If there was one takeaway from Sundar Pichai’s epic speech at the Google Marketing Next presentation this week, it was this: video is essential. Like really crucial to your marketing efforts. Those who aren’t currently video marketing their products and services need to get on it. Now.
As we’ll get to in a minute, that doesn’t mean you need to have a studio, expensive equipment, or a video marketer from our firm. Hey it helps, sure, but it’s not a requirement in order to get started.
Further, if you’re a startup or working with a budget, you should still be creating and publishing videos to advertise your company or educate your target market.
But, first things first: You do need to understand why video is so insanely valuable, and be willing to embark on this new journey.
There’s a ton of reasons why you should start video marketing, but let’s discuss three majorly important items:
Higher Retention Rates
65% of viewers watch more than ¾ of a video, which is more than we can say about text-based content. So if you have a message to get across (and why wouldn’t you if you’re creating content?), video might be the way to go.
SEO Benefits
Utilizing video in your content marketing efforts will no doubt improve your SEO. In fact, according to Comscore, adding a video to your website can increase the chance of a front page Google result by 53 times.
Higher Engagement
We’ve heard over and over that visual content is the key to great engagement. Video is no exception. So when you’re considering what types of posts to schedule on social networks in the coming weeks, think video: audiences are about 10 times more likely to engage, embed, share, and comment on video content than blogs or related social posts.
There are plenty of ways to start video marketing, even if your budget is literally zero dollars. If you have a smartphone, you have a camera. If you have a computer, you have access to free video editing software. Here are some tips to get you going while you wait for the budget to roll in:
Start with just one niche
Trying to market your product/service to every single vertical that might be interested in it is a pipe dream, especially if you’re starting off with no budget to speak of. Instead, start by choosing one niche that is the most likely to respond to video marketing.
For example, if you are a website designer whose audience includes millennial entrepreneurs, start your video marketing to this specific niche. They’re the easiest to make videos for and are the most likely to be engaged with the videos when you make them.
Try guest posting
You’ve already heard that guest posting on blogs is a great way to get the word out about your own blog and to drive traffic and build links, without having to do anything fancy. The same method can absolutely work for video marketing.
Instead of just posting your videos on your own channels and blogs, reach out to other blogs that might be interested in linking or embedding your videos in their own content.
If you’ve made an informative, engaging video, they’re going to want to use it, while also give your brand name a shout out to their much larger audience.
Pick just one type of video
It can be tempting to try to produce both “selling” type videos and “informational” type videos, but when you’re just starting out or are one a non-existent budget, it’s better to pick one or the other. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin. You’re already trying to run a business. You can’t start a second business as a YouTube content creator, too. Which should you choose? It really depends on what your business needs. Are you just trying to get the word out about your products or services? You probably need videos that are more promotional in nature. Do your potential customers need to be educated about the value/utility/benefits/use of your products or services? An informational video is more likely to work for you.
Shop around
It’s the gig economy, everybody. If you find that you don’t have the time to learn how to use a piece of whiteboard video software, you can probably pay someone a very small amount of money to make the video for you. There are plenty of websites where entrepreneurs are looking for this kind of work.
Don’t hire actors
Your audience doesn’t want to see actors, anyway. They want to see you. Video marketing is the most effective when it is authentic as possible. This doesn’t mean that you have to be on camera if you don’t want to be—it just means that you can get away without hiring a single actor.
Either eliminate roles from your video entirely, find someone at your business who does want to be on camera, or be on camera yourself. Candid-style videos are often much more effective than stage videos, because they feel authentic.
Leverage social media
You should already be building your social media presence. It’s a good way to connect with both past customers and potential customers, as well as being the perfect way to promote your videos. Most people are capable of making a video on their phone/computer, but the obstacle is actually getting that video out there.
Well, this is the perfect solution. Make sure to spread the word on social media however you can. Don’t just tweet it out and post it once. Circle back to it as often as feels appropriate.
