential views, shares, likes and engagements.

There are approximately 3.5 billion searches per day on Google and 3 billion searches per month on the Google-owned YouTube.

Imagine missing out on that huge potential.

Search is a growing trend and it’s something you should utilise as well if you want to win on video marketing. 

There are various ways you can do to optimise your video content for search.

You may want to use keywords in your title.

Same as SEO for blog content or website copy, you need to use keywords if you want to rank high.

You may also use keywords in your description video.

Just try to avoid overdoing keywords – make sure they are also appropriate on the story of your video. 

In Conclusion:

These tips are simple.

Easy and actionable.

If you start to focus on creating videos that convert then you are well on your way to actually winning with video content marketing. 

STILL NEED MORE HELP?

Reach out to me and the team at APV! 

We’d love to talk to you about how you can better develop the right stories to create and share with your audience to move them to action!

Thomas J Elliott is the Creative Director for APV an advertising agency specialising in video and animation with offices in Wong Chuk Hang Hong Kong. 

He is a winner of numerous international awards for video and animation and the author of five books on visual content.

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