Congratulations on your decision to invest in professional video for your business. Whether you’re looking to increase sales, generate more leads or simply create stronger brand recognition, video can help you achieve these goals and more.
Assuming this is your first time experimenting with video, however, you may want to start slow — and that’s okay. Many people prefer to test the waters instead of jumping into the deep end of the pool. So, today we’re going to reveal some helpful tips for first-time video marketing, including what to expect, how to create an effective video for your company, and more.
Do I Really Need Video?
You might be wondering if video is really worth the investment for your company. After all, how many people are actually going to watch your videos? Well, a professionally made video can offer numerous benefits for your company.
According to some statistics, adding a video to your landing page can increase conversions by up to 80%. If you plan to promote products or services on a landing page, a video can help you drive sales. Other studies have also found that 76% of businesses believe video offers a good return on investment (ROI). Yes, it requires an initial upfront investment — but that can be said for nearly all forms of content and marketing materials.
Here are some of the different things you can do with a professionally made video:
- Upload to YouTube and other video sharing platforms
- Publish on your website
- Share on social media networking pages and profiles
- Send to clients and customers
- Highlight product benefits
- Show your company’s thought leadership
- Create video ads
- and more…
Identify Your Goals
The first thing you’ll want to do when dipping your toe in the video pool is to identify your goals. In other words, what do you hope to accomplish with your newly created video?
Maybe you want to attract a large number of video views, or perhaps you want to reach a specific market demographic or segment? Alternatively, some companies produce video with the primary goal of generating click-throughs followed by conversions. There’s no single “best” goal, as it depends on your company’s needs. Before investing in professional video, though, you need to identify your goals, both short term and long term.
Set Your Budget
You’ll also need to set a budget for your video. Different companies have different budgets, so talk it over with other decision-makers to determine how much you are willing to spend.
Remember the saying “you get what you pay for?” Well, it holds true with video production and marketing. There are countless low-cost video services, but using them could come back to haunt you in more than one way. First and foremost, these cheap video services lack the attention to detail and overall quality of premium services. Remember you only get one chance for a first impression. Well designed and produced video says a lot about a brand.
Some providers of low-cost video production and marketing services disregard copyright laws by including stock clips and footage owned by other individuals and companies. Even if they guarantee their work, the video may contain copyrighted material. And guess who’s liable once that video airs? It’s typically the person or organization that paid for it. Unless you’re willing to take that risk (hint: you shouldn’t), avoid these low-cost video production services and stick with a premium, trusted provider instead.
Lifespan/Longevity
Something many companies overlook when planning to produce a new video is the lifespan or longevity of the video. If a video only remains relevant for a few weeks, it may not offer the same value as a video that’s relevant for several years. Of course, there are exceptions, such as targeting consumers during specific holidays and special dates (e.g. Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, etc.).
Normally, however, you should strive to produce a video that will withstand the hands of time. Doing so ensures that your video will continue to deliver results. So, instead of your video generating traffic and conversions for just a few weeks, it will continue to drive sales or otherwise help you meet your goals for months or even years.
Single-Use or Multi-Use?
Will your video perform a single use or will it have multiple uses? This is another consideration to make when planning video for your company. Sometimes a new product sales video is also excellent for employee training & orientation for instance.
A typical single-use video may be designed to generate traffic on YouTube. A multi-use video, on the other hand, may perform several uses, such as generating traffic on YouTube, publishing on website, promoting a product or service and more.
Video production and marketing may sound like a lot of work, but if you follow the tips listed here you’ll have an easier time getting started. Just remember to test the waters slowly and gradually optimize and increase your video efforts as you go along.
