In this post I'm not going to tell you that you HAVE to use video marketing…if you’re here…that should be a given.
What I do want to talk about is WHY you need to be doing it better and HOW.
There’s 5 specific areas I want to talk about.
Stay with me…
In the video and in this post, I want to talk about why it's so important that your business uses video marketing better!
I'm not talking about more highly produced videos, far from it. High production values are not the answer.
Although having a multifaceted approach, probably is, as you’re creating more varied content.
But let's first take a 30,000 foot view of the marketing landscape.
We’ve all come to appreciate the value of video marketing and have heard the stats and numbers on its growth.
We are aware that platforms are favouring video content, which was reinforced recently by the Head of Instagram announcing they would favour video.
The problem is… everyone's hearing this, too. It's not just you or I.
Then one of the biggest events of our lifetime comes along to seismically change people's behaviours, irreversibly.
I'm talking about the pandemic. There was no question, we all had to go online.
So we went fully online for everything we do… from education, shopping, working, events and entertainment and even for exercise.
There was and is no longer any argument about being or going online.
Zoom and Microsoft Teams have become household terms.
When the pandemic struck, those who wanted to survive had to rapidly adapt their business models, working practices and methods of distribution.
Which means that more and more people have joined the online world and continue to do so.
Initially, as great as online content consumption became, particularly video consumption, which skyrocketed…now there is more noise than ever and attention spans have continued to plummet. Not helped by the likes of TikTok and Reels etc.
The curse of the rapid scroll in social media newsfeeds continues unabated.
So what does this really mean for us?
Well, it means we've got to think about our marketing approaches more carefully and take a more varied approach.
There's 5 things we want to be thinking about when trying to build a more effective video marketing strategy.
1) Reach
We want our message to reach as wide an audience as possible…but this isn't about trying to reach everyone in the world or the vanity metrics side of this business...we really want to be reaching those who we can serve and we need to ensure that our message attracts those right people, to US.
Having huge audiences of disinterested people is completely pointless.
Which is why it's important to think not only about your audience but the most effective means in which to reach them and the methods you use for different channels.
This comes about through research, planning and time.
You will need to test and adapt your approaches.
Some channels are slow to build but are very useful as a long-term asset.
For instance, I'm building my YouTube channel in a specific way. It’s not the fastest way to do it but I know that when people find my content elsewhere and it captures their interest, they will come over to my YouTube channel to watch more of my content.
If it does a good job and resonates, they will binge watch more of my videos.
That's just human behaviour.
2) Engagement
Having reach without engagement is pointless.
If you have your ideal target audience and the market you serve, engaging with your content, then you're onto a winner.
But of course, people engage with different content in different ways.
So you’ll want to be clear and understand the purpose of the different content you put out, monitoring engagement levels.
That's one of the things I really love about video.
It's one thing to watch the engagement rates of your video on YouTube, (which is very important) but it's quite another when you can get a real level of granularity (by that I mean watch time) on your videos on social media channels like Facebook.
Early on, when using video, this was one of the things that blew me away.
When running video ads on Facebook I could get and see all sorts of metrics on the viewing behaviour of people that saw my client videos.
From 2 second views, 3 seconds, to all sorts of percentages, like 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, 95 percent to 100 percent of my video.
All these are relevant and are giving important data.
The simple adage is, once something is working and your audience likes it, do more of it.
As an aside, the 3 second view can and is, almost as important as a person who watches 100 percent of your video ad.
The sheer fact that someone has seen 3 seconds of your video means they've been exposed to your brand.
If the story were to end there, there would be no benefit but what if they see it a few more times, things may change.
The one hit wonder doesn't really happen, and certainly not when you're building a brand.
While 100% viewer numbers are great. That is someone who has fully committed and interested in what you're saying. So that’s good to know…but don’t get hung up on it.
What is a good metric to keep an eye on and useful measure for you, is to see how much it actually costs you, when running video ads, to get someone to watch 100% of your video. That’s a good gauge on the effectiveness of that particular video.
OK, so that's reach and engagement.
3) Authority
Building your authority and positioning you as an expert or leader in your field is a key part of video marketing.
You are positioning yourself as the ‘go to’ person who can help solve the problems of your ideal target audience.
Building authority can take a lot of time but it can also be done relatively more quickly in our modern online world as getting to your ideal target audience has never been easier.
Then, through the content creation and distribution strategies you use, they can see and hear your message regularly.
This is where paid video ad strategies can be very effective.
If someone has engaged with your content, then sees more of it on a frequent basis, through retargeting ads, what do you think it's going to do for your positioning?
Done properly, it’s extremely effective. You're creating the omnipresence effect.
They see and hear you everywhere.
Without being annoying, of course.
We call this method our Purposeful Branding Strategy. Because that’s exactly what it is….branding with intent.
As they say….it’s all in the follow up.
Talking about following up….that is probably the true unsung hero of marketing. Yet most of us do it ineffectively, not following up sufficiently.
It can make such a dramatic difference to the effectiveness of your campaigns, yet, we seem to forget that and are much more interested in the initial contact and early phases.
Most people are not ready to buy on the initial contact and may take some time…which appropriately leads on to my next point.
4) Relationships
Because that's what we're building. We're building a relationship with each and every one of those people who come into our ecosystem and decide to invest their time in consuming our content and engaging with our message.
Like everything, this is where the real work is done.
As I mentioned in my building a personal brand video, this is where the magic happens.
Through effective video marketing strategies, we're able to build that relationship and level of intimacy, like never before.
At this point, it's no longer just about business or what you're selling.
They want to get to know you a lot better.
Trying to get out of the business mentality mode can get difficult, while for others, it’s reining them in, that’s the problem! They just want to show too much about their lives.
Again, you'll hear me say this a lot, much will come down to your messaging and what and how you say things.
We attract our audience on this basis.
So be careful what you wish for!
Having done all this we want to make sure we can survive and thrive.
Which means turning these great relationships into…
5) Customers
Without customers, we're not in business very long.
So, yes, we need customers but we also want the right sort of customers.
Which is why the 4 steps leading up to this point are so important.
Hopefully we've done all the right groundwork, got a great group of people consuming and engaging with our content.
They see us as the authority and see and understand how we can help them.
Which means some of them will want to become customers.
I'm sure we've all been in that situation where we’ve taken on clients because of the pressing overhead needs.... only to regret it!
As we've learnt and got smarter, we’ve truly started to appreciate the value of great clients.
Those who you can truly help, transforming their lives, their businesses, and making a genuine difference.
That is such a pleasure and joy. It makes work easy and the the impact you have on the world great.
Go get them great clients!
If I can help you in any way, please reach out, particularly if what I say resonates and you're a coach, consultant or adventurous business owner with an existing business that you want to grow.
Let's see how I can help you get extraordinary results through the right video marketing strategies.
Please also subscribe to my YouTube channel, like, share and comment.
Then please go over to my other social media profiles as I share more and my personal brand building story.
Thanks for your time, it’s truly appreciated.
Till the next time….thank you & bye bye.
Links for Social Media Channels
https://www.youtube.com/c/RonCarmichael
https://www.facebook.com/RonCarmichaelBiz
https://www.instagram.com/roncarmichael
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roncarmichael
