George B. ThomasAre your video marketing efforts getting you down?
Do you wish you were growing a larger community, getting more views, more watch time, driving more revenue, and do it all as fast as possible?
Welcome to the challenges of most of us marketers trying to use video for our marketing efforts.
That's right, we all struggle with these issues.
In this article, I am going to share four secrets to video marketing that have helped me stay the course for the last six years of using video in my marketing efforts.
The first tip is, video marketing success will take longer than you thought.
Video Marketing Success Takes Time
Don't get me wrong, you can create a video that goes viral and boom, you are "successfulish".
I mean take a look at Judson Laipply!
What, you don’t know who that is?
How about “the evolution of dance”?
"Ohhhh…" the crowd said. 😃💃
If you go to his channel, it is the first video he did or, at least the first video he did that he has not deleted.
But, earlier I said “succesfulish”, what do I mean by that?
As quick as all those views came, they can retreat back to another piece of hot content leaving your video efforts alone in the middle of what feels like the marketing desert.
Also, the chances of going viral are very few and far between.
If you jump into the video marketing game with this let's go viral, most likely you will get burnt out quickly and give up.
A better strategy is to know it will take time and even more time than you think.
Later in this article, I am going to explain how you can expedite time to your goals but, most users will do or create the norm, therefore, they will get normal or even less than normal results.
If you create a video a week, you can plan on success being slow. Bump it up to two a week and your chances of being successful begin to rise.
We have found that three pieces of video content or more is where you will see rapid success in your video marketing efforts.
In all honesty, it's not much different than fishing.
One pole, one worm, equals one fish. The more poles and bait you use, the better your chances of catching a whopper are.
So, how long should video marketing success take?
If you are creating three or more pieces of video content per week, you will see some good traction in the first 6-months.
By the one year point, you should start to get excited about your growth and some small wins along the way.
By year two, your video marketing efforts will be firing on all cylinders!
This timeline is of course based on you and your company creating great video content, paying attention to the analytics, and not being afraid to transition your strategies when needed.
It also depends on if you have been paying attention to all four phases of your video sales & marketing funnel.
If you are focused, driven, and focused on the above items, time will pass by quickly and your successful video marketing strategies will be the talk of the town.
Okay, maybe the talk of your company.
The second tip for your video marketing success is the understanding that most of your videos should be for sales as well.
Successful Video Marketers Focus on Sales Videos
Let’s create some blog teasers! That will be a great video marketing idea.
It sure can be. As a matter of fact, we create video teasers for almost all of are blog article. Did you enjoy the one at the top of this article?
How about this one we did a while ago?
Drift vs HubSpot Conversations (2019): Ultimate Conversational Throwdown
This teaser was created for our Drift vs HubSpot Conversations (2019): Ultimate Conversational Throwdown article.
It was bot bloody! But, I digress.
Let’s get back to video marketing.
While creating blog teasers are fun and are a great strategy to lower your bounce rate and engage reads, do they drive direct revenue?
That is a hard question to answer. Sure one could easily say they help with driving viewer retention and therefore help during the purchase decision.
But, how much time should be on blog teaser videos vs service page videos, pricing videos, customer question videos, I could go on but, I think you understand what I am saying.
When you look at the video sales & marketing funnel, might I suggest you think about it in the following manner?
- Absorb = 10% of your time
- Assess = 35% of your time
- Acquire = 45% of your time
- Advocate 10% of your time
If you use this time breakdown strategy, you will focus on video types like product & services, testimonials, case studies, FAQs, and "about" videos.
Pro tip: About Videos can be about the company, individual employees, industry terms, problems consumers face, and so much more.
Of course, when it comes to about videos for us here at Impulse Creative, we dove into our “What Is” series that focuses in on sales, marketing, and service terms that professionals may or may not know about.
The reason the assess and acquire phases are so important to your video marketing success is that they can be used by both the search engines as well as your sales reps. This is because these phases can be heavily educational as well as have the ability to mention your company and it’s products and services.
Consumers are not quite ready for that yet in the absorb phase of the video funnel.
Anytime your videos can be doing double duty and are educational, is a win, win for your company and your marketing department.
So, now that you know that it will take time and you know where to focus your time, what can you do to dramatically impact your video marketing efforts?
Leverage Your Entire Company for Video Marketing
Now, I'm by no means telling you to get everyone on camera. However, that would be a great goal as all of your employees know the company, the products, and have something to say that your consumers could potentially connect with.
But, the chances of getting 100% on camera adoption is pretty slim.
However, you can get all of them on the bus and in the right seats. Setup a process that allows all employees to easily submit video content ideas into a big bucket.
Make sure those ideas are tracked for their success as well as the idea originator. If the video hits specific goals you set as a marketing team, make sure the person who first generated the idea get a mention or even a small gift.
Let's face it, if I knew for every idea I generated for a company I could possibly get a $10 Dunkin card to purchase some coffee, I would become a content machine!
Wait, I am a content machine. Yep, and so would co-workers.
Also, you can get the team members who love to write, to help create scriptwriters.
you could have some help with set setups.
Others might like to travel and help with gear.
Find your coworkers strengths or side passions and figure out a way to plug them into your video marketing efforts.
With all hands on deck, you will find it easier to create those three or more pieces of video content per week.
And, if you can get your team to help them figure out how to collaborate with those who want to be leveraged.
As a matter of fact, that's my next video marketing tip.
Collaboration is Key to Video Marketing Success
So getting your team to be part of the game is collaboration but, when you mention the word collaboration most think out of the company.
You can make so much amazing content when you work as a team with folks who realize that video is one of the best ways to communicate on the web.
Here at Impulse Creative, we have collaborated with tons of folks. In our case, we have leveraged interviews to pull off this video marketing strategy.
Here is an interview I did with Danny Wajcman from Lucky Orange about understanding website user experience.
Another interview we did that was amazing was this one with our pal Nick Nimmin on creating a content strategy for growth.
These shows were great to shoot, edit, and use after the fact!
The great thing about any video interview you create is the long shelf life it should have.
Interviews are not the only way you can collaborate. Most of us have seen vlog collabs (collaborations) from numerous creators.
Just get another human, get creative, tell a great story, add value, publish, and promote your way to video marketing success.
If you need someone to collaborate with you, I am always open to making some amazing video content that lives on the web forever! Hit me up @georgebthomas on the Twitters or @georgebthomas on Instagram if you are interested.
Till next time, make sure you are focusing on putting in the time and being super patient.
Focus on your sales team and the power punch of the assess and acquire phases of your video sales & marketing funnel.
Bring your team along for the ride and look for other industry experts to collaborate with along the way.
This, by no means, is a comprehensive list so, if you have a tip that has helped you make the journey through the video marketing hills and valleys, let us know in the comments below.
