Video marketing is still on a tear when it comes to trends. At this point, most will put it in the category of "necessity" because of how it helps influence your audience quickly, and with how easy it is to produce high quality video assets with very little equipment. To me, it's still shocking that there are so many companies out there that are hesitant to produce video content because they believe it's time consuming, they aren't producers so the quality will suffer, or they just downright don't care because business is "good".
Well, this is a good time for me to help debunk any myths or hesitance when it comes to video marketing, and even to answer questions from professionals that have proven they can produce great video content. It doesn't matter the industry, your job title, or your expertise with video marketing, I am here to help paint a broad picture so you can feel confident moving forward with creating video. Our multimedia team has helped many companies in many industries breakthrough into the video marketing trend, and we want to make sure you can too.
What are your top 3 tips to building video services into your agency business?
Rob Sale - Senior Strategic Alliances Manager - Vidyard
Tip 1 - Hire a Videographer
2017 INBOUND, video needs to be your next hire - your agency benefits from being able to provide a critical service that strengthens how you go to market and build strategies and content that keeps up with the need for video marketing.
Tip 2 - Build for Yourself Before Building for Others
Own and build your process from the ground up with your own company/agency before building for your clients. Understand your capabilities, your limitations, and your value add as you build buzz - if you build it, they will come
Tip 3 - Keep Costs Fair
Stop charging several thousand dollars for videos, especially when you are just getting off the ground. Understand the value that a 2 minute explainer video adds to your clients strategies, but also understand that video is just a cog in the wheel that helps your marketing machine run. You can run lean, and you can still be in the green for videos you produce, but if you are focusing on how much margin you can squeeze, you don't get why providing video at value matters to you or your clientele.
What tools help you track video marketing costs and help pair to revenue derived from those costs?
Edward Kagan - Staff Accountant - American Auto Shield
Tip 1 - Figure out your Hard Costs
Match salary of the people involved versus time spent to complete a project, plus the cost of equipment or tools used to complete. Once you find that baseline dollar amount, you will know roughly what your break even number is and how you can effectively build videos that fits your budget. If you're serious about videos and how fresh content continuously builds your digital credibility, I suggest you read "Tip 1" in my answers above!
Tip 2 - Tools to Help Measure Success
You need to match powerful CMS and CRM software with an integrated video marketing software. Revenue River's potent combination is HubSpot and Vidyard, but begin to explore the tools you currently use versus software's that may be better suited to track your performance.
Tip 3 - What Metrics to Follow
Every video is different, thus should be measured differently. Start tracking metrics like video views and engagement, video retention rates, and click through rates to understand "is this video working where we have it living?" But to track true ROI, that's where a powerful CMS and CRM like HubSpot integrates with your video marketing tools to measure sales performance; not to mention it opens up your ability to build marketing automation and segmentation around specific video metrics which really puts your video assets to work.
Tip 4 - Just Ask
One of the easiest and most effective measurements of video performance is word of mouth. You can look at the data all day, but just ask your prospects and customers! "Did you find any video content helpful in your decision making?". Build questions into your sales communications that quite bluntly asks if any videos they've watched helped set you apart, solve a question, or make them buy your products or services!
If my company/client has a limited budget, is it better to produce our own video content or is it worth it to invest in a high quality production company?
Nate Brandt - Senior Account Manager - Merkle
My argument is you should plan to invest some budget to a production company while also shooting video content on your own. You can find great quality production companies that won't break the bank (like Revenue River, for example). But; if the budget truly isn't there (and even if it is...), there are easy and effective formats and strategies for shooting video via phone. You can't get away with shooting all of your topics or videos this way, and that should be very clear when you need a production company based on what video you are producing, why you are producing it, and the limitations you incur by trying to do it yourself. Great examples of pieces you need to outsource because the value of a professionally produced video can't be captured on your own are company HERO videos, customer testimonials, and digital explainers.
To supplement your fully produced pieces, shooting quick videos with your own equipment or phone can help to build your audiences in different ways. Here are 3 reasons not to shy away from shooting video on your own:
Reason 1 - The Consumer's Paradigm
Production, as we know, can polish a video into a professionally looking piece which of course has value. But one of the biggest barriers to entry is trust, and one of the easiest ways to build trust is through very organic, rough video pieces that can be shot from an iPhone! An iPhone can shoot better quality pieces than even the most expensive video cameras, plus you aren't fooling your prospects because your videos are raw, timely, and showcase a "low distraction" format that focuses on your topic.
Reason 2 - Easy Access to Shoot Quality Videos
It takes one hand and a quiet (well lit) space to shoot a video, and it's so easy to replicate this when you can. This is certainly a specific format that doesn't necessarily work for all video styles, but in the end it's still very effective and low impact. Everybody should be supplementing written content with quick hitting, short videos that speak on a timely subject. Build an audience, build a medium and voice, and consistently push videos to your network, and all of a sudden you have a following because people are captivated to pay attention. Anyone can do that, and you can do it in mere minutes. Pro Tip: You build an audience by captivating; that means you need to be upbeat, you need to have excitement around your topics, and you need to be concise.
Reason 3 - The Message
Your message is the most important aspect in any video - you don't need quality production to motivate an audience with your words. Everyone is busy, and everyone knows that video content can be digested in minutes, if not seconds, compared to reading. The message is the life of any form of content, but especially in video where you have a limited window to spark understanding or desire, you need to nail it. No one will pay attention to the clean cuts or your breathtaking drone footage if there isn't a reason to listen.
Video marketing can be mystifying, and we want to help everyone understand and learn tactics to break the fog. Video is important. If you still aren't convinced you need video in how your digital marketing presence, then look at every social feed, your competitors websites, your own misaligned content digest habits, and tell me that you 1) don't watch several videos daily because it's easy and enjoyable, and 2) don't understand how a video can help your audience understand better and faster...then I will shut up and leave you on your way. But if you have an a-ha moment and need help, the Multimedia team at Revenue River is ready to help.