Your video marketing isn’t working. Here’s why
Want to improve your video marketing results? We’re stronger together, and a combined approach with other media could be the secret you’re looking for…
Video marketing for your business is non-negotiable. Comparing its stats to other digital media is like asking Tyson Fury to have a quick sparring match with James Corden, just so we’re absolutely sure who the better boxer is.
Much as I’d personally like to see that match, it proves nothing we don’t already know. But what does surprise many marketers is that simply producing a video and bunging it on YouTube to gather dust isn’t a viable tactic either.
Why is your video underperforming? Probably because you need to integrate it with other tried and tested aspects of your marketing mix to compose a scintillating commercial harmony.
Here’s how.
Creative is a skill
The ROI on good video marketing is staggering, so businesses don’t mind forking out for professional video production services. But there’s a lot behind the scenes that you don’t see on filming day.
There’s a temptation to cut corners (and budget) on things like:
Rehashing ideas from older marketing projects
Writing the script yourself
Cutting out pre-production
Only producing one edit of the video
Distributing it just like any other piece of content
Each one of these is tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot. Taken all together, they’re like shooting oneself in the foot with a bazooka.
Your video needs to stand out, which takes more than just one day of a videographer’s time and one day of editing. It takes a professional script and strategic vision.
Your competition are investing in a proper creative process. If you skimp on that, you’re going to lose.
Optimise or die
Shoot video. Edit video. Upload video. Done. That’s good enough, right?
Meh, maybe in 2016. Back then, people would flock to a professionally produced video purely on its own merits. Now, social media channels are choked with audiovisuals of wildly varying quality.
Your video needs to be optimised for SEO like any other piece of content. Not just the obvious stuff like titles, tags, and descriptions either. Did you know that closed captions also get crawled for keywords? The script itself needs to be keyword optimised.
In 2020, a bad video will outperform a good video if the former has had a professional SEO job done on it. If that seems unfair; welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games.
Strategy over tactics
If you produce your video and proceed to promote it like all your other content; congratulations, you’ve effectively spent thousands of pounds on a tweet.
Good creative will nail a video for one platform. Strategic vision will nail that same video across anywhere you’re active. Your audience on Facebook are going to be different to your audience on LinkedIn; produce accordingly.
The master cut of your original script can sit tight on YouTube and Vimeo, that’s what they’re for. But how about:
Pulling out key segments as their own mini cuts for Instagram
A warmer, people-focused cut for Facebook
A more process-focused cut for LinkedIn, accentuating business outcomes
Breaking segments up into faster cuts which share better on Twitter
Blooper reels for stories to humanise your image
Bear in mind, that’s all the same video with the same production budget and timeframe. But now it’s working harder for you, tailored to your specific audience on each specific platform.
It’s incredibly hard to pull all that off after the fact. A professional strategist sitting in on early-stage creative can advise on tweaks to ensure versatility.
Video and beyond
When was the last time you bought a cracking new pair of shoes, but decided against the laces to save a few pence? Let that analogy marinade while I talk about all the wonderful accoutrements that can push your marketing to new heights.
It’s feasible that a two-minute video might touch on, say, three key selling points of your business:
Each selling point can be expanded in a blog
Segments from each blog can be broken out into infographics
Specific quotes can be pulled out as social media graphics
All the above can be re-angled for specific audiences or use cases
See how, with no extra creative, you can reasonably expect to get months’ worth of social media content out of the investment in one video if you’re clever about it.
Each piece of content doesn’t just feed from the video though. You use these accoutrements to lead the audience to the video, and then to a sale.
Video isn’t a one-and-done. It’s its own little solar system orbiting the galactic nebula of your brand. Making that work requires strategic thought ahead of time.
Video marketing that makes the cut
With luck, this has all given you some pointers about integrating video into your wider marketing effort. Maybe it’s even sold you on your own cinematic ambitions? If so, we’d love to hear from you!
Contact Sookio right now for a holistic, results-driven take on video for your business.
