Easy Ways to Plug Video into Your Marketing Strategy
In today’s fast-paced world, video reigns supreme for engagement. Whether you aim to spread brand awareness, showcase product or service benefits, or just engage your target audience, video is arguably the best way to share your message.
The best part? You don’t have to have a degree in videography to use video in your marketing strategy. Here are three ways you can get started today:
Instagram Reels
Instagram makes it super easy to compile photos and video snippets into an engaging video. You can even add text and music to your video, all directly from Instagram!
Plug and Play Apps
There are endless apps that can help you make awesome videos right from your phone. CapCut is one of our fan favorites for its ready-to-use templates.
Canva
Did you think Canva was just for graphics? Nope! Use the same drag-and-drop templates to create engaging videos without needing video editing experience.
What kind of videos should you be making?
So you’re convinced that video should be part of your strategy, but what kinds of videos should you make? Here’s our top picks:
Educate
Use educational videos, webinars, training assets, tutorials, and how-tos to show your audience how to solve a problem or to help them use your product better. Make sure you post these on YouTube, especially if they are how-to videos, since they are very “searchable” and can bolster your visibility on YouTube.
Showcase Your Offer
Showcase your products or services in the most appropriate way based on the platform where your video will be used. For example, social media videos might be shorter and leverage humor, while a video for your tradeshow booth might focus more on glam shots or benefits.
Validate with Testimonials
Be careful, these don’t get too long if the intended use is social media. Anything over 30 seconds feels like an eternity (unless it’s super awesome and engaging).
Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC)
Arguably one of the most authentic forms of video content, UGC consists of videos created by your audience. This might be content where they show off your product in use, or their own promotional video touting the benefits of your product or service. What’s better than you saying that your product or service is awesome? Obviously…someone else saying it.
Behind the Scenes
Engage customers and prospects with behind-the-scenes footage, team intros, and stories.
How long should videos be?
The ideal video length is different by platform. Check out this guide from Wistia of over 100 million videos.
Here are a few tidbits from their analysis of over 100 million videos:
1 Minute for social media (commonly called short-form content)
1-5 Minutes for education or demonstrations
5-30 Minutes to convert or nurture (webinars, case studies, product demos)
30+ Minutes for training or re-training
Where should you be using videos?
Video assets are appropriate for every stage of the funnel. Here are some ways to use video in your marketing strategy at each stage.
Top of Funnel Awareness
To captivate and educate, create videos that are broad appeal and address pain points that the target audience is aware of.
Organic social media
YouTube
Middle of Funnel Conversion
Content can be longer-format and more educational in the middle of the funnel to provide a more comprehensive understanding of your solution. Here’s where to use it:
Paid social
Webinars
Presentations
Conferences
Website/ landing pages
Bottom of Funnel Sales
Think testimonials. These can be used to email market to existing opportunities or as part of a sales toolkit for sales reps to use during live meetings.
Email marketing
Sales tools
Post Sale
Leverage videos for training assets to improve product utilization and customer satisfaction and reduce re-training requests.
YouTube
Customer Training Portal
Some tactical tips
Don’t skip captions
Many viewers watch videos with the audio off, so don’t skip them!
Don’t skip music for reels
But wait? You just said people listen with audio off? When people watch social media reels, they almost always have audio ON. So, for social media reels specifically, you want to ensure music is included and keep the content light and social-friendly.
Which is worse, bad video or bad audio?
Bad audio is by far worse. People are pretty accepting of low-quality visuals, but the audio MUST be top-notch.
Personalized video messages
Many salespeople are leveraging personalized video messages to break through the marketing noise. Consider giving them a try!
2 Noteworthy Audio Tools
Upgrade Your Audio
Adobe has always been a powerhouse when it comes to video, but have you explored Adobe Podcast Audio? It’s a game-changer for videos with poor audio. Simply upload your audio file, and the tool can help you transform your audio into a podcast-quality sound. Took a testimonial video on a noisy show floor? Don’t sweat; this tool can help.
Voiceover Made Easy
AI-powered platforms like ElevenLabs allow users to take simple prompts and turn them into high-quality voiceovers using AI technology.
Do you need help getting started?
Red Brick Partners is here to help! Whether you need help creating or promoting video, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to get started.