A whopping 87% of marketers say that video has increased traffic to their website¹. With numbers like that, there is no denying that videos are proving effective for driving traffic and attracting new potential customers. And that’s just one of many examples of the positive impact that video can have on a business.
With the growing popularity and effectiveness of video today, many businesses are rushing to get in on the action. However, not all businesses are approaching their video marketing efforts with a well thought-out strategy and are blindly jumping on the bandwagon. Some may know that video is an important marketing tactic but lack the planning and strategy to make it work well for them. On the other hand, others recognize that their video strategy is not well thought out and they hold off on investing in video content altogether. By doing so, they risk missing out on the many benefits that video content can offer.
Want to get into video marketing and crush it? Here are a few common mistakes to avoid.
Letting cost hold you back
Sure, some marketing videos are made with huge productions that require gigantic budgets. It's natural to feel intimidated. Luckily, there are other ways. Instead of sprinting your hardest right from the start, approach video development with the crawl, walk, run strategy. A “crawl” option is a good way to start. This might look like a budget of $3 - $6K, a half-day dedicated to filming, and a final product with a solid creative and basic production value. Approached like this, the whole project can be done within a couple of weeks. As long as the creative is good, you can get great results cost effectively based on the scope involved.
Failure to maximize your investment
Rolling film for half a day and capturing only the scenes you explicitly wrote for the one video you aimed to produce would be a big opportunity (opportunities) missed. Maximizing your filming is key. If you spend an afternoon filming, you want to come out with a whole bunch of video assets, not just one video. Plan ahead for different clips, record with the possibility of chopping it up later, and capture some b-roll for extra editing firepower. The end result? A library of video assets, all thanks to one afternoon of filming.
Expecting your video to stand alone
Video is powerful, sure. But a library of videos and video-derived assets all linking back and forth to one another is a force to be reckoned with. Maximize your video content through repurposing. Repurposing your video is easier than you might think. You can turn one video into several section-specific clips, create a snappy preview video or a highlight reel to showcase your best bits, share the audio as a podcast for on-the-go listening, transcribe the video and use the content in all sorts of formats like downloadables, emails, articles, and blogs. And let's not forget social media – make some bite-sized clips to post and get those likes and shares rolling in.
Forgetting to strategize for success
This might be stating the obvious but it’s an important truth: Video is a great tool, but only if people see it. That's why it's crucial to have a comprehensive plan for getting your video in front of the people it's intended to impress. This includes designing attractive and effective landing pages, running targeted ads, optimizing pages for search engines (SEO), and including your videos in emails. A well-executed plan will ensure that your video is seen by the right people, at the right time, and in the right place. It's not enough to just make a great video – you need to have a plan for getting views in order to truly reap its benefits.
Sleeping on the opportunity
By far the biggest and most costly mistake is not incorporating video into your marketing at all. According to a content marketing survey, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support². No doubt, there is a huge demand for video content and a clear opportunity for businesses to reach and engage with their target audience. Failing to incorporate video into your marketing strategy means missing out on a valuable chance to connect with your audience and meet your marketing objectives.
If you want to learn how to get more eyeballs on your content and drive leads with video marketing, check out our latest webinar, which we did in partnership with RB Content Lab: Adding Video to Your Marketing Strategy: Best Practices You’ll Want to Try.
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