A Simple Step-by-Step Guide to Strategic Video Marketing

In the digital age, video marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for brands looking to enhance their visibility and engagement. If you're considering using videos to market your brand, especially in a specific sector like training services, it's crucial to have a well-thought-out plan. Here's how you can craft an effective video marketing strategy to give your business the boost it needs.

1. Identifying Your Core Offering

The first step is to identify what you're selling. Is it an idea, a product, or a service? For instance, if your focus is on training services, your core offering might involve technical or behavioral subjects designed to upgrade workforce skills.

"Duolingo," a popular language learning platform has its core offering as a service. interactive language learning courses available through a mobile app and website. Duolingo identified a need in the market for accessible, engaging, and affordable language learning tools. Their service is unique because it gamifies the learning process, making it fun and effective for users of various ages and backgrounds.

By clearly understanding and defining its core offering, Duolingo has been able to tailor their marketing and instructional content, including videos, to showcase the ease and effectiveness of its language learning app. This clarity in their core offering has been pivotal to their success and widespread adoption globally.

2. Target Audience and Their Needs

Understanding who your audience is and why they would be interested in your offering is key. If your target is corporate clients, they are likely looking to enhance their workforce's skills. Knowing your audience's needs helps tailor your content effectively.

Nike's primary target audience includes athletes and individuals seeking fitness and lifestyle apparel and equipment. The company understands that their customers buy their products not just for the quality but also for the inspiration and motivation associated with the Nike brand. This understanding is reflected in their marketing campaigns, which often feature inspiring stories of athleticism, perseverance, and personal achievement.

Nike tailors its content to resonate with this audience's aspirations and challenges. They produce videos that don't just showcase products but also tell stories of empowerment, athletic excellence, and personal growth. This approach not only aligns with their audience's needs and desires but also strengthens Nike's brand as a symbol of athletic aspiration and achievement. By focusing on what its audience seeks – inspiration, quality, and a sense of community in sports – Nike successfully creates a strong emotional connection with its customers.

3. Assessing Your Capabilities

What can your brand realistically do? Do you have the expertise to cover a range of technical and behavioral subjects? Assessing your capabilities helps ensure that your videos are both practical and high-quality.

Adobe, known for its wide range of creative and multimedia software, has capabilities that extend far beyond just software development. Their proficiency includes providing comprehensive creative solutions, educational resources, and community engagement through platforms like Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Spark, and Behance.

Adobe leverages its capabilities by offering not just software tools, but also extensive tutorials, live sessions, and community-driven content that cater to a broad spectrum of creative professionals, from graphic designers to filmmakers. They understand their strength lies in enabling creativity, and they tailor their offerings to support this - from beginner guides to advanced tutorials.

Their marketing and promotional videos often showcase the potential of their software, highlighting how users can harness these tools to bring their creative visions to life. This approach demonstrates a keen understanding of their strengths and how best to utilize them to engage and inspire their target audience. Adobe's strategy effectively showcases its expertise in the creative field, making it a go-to resource for professionals and hobbyists alike.

4. Evaluating Market Potential

Understanding your market size and potential is vital. For example, in a city like Pune, if there are about 300 IT companies, this figure represents your potential market. Estimating how many of these you can cater to helps in setting realistic goals.

?Initially, Tesla focused on the electric vehicle (EV) market, which was relatively niche when they first started. However, they recognized the growing concern for sustainable and eco-friendly transportation, which indicated a larger market potential.

Tesla assessed the growing demand for environmentally friendly vehicles and aligned its product development accordingly. They started with high-end luxury models, which appealed to a smaller, affluent market segment. Over time, as they established their brand and expanded their technology, they introduced more affordable models like the Model 3. This strategic move opened up their market to a broader audience, including middle-income consumers who were interested in electric vehicles but previously couldn't afford them.

By evaluating their market potential and strategically expanding their product line, Tesla has not only become a leading name in the electric vehicle industry but has also played a significant role in popularizing electric cars and influencing the automotive market towards sustainability. Tesla's success demonstrates the importance of understanding and strategically planning for market potential growth.

5. Choosing the Right Kind of Videos

Decide what types of videos will be most effective. This could include promotional videos to market your services and value-adding content like tutorials or expert discussions.

HubSpot utilizes a variety of video types to educate, engage, and convert their audience.

Their video content strategy includes:

• Educational Videos: HubSpot Academy offers a plethora of tutorial videos and courses on digital marketing topics. These videos are designed to educate their audience on marketing, sales, and customer service best practices.
• Product Demos: They produce videos that demonstrate how their software works, showcasing the features and benefits in a practical, easy-to-understand manner.
• Customer Testimonials: HubSpot also shares videos of customer success stories, which serve as powerful testimonials for the effectiveness of their products and services.
• Thought Leadership: The company hosts webinars and publishes interview videos with industry experts, positioning themselves as thought leaders in the digital marketing space.

By diversifying their video content, HubSpot effectively caters to different audience segments, from those seeking knowledge in digital marketing to potential customers looking for reliable marketing tools. This approach helps in building brand authority, educating their audience, and ultimately driving sales and growth.

6. The How of Videos

Production Process Consider how you will produce these videos. It could involve dividing topics among your team and partners, ensuring a mix of technical and behavioral content. The key is to design engaging and informative videos.

Salesforce constantly innovates its platform, adding new features and refining existing ones. They focus on creating user-friendly, scalable solutions for businesses of all sizes.

Marketing Your Videos Your marketing strategy should be multi-channel. Utilize platforms like LinkedIn for professional outreach, YouTube for broader visibility, and offline networking events for personal connections.

Salesforce's marketing strategy is robust, involving digital marketing, social media engagement, content marketing (including informative blogs and videos), and large-scale events like Dreamforce.

Selling Your Service Leverage references and personal networks to sell your training services. It’s important to establish trust and demonstrate the value of your services.

Salesforce employs a consultative sales approach, understanding customer needs and demonstrating how their solutions can solve specific business problems.

Delivery and Service Offer comprehensive packages including live training, study materials, and support videos. Post-training support like doubt clarification and refresher courses can significantly enhance customer satisfaction.

Salesforce provides a cloud-based platform, ensuring easy access and consistent performance for users globally. Salesforce offers comprehensive customer support, including training through Salesforce University, community forums, and dedicated customer service teams.

Management and Growth Initially, consider managing with a lean team, focusing on sales and marketing. Growth can be achieved through word-of-mouth and referrals, expanding your reach organically.

Salesforce maintains a strong internal management structure, ensuring efficient operation and innovation across all departments. It focuses on continuous growth through customer satisfaction, innovation, and expanding its offerings, including acquiring and integrating other technology companies to enhance their ecosystem.

Video marketing for a specific service requires a strategic approach. By understanding your offering, audience, capabilities, and market potential, and by carefully planning your production, marketing, sales, and growth strategies, you can create a successful video marketing campaign that resonates with your target audience and propels your brand to new heights.