Keep it short
People don’t want to watch long videos anyway. YouTube might favor longer videos in their algorithm, but if your marketing video is longer than three minutes, you’re going to see views drop. There’s a huge difference between asking someone to watch a video for two minutes and asking them to watch a video for fifteen minutes. Keep it short and get the point quickly. Don’t meander around. No one is watching these videos just to watch you talk.
They’re watching because they want to learn something—so get right to the point.
[easy-tweet tweet=”They’re watching because they want to learn something—so get right to the point. #VideoMarketing” via=”no” usehashtags=”no”]A tight budget doesn’t excuse a bad video
You likely have a high quality camera in your pocket. Don’t use a low or nonexistent marketing budget as an excuse for a subpar video. You can make something informative, engaging, and high-quality, even without fancy technology or a huge budget to pay for it. Focus on making the production quality as good as it can possible be and ensure the content is grade A.
Okay so now that we’ve covered some of the reasons “why” and the “what,” let’s discuss “how.” If you want to start video marketing, looking at the price tags of Black Magic Cinema cameras, lighting kits, and lapel mics can be terrifying.
But, you’re in luck. There are a ton of options for video, audio, and lighting for all different type of budgets, so let’s begin with cameras.
Video Marketing Camera Options
So the first, and probably easiest route to go with is your handheld device. The iPhone and Android phones have fantastic cameras already installed that will work great for your needs.
The iPhone 6 camera
We’re talking smartphones. Both iPhones and Android smartphones have fantastic cameras built-in. Apple, in particular, has been paving the way for mobile video and photography, and has put some of the most affordable, high quality camera tools in the pockets of millions.
This is especially true if you’ve made the upgrade to the iPhone 7, which features a larger aperture than any previous model (allowing for awesome video in low-light situations), as well as 4K video resolution.
If you do have a little money to spare and you want some more options with your video, then you can invest a little money and get a basic camera like the Canon PowerShot S120.
To get a more professional look, you can shoot using a DSLR camera and some simple studio lights, along with a white background. Basic DSLR cameras capable of shooting in 1080p are available from $500, while lights and a white screen background are even less expensive. We’ll get into the lighting a little bit further down.
Video Marketing Audio Options
Microphone on your phone
If you’re going with the camera on your phone to shoot your videos, the microphone on these modern smartphones will typically do the trick for you. But, if you want something a little bit better for your audio tracks, try something like a Rode microphone.
Rode mic $100
Video Marketing Lighting Options
When we talk about the production quality of your videos, lighting will be a key first step. There are a number of options for creating the proper lighting in your videos, so let’s discuss.
The Great Outdoors!
Seriously, the natural lighting that the sun brings can offer tremendous (and free) lighting for your videos. If this is a route to go, you’ll obviously want to film on less breezy days to curtail the audio noise that wind can bring, but that’s what the weather channel is for.
Lighting & Backdrop Kits from Amazon
There are a ton of lighting and backdrop kits sold on Amazon for a fairly small price. You can even get a starter kit shipped to you for under $100. Here’s a link to a pretty good one: Julius Studio Kit
Video marketing Editing Options
Once you have all of the film and audio recorded, now it’s time to put this together. A quick note, and as mentioned above, there are a ton of options out there for having the editing professionally created for you. Try sites like Fiverr and ODesk. But, if you want to save a few bucks here as well, these are your options for video editing:
iMovie
iMovie is Mac’s simple (yet effective) video editing software. It’s free in most cases, and offers a variety of editing features like creating layers, editing and placing your audio, and much more.
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro will cost you a few bucks, sure, but it’s a fantastic tool for taking your video editing to the next level. Think of iMovie, with lots of more features.
Adobe Premiere Pro
The absolute best for the amateur video producer. Adobe’s video editing software is a cut above most others, and not terribly expensive. It’s a robust piece of software that allows you to do almost everything in the world of video editing. Think of iMovie or Final Cut Pro on steroids.
