Video marketing has been getting more sophisticated for a while now, but it seems like over the past year or so a major shift has happened as more companies have begun to add video as a line item in their marketing budgets.
Now, don’t get us wrong. We LOVE video as much as (ok, you got us, maybe more than) the next creative communications agency. But while we support video production and video marketing down to the bottoms of our dainty little toes, we have to admit we’re at odd ends with some of the video that’s being produced today.
The problem is, a lot of companies today understand they should be doing video, but they’re still not sure just why their company is doing it and, more importantly, how video ties in with their business and marketing strategy in the first place.
It’s easy to explain why video is important–improvements in site ranking metrics, longer visits to web pages with video content, better conversion rates, new ways to connect with audiences that may prefer to watch a quick video. But while all of those are good arguments for video in general, the point where a lot of companies seem to be missing the mark is in realizing that new content shouldn’t be created simply for the sake of creating new content. Rather, any new content you use as part of your marketing outreach efforts, whether that’s a new video or a new blog post, brochure or newsletter, should be sharply aligned with your goals for your organization.
A fun video can be just that, but even then it needs to be able to answer the question, “how does this tie into our goals for our business? If you can’t answer that question, PUT DOWN THE VIDEO CAMERA!
In all seriousness, in terms of content marketing, video can be one of the strongest storytelling assets in your marketing arsenal. All we argue is that you should begin this process with reviewing your goals and work your way back to execution, whether that’s video or any other type of marketing content. The thing with video marketing for the web is you are swimming in a sea of video content and we want you to float to the top.
Questions to ask before starting a new video project:
- What is the goal of this video?
- How does this tie in with our larger goals for the organization – marketing and otherwise?
- Who is our target audience for the video?
- What do we want the viewer to do next?