Video Marketing
Welcome To The Honeypot Guide To Online Video Marketing.
Online video is here and it's here to stay. The question is: what do you need to know to get started?
At the core of modern marketing lies content creation - publishing remarkable content that attracts the right kind of potential customers to your website and ultimately creates a lasting business relationship.
When you team up with Honeypot, we'll work with you on the execution of different forms of online video and the surrounding strategies which will grow your business through an effective video marketing strategy.
We'll work with you to clarify your message and create an effective online video marketing strategy. We'll even handle all of the writing, production, and marketing of those videos if you need us to. We can also work with your current team to execute the best video marketing strategy in the universe (we're not exaggerating!).
Why You Need an Integrated Video Marketing Strategy Today.
Video is everywhere.
The internet is quickly becoming a social video medium. We could inundate you with statistics from major publications, but let's talk about one simple and very real point. The vast majority of phones in the market today are "smartphones".
These small devices act more like mobile computers than they do phones. They're mobile computers which enable the streaming of video, the sharing of the same video through your trusted social networks and the opportunity for your organization to communicate with your potential customers.
When we combine video with the connected power of social media distribution amongst trusted networks and pair that with an inbound marketing strategy we've created the "perfect storm" of conversion opportunity.
A Word of Warning!
For those who doubt the effectiveness of a well-planned video marketing strategy and feel this is a "nice to have" (but not important today), a word of warning.
Online video is growing exponentially. All of us are consuming, sharing and watching online video in a way never imagined even a few years ago. For the modern marketer without a video strategy, there's a "marketing cliff", similar to the "fiscal cliff" that is on the horizon.
Dismissing online video as a critical component of your overall marketing strategy will ensure that when we realize it needs to be done, it will be too late. We'll be left scrambling to catch-up while the competition literally speeds past us.
This is not a great position to be in as a modern marketer. The good news? You're here, and we're here.
Mobile + Network + Social = The Perfect Storm.
Let's dig into video in 2013. Where is it today, how are we consuming and sharing video? Check out this brief video from Michael Litt, co-founder, CEO of Vidyard and (most importantly) our good friend:
The recent explosive growth of mobile devices and networks capable of delivering high-quality video have changed the landscape of modern marketing.
We are now able to consume video in ways that were practically impossible mere years ago.
We now have the device and the network capability, combine that with the reach of modern social networks, we now have the delivery and the sharing mechanism to reach not only large audiences but the right kind of audience for our business.
It's an incredible opportunity for your business on numerous levels. So let's dig into the process of creating video to engage with our customers and communicate our story, thus leading to actionable content that will have a definable benefit to our businesses.
Defining Your Strategic Goals.
"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat."
That simple statement is as true today as ever.
Our first, and arguably our most important, step is: the definition of our strategic goals.
A strategic goal is used in our marketing planning to define our desired "end-state". That end-state may occur in 3 months, 6 months or any period of time you choose when defining your performance metrics.
Some example goals that you could use when developing your strategic video marketing plan could include:
- Increase new lead acquisitions by X% or X number
- Increase current customer retention rates by Y%
- Increase Lifetime Value by Z%
- Reduce client churn by A%
- Reduce customer service and support requests by B%
- Reduce new customer sales cycle by C% or C days
- Provide a channel that will enable storytelling or a narrative to be told in consumable portions.
- Creating a long-term, ROI driven channel within our overall marketing program.
- Enabling our sales team "always on" rich assets which will reduce the length of the sales cycle.
- Integrate online video and video marketing strategies deeply into our marketing and conversion program.
You may have additional strategies which are specific to your business and your competition. Perhaps you want to drive 40% more new leads to conversions for a specific product or service through your online video program.
Write them down and discuss them your key stakeholders. Once you've reached a consensus, ensure that you're sticking to those strategic goals.
Another note: in the world of modern marketing, priorities and goals will (and should) change. Do not be too rigid; be agile enough to iterate through your strategic goals on a regular basis and update them when appropriate. We will, in fact, directly address the optimization and iteration portion of our plan later in this guide.
Now that we've got our strategic goals in place, it's time to create a video marketing roadmap or tactical plan which will be designed specifically to achieve our strategic goals.
How to Create Your Roadmap (a.k.a Your Tactical Plan to Achieve Strategic Goals).
We've identified our strategic goals and now it's time to dig into the roadmap that will lead us to achieve those goals. When considering the actual tactics we are going to employ we need to understand:
- Who are we trying to reach?
- What persona elements would we use to best describe these target individuals?
- Are they existing, new or past clientele?
- What language do they use?
- What are their "pain points" and how do we help them solve these issues?
- How do they consume online video?
- How do they share and interact with online video?
Once this is relatively cleart and has been agreed upon by the team, we can actually develop our content strategy. It's also important at this point to note that we haven't even shot a single video yet, let alone distributed it. That's a good thing; all of our planning will pay off in spades!
Now we're ready to jump into defining the types of videos which assist us in meeting our goals. Here's an example of a content structure:
- Style: thought leadership, interview, product explainer, how-to, highlight reel.
- Video length: 6 seconds, 15 seconds, 45s to 60s, 1m30s to 2m.
- Conversion goal: where are we leading the viewer?
- Channel distribution: social, email, YouTube, website.
What have we done so far in putting together our video marketing strategy? Let's review:
- Defined our strategic goals.
- Set our strategic business targets.
- Defined our video content structure & distribution.
Although it may have seemed important to start with our next point, we've found it works most effectively to think about our communication strategy at this point rather than leading with that item. This doesn't mean it is any less important to our marketing strategy.
What Should You Consider When Crafting Your Video Marketing Strategy?
Create a Content Schedule & Roadmap.