Conclusion
Video marketing has become a must for reaching consumers in 2017, and it’s set to become even more popular. In order to compete, you need to develop a strategy and set some time aside to get started. Before it’s too late!
*Grabs Popcorn*
Now get out there and start capturing magic. I’ll see you in the movies!
If there was one takeaway from Sundar Pichai’s epic speech at the Google Marketing Next presentation this week, it was this: video is essential. Like really crucial to your marketing efforts. Those who aren’t currently video marketing their products and services need to get on it. Now.
As we’ll get to in a minute, that doesn’t mean you need to have a studio, expensive equipment, or a video marketer from our firm. Hey it helps, sure, but it’s not a requirement in order to get started.
Further, if you’re a startup or working with a budget, you should still be creating and publishing videos to advertise your company or educate your target market.
But, first things first: You do need to understand why video is so insanely valuable, and be willing to embark on this new journey.
There’s a ton of reasons why you should start video marketing, but let’s discuss three majorly important items:
Higher Retention Rates
65% of viewers watch more than ¾ of a video, which is more than we can say about text-based content. So if you have a message to get across (and why wouldn’t you if you’re creating content?), video might be the way to go.
SEO Benefits
Utilizing video in your content marketing efforts will no doubt improve your SEO. In fact, according to Comscore, adding a video to your website can increase the chance of a front page Google result by 53 times.
Higher Engagement
We’ve heard over and over that visual content is the key to great engagement. Video is no exception. So when you’re considering what types of posts to schedule on social networks in the coming weeks, think video: audiences are about 10 times more likely to engage, embed, share, and comment on video content than blogs or related social posts.
There are plenty of ways to start video marketing, even if your budget is literally zero dollars. If you have a smartphone, you have a camera. If you have a computer, you have access to free video editing software. Here are some tips to get you going while you wait for the budget to roll in:
Start with just one niche
Trying to market your product/service to every single vertical that might be interested in it is a pipe dream, especially if you’re starting off with no budget to speak of. Instead, start by choosing one niche that is the most likely to respond to video marketing.
For example, if you are a website designer whose audience includes millennial entrepreneurs, start your video marketing to this specific niche. They’re the easiest to make videos for and are the most likely to be engaged with the videos when you make them.
Try guest posting
You’ve already heard that guest posting on blogs is a great way to get the word out about your own blog and to drive traffic and build links, without having to do anything fancy. The same method can absolutely work for video marketing.
Instead of just posting your videos on your own channels and blogs, reach out to other blogs that might be interested in linking or embedding your videos in their own content.
If you’ve made an informative, engaging video, they’re going to want to use it, while also give your brand name a shout out to their much larger audience.
Pick just one type of video
It can be tempting to try to produce both “selling” type videos and “informational” type videos, but when you’re just starting out or are one a non-existent budget, it’s better to pick one or the other. You don’t want to spread yourself too thin. You’re already trying to run a business. You can’t start a second business as a YouTube content creator, too. Which should you choose? It really depends on what your business needs. Are you just trying to get the word out about your products or services? You probably need videos that are more promotional in nature. Do your potential customers need to be educated about the value/utility/benefits/use of your products or services? An informational video is more likely to work for you.
Shop around
It’s the gig economy, everybody. If you find that you don’t have the time to learn how to use a piece of whiteboard video software, you can probably pay someone a very small amount of money to make the video for you. There are plenty of websites where entrepreneurs are looking for this kind of work.
Don’t hire actors
Your audience doesn’t want to see actors, anyway. They want to see you. Video marketing is the most effective when it is authentic as possible. This doesn’t mean that you have to be on camera if you don’t want to be—it just means that you can get away without hiring a single actor.
Either eliminate roles from your video entirely, find someone at your business who does want to be on camera, or be on camera yourself. Candid-style videos are often much more effective than stage videos, because they feel authentic.
Leverage social media
You should already be building your social media presence. It’s a good way to connect with both past customers and potential customers, as well as being the perfect way to promote your videos. Most people are capable of making a video on their phone/computer, but the obstacle is actually getting that video out there.
