Your Easy Guide To Getting Started In Video Marketing

There’s a good reason video marketing is everywhere. Consumers love it. Oberlo reports that 85% of American Internet users watched videos on their devices and videos continue to be a strong draw for consumers.

If you’ve been waiting to see if video will truly catch on before investing any resources in it, the wait is over. You need to jump in. And don’t worry about any barriers to entry on this particular marketing format. It won’t break your budget or cause you to break a sweat.

Start with a Plan

Before creating a video, you should create a plan.

Some of the most common videos center on a strategy to:

• Market a specific product. This might mean showing off lesser-known features of your flagship product or unboxing a new line.
• Demonstrate a skill. Do you create beautiful painted furniture? Give a demonstration of the extensive steps you take to ensure a smooth finish and eliminate the chance of a chip or crack.
• Generate leads. If you’re trying to get people to visit your site, that’s a different video than one for pure brand awareness.
• Grow an audience. You might be vlogging an adventure across a road trip or some other journey to build a story around your brand.

Second, determine your call to action (CTA). Be clear about how you’ll encourage your viewers to act in a way that helps you meet your goal. If it’s growing an audience, you will ask them to subscribe to your videos. If you’re trying to generate leads, you may ask them to join your email newsletter so that you can reach them with more content.

Third, make a video that is findable. This means you’re determining a keyword and including it in your title and your script. You should also improve search engine optimization by making a transcript of your video, because search engines favor videos with this feature.

Get Your Equipment Ready

Don’t worry; you don’t need professional equipment to start out. Your smartphone has better video recording capabilities than what was used on some of the best and still-revered movies of the 20^th century. In addition, remember that most video is viewed on a screen that’s mere inches wide, so the quality is going to be fine.

The only other critical piece of equipment you need to start out is a simple tripod. If you plan to do any videos set in a noisy environment, like a behind-the-scenes tour of your lawnmower engine factory or your drum set-testing facility, you may want to invest in a microphone also. This is a product with a wide price range, but for your purposes you don’t need to spend a bundle.

What About Editing?

You may have heard that live video is a pretty hot trend, and this may serve you well if you’re a bit unsure about getting started editing. There are some downsides to live video, such as finding out after the fact that your warehouse manager giggles nervously anytime there’s a camera on them, but the upside is that you don’t have to fret about any editing details.

If you want to get started editing, there are software options out there that can help you learn the basics quickly.

The Quick Hits

If you are ready to get your video marketing strategy going, here are a few quick hints to get you started:

• Facebook is beginner-friendly. If you aren’t sure how your first video turned out, this is a platform where anything goes: long, short, raw, live. It’s all fine.
• If you’re posting on Facebook or YouTube, be sure to include Tags so your videos are found.
• People care more about the content than your skills. Tell your brand story in a good setting and make it a little entertaining and you’re well on your way to a good video.
• Be real. Authenticity is one of the hallmarks of a good video, and this is the perfect format to make a connection with your audience.

At DirectMail.io, our omnichannel, automated marketing solution makes distributing videos to the right people an easy task. Contact us to learn more.