Video Marketing: Where do I Start?

As marketers, we're expected to know a lot. Email, social, paid, brand, design, analytics, content, SEO - these are just a few of the topics that your typical marketer will add as skills on their LinkedIn profile.

Add to that the fact that we constantly have to be keeping up with changing trends and dissipating attention spans. It makes one wonder why we aren't the highest paid job out there?

When I started talking to companies about video marketing, there was an overwhelming commonality in their responses: we want it but we don't know how to get it.

And since most companies don't have a video marketing expert on hand, that means you, Marketing Manager/Specialist/Growth Hacker are now tasked with figuring it all out.

So I'm sharing some simple steps that will help create a video marketing strategy that is focused, on budget and makes your boss happy.

Step 1: Establish Your Goals for Video

What? A marketing strategy that starts with setting a goal? You've done this a million times, so I know you've got this step. If we don't set our final destination in the GPS, we'll just drive around in circles.

So, ask yourself (and your team! you're not alone in this):

What are we doing right at the moment?What would we like to do better?

For example, let's say your company creates a project management tool. You drive a ton of free trial activations through paid search but the roll-to-pay rate is low. A very specific goal could be to increase the roll-to-pay rate by 10% in 3 months.

Step 2: Identify Your Content Needs

So once you have your very specific goal laid out, you'll start to brainstorm ideas on how to reach that goal with video. For the roll-to-pay rate goal, you might create content for these users who are at the end of the funnel but need a little extra push. And, you might even need to go and talk to these users! Yes, you might need to ask your users what they want and need. Crazy, I know.

So reflect on this:

Who is my audience?What do they need to get them to where we want them?What type of content do they consume now?Where are they consuming this content?

Need some help on this? Here's a list of video content ideas.

Step 3: Organize Your Team

Ahhh, my favorite part! Telling people what to do. I mean, working together as a team to define a plan.

You now know what type of content you need, so it's time to figure out who is doing what.

Ask yourself:

Do we have the resources to create high-quality videos in-house?

If not, which video studio could best represent our brand?

What's our budget to create these videos?

What's our timeline?

Are there important dates/events we'd like to have these videos created for?

Once you've got the logistics planned, you can start building out a calendar - which is going to really help keep you focused and on budget! If you need some inspiration, take a look at our process for creating a video.

Step 4: Create a Launch Plan

So the video/videos is/are completed, now what? We're often so involved in creating the video that we forget to figure out a launch plan.

This should include:

Where will the video be hosted?Who is responsible for uploading/disseminating it?Who will share with employees (get them involved and excited!)?

Step 5: Measure Success

Video is measurable - which means it's a marketer's best friend. And it doesn't have to be complicated. Just define a KPI based on your campaign goal and measure it.

Need more help? Check out our article on figuring out video ROI.

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