Video marketing has become a major focus of content marketers everywhere. And with the statistics we have, it’s easy to see why. YouTube now has more than a billion users, in 91 countries, watching a billion hours of content every day.
It’s estimated that by 2022, 82 percent of all IP traffic will be video traffic. And that’s not even considering the high rate of return for videos, capable of securing more conversions or even generating a secondary stream of revenue with advertising.
But in the rush to capitalize on the video marketing trend, otherwise savvy entrepreneurs are making critical mistakes, jeopardizing their return on investment (ROI) and turning them off from what could be a powerful content marketing strategy.
At Video Supply, we’ve helped countless entrepreneurs scale the visibility of their brands through content, so we’ve become all too familiar with the approaches holding them back. Fortunately, most of them have easy fixes—so you can jump back into the video marketing game stronger than ever.
Video Marketing Mistake 1: Beginning Without a Plan
You’ve learned that videos have enormous potential as a marketing medium, but that doesn’t mean that literally any video will work. If you’re going to compete in an increasingly competitive field, and reach the most valuable potential audience, you need to start with a planning session.
For example:
- Who is your main demographic? Why are they your main demographic? What kinds of videos are they already watching? What content do they want to see the most?
- How are you going to differentiate yourself from your competitors? There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of businesses like yours engaging in video marketing. What are they currently doing? More to the point, what are they doing wrong? How can you set yourself apart?
- What platforms are you targeting? YouTube is obviously the biggest video platform online, but is it the best for your brand? And if you’re hosting videos on YouTube, will you have just one channel? How will you syndicate and distribute those videos? Will you be paying to advertise them, or rely on organic ranking strategies
- What keywords are you targeting? The topics and titles of your videos will play a massive role in determining your success. What keywords and phrases will yield the highest return?
No plan is perfect, so you’ll always need to stay flexible and adapt to new information. However, starting with a plan is the best way to build a strong foundation for your video marketing campaign. Rushing straight to production is a dangerous mistake.
Video Marketing Mistake 2: Skimping on Production
Video production is often the most enjoyable part of the video marketing process, but it’s also where your plan can fall apart. It’s true that you can technically create and publish a video using nothing but a smartphone, but your return will also be dependent on your investment.
At a minimum, you’ll want to invest in higher-quality production equipment, including cameras, lighting, and microphones, as well as editing software that allows you to polish your videos to perfection.
You’ll also need someone competent in video production—not just an employee who can hold a camera steady. For most businesses, it’s better to work with a professional video marketer.
They’ll be able to help you form a high-level strategy, then execute that strategy with an emphasis on quality during production. On another note, quality should be your ultimate priority; too many entrepreneurs begin a campaign by churning out as many videos as possible, neglecting the value of those individual videos.
For most purposes, it’s better to have one well-made video than dozens of insignificant ones.
Video Marketing Mistake 3: Paying Too Much Attention to Shares and Views
Don’t get me wrong. Metrics like shares, views, and likes are important for your video marketing campaign. Not only do they indicate the size and interest of your audience, they can also help you choose which topics are performing best—and emphasize them in future productions.
However, these metrics are superficial in the sense that they give you no indication of the return on investment (ROI) your videos are generating. In other words, if you get 100,000 views on a new video, but you aren’t seeing any additional revenue, the video may still be considered a failure from a marketing standpoint. Some benefits to your business, like improved reputation or higher brand recognition, are hard to measure directly, and can be loosely ascertained by studying these “vanity metrics.”
But it’s still advisable for you to have some kind of call to action (CTA) in your video, or otherwise tie your video to some measurable, valuable action that your viewers can take. Views, shares, and other such metrics should always be analyzed in the context of your strategy’s bottom-line value.
Video Marketing Mistake 4: Having No Viable Way to Scale
Even at small scales, video marketing can be advantageous for your business, but the real value comes from scaling your strategy to a wider audience. For example, let’s say you’re seeing a 2 percent conversion rate on a video with 10,000 viewers. You can generally assume your video costs will remain consistent, so a similar-cost video with 100,000 viewers (and a steady conversion rate) will provide an ROI that’s 10 times higher.
There are many strategies that can help you scale, including branching out to new channels, engaging with your video marketing audience, optimizing your campaign to favor your most popular content types, and even paying for advertising. Every business will need something a little different, so there’s no universal recipe for success.
However, most entrepreneurs make a faulty assumption that their campaign will simply grow on its own; instead, it’s on you to come up with a viable plan and start pushing for it.
Video Marketing Mistake 5: Believing Video Marketing is Expensive and Time-Consuming
Video marketing has become a potent tool for promoting brands, converting viewers, and engaging audiences in entrepreneurship. However, a widespread fallacy that many business owners fall prey to is the notion that video marketing is costly and time-consuming.
In truth, this fallacy may impede business owners from making use of video marketing's enormous potential. Let's dispel this myth, look at some affordable alternatives, and discuss the value of planning and repurposing material.
Debunking the Myth with Cost-Effective Alternatives and Tools
Professional video creation can be expensive, but there are plenty of less expensive options and technologies that can help business owners produce excellent movies without going over budget. Here are a few illustrations:
- Smartphones and Do-It-Yourself Videos: In our digital age, the majority of smartphones have high-quality cameras that can capture videos that look professional. Entrepreneurs can create beautiful movies on their own by mastering basic filmmaking techniques and utilizing free or affordable video editing software.
- User-Generated material: One great method to use the power of user-generated material is to invite customers or followers to make and share videos about your company. It not only lowers production costs but also gives your marketing initiatives a more genuine feel.
- Tools for Animation and Screen Capture: Software for animation and screen capture is widely accessible and frequently priced affordably. Without the necessity for actual filming, business owners may use these tools to generate interesting movies, explainer animations, or lessons.
- Numerous websites provide a sizable library of royalty-free footage and video templates that may be adjusted to fit the message of your company. With the aid of these tools, business owners can quickly produce movies with a professional appearance without spending a lot of time recording or editing.
The Importance of Planning and Repurposing Content
Planning well and repurposing material are two more factors that can assist business owners in overcoming the perception that video marketing takes a lot of time. Entrepreneurs may maximize their video marketing efforts by creating a sound strategy and reusing current material. Here is why it's important:
- Prior to beginning the video production process, it is essential to establish clear objectives for each film. Knowing the objective and target market facilitates the content creation process and guarantees that the videos support your corporate objectives.
- Repurposing Existing Content: Converting presentations, blog entries, and other written content into videos can save time and effort. Entrepreneurs may reach a larger audience and strengthen their brand messaging by repackaging knowledge into entertaining video material.
- Making a Content Calendar: Making a content calendar in advance for video releases can help business owners keep organized and consistent. Entrepreneurs can more effectively manage their resources and guarantee a consistent flow of video content by designating certain time slots for video production.
- Batch Production and Editing: Creating videos in bulk rather than on an as-needed basis can reduce production time and boost productivity. Entrepreneurs can streamline their workflow and cut down on production time by shooting many videos in one session and editing them in bulk.
Video Marketing Mistake 6: Neglecting Video Distribution and Promotion
Making engaging films is just the beginning of the video marketing process. Many business owners make the error of ignoring the critical components of video distribution and promotion. Even the best-produced videos may not succeed in reaching their target audience and having the desired impact without a thorough distribution strategy. Let's examine the necessity of a distribution plan, platforms, SEO enhancement, and social media integration.
Explaining the Need for a Comprehensive Distribution Strategy
For your movies to have the most possible effect and reach, a thorough distribution strategy is essential. It guarantees that your films are viewed by the appropriate audience at the appropriate moment, improving the likelihood of engagement, conversions, and brand awareness. Here are some major justifications for why a distribution plan is necessary:
- Reach a specific audience that is passionate about your products or services by using a distribution strategy to identify and target that population. You can choose the best distribution platforms and channels by being aware of the demographics, interests, and preferences of your audience.
- Increased Visibility and Brand Awareness: A properly implemented distribution strategy makes your videos more visible and aids in increasing brand recognition. You establish your brand as a reliable expert and build familiarity among potential buyers by expanding your following and regularly appearing on relevant media.
- Enhanced SEO and Search Rank: You may drastically raise your search ranks by distributing your films across a variety of channels and optimizing them for search engines. The popularity of video content among search engines can be increased by properly optimizing your films for SEO, which will increase organic traffic to your website or landing pages.
- Increased Opportunities for Engagement and Conversion: A distribution plan enables you to make use of a variety of platforms and channels to interact with your audience and boost conversion rates. You may increase the chances that viewers will take the desired actions, like subscribing, buying, or sharing your material, by strategically posting your films on websites or social media platforms that your target audience frequents.
Platforms, SEO Optimization, and Social Media Integration
It's crucial to take the following factors into account while creating your distribution strategy:
- Platform Selection: You must pick the platforms that support your objectives based on your target market and the nature of your organization. The most popular video-sharing website, YouTube, is frequently used. Nevertheless, other websites like Vimeo, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok can also be appropriate, depending on your target audience and the nature of your material.
- SEO Optimization: It's essential to optimize your movies for search engines in order to increase their discoverability. For your video names, descriptions, and tags, conduct keyword research to find pertinent and popular keywords. Create interesting metadata with a focus on keywords to improve the likelihood of showing in search results.
- Integration of social media: Social media platforms are effective tools for distributing and promoting videos. By posting and promoting your films on websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you can combine your video marketing efforts with your social media strategy. Use features like live broadcasting, stories, and video ads to expand your audience even more.
- Paid Advertising: Take into account including paid advertising in your distribution plan. You may efficiently target particular groups and demographics by using the many advertising choices provided by platforms like YouTube and social media channels, such as pre-roll commercials, in-stream ads, and sponsored content.
Takeaway
For business owners looking to engage audiences, increase conversions, and spread brand knowledge, video marketing has a lot of possibilities. However, it's important to steer clear of typical errors.
We also underlined the importance of developing a thorough distribution plan to reach the correct audience, improve exposure, and increase interaction.
Are you ready to create a video marketing campaign for your brand?
Book a sales call today for your free strategy session, and let’s work together to harness the power of video for your company.