Well, this is the perfect solution. Make sure to spread the word on social media however you can. Don’t just tweet it out and post it once. Circle back to it as often as feels appropriate.
Keep it short
People don’t want to watch long videos anyway. YouTube might favor longer videos in their algorithm, but if your marketing video is longer than three minutes, you’re going to see views drop. There’s a huge difference between asking someone to watch a video for two minutes and asking them to watch a video for fifteen minutes. Keep it short and get the point quickly. Don’t meander around. No one is watching these videos just to watch you talk.
They’re watching because they want to learn something—so get right to the point.
[easy-tweet tweet=”They’re watching because they want to learn something—so get right to the point. #VideoMarketing” via=”no” usehashtags=”no”]A tight budget doesn’t excuse a bad video
You likely have a high quality camera in your pocket. Don’t use a low or nonexistent marketing budget as an excuse for a subpar video. You can make something informative, engaging, and high-quality, even without fancy technology or a huge budget to pay for it. Focus on making the production quality as good as it can possible be and ensure the content is grade A.
Okay so now that we’ve covered some of the reasons “why” and the “what,” let’s discuss “how.” If you want to start video marketing, looking at the price tags of Black Magic Cinema cameras, lighting kits, and lapel mics can be terrifying.
But, you’re in luck. There are a ton of options for video, audio, and lighting for all different type of budgets, so let’s begin with cameras.
Video Marketing Camera Options
So the first, and probably easiest route to go with is your handheld device. The iPhone and Android phones have fantastic cameras already installed that will work great for your needs.
The iPhone 6 camera
We’re talking smartphones. Both iPhones and Android smartphones have fantastic cameras built-in. Apple, in particular, has been paving the way for mobile video and photography, and has put some of the most affordable, high quality camera tools in the pockets of millions.
This is especially true if you’ve made the upgrade to the iPhone 7, which features a larger aperture than any previous model (allowing for awesome video in low-light situations), as well as 4K video resolution.
If you do have a little money to spare and you want some more options with your video, then you can invest a little money and get a basic camera like the Canon PowerShot S120.
To get a more professional look, you can shoot using a DSLR camera and some simple studio lights, along with a white background. Basic DSLR cameras capable of shooting in 1080p are available from $500, while lights and a white screen background are even less expensive. We’ll get into the lighting a little bit further down.
Video Marketing Audio Options
Microphone on your phone
If you’re going with the camera on your phone to shoot your videos, the microphone on these modern smartphones will typically do the trick for you. But, if you want something a little bit better for your audio tracks, try something like a Rode microphone.
Rode mic $100
Video Marketing Lighting Options
When we talk about the production quality of your videos, lighting will be a key first step. There are a number of options for creating the proper lighting in your videos, so let’s discuss.
The Great Outdoors!
Seriously, the natural lighting that the sun brings can offer tremendous (and free) lighting for your videos. If this is a route to go, you’ll obviously want to film on less breezy days to curtail the audio noise that wind can bring, but that’s what the weather channel is for.
Lighting & Backdrop Kits from Amazon
There are a ton of lighting and backdrop kits sold on Amazon for a fairly small price. You can even get a starter kit shipped to you for under $100. Here’s a link to a pretty good one: Julius Studio Kit
Video marketing Editing Options
Once you have all of the film and audio recorded, now it’s time to put this together. A quick note, and as mentioned above, there are a ton of options out there for having the editing professionally created for you. Try sites like Fiverr and ODesk. But, if you want to save a few bucks here as well, these are your options for video editing:
iMovie
iMovie is Mac’s simple (yet effective) video editing software. It’s free in most cases, and offers a variety of editing features like creating layers, editing and placing your audio, and much more.
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro will cost you a few bucks, sure, but it’s a fantastic tool for taking your video editing to the next level. Think of iMovie, with lots of more features.
Adobe Premiere Pro
The absolute best for the amateur video producer. Adobe’s video editing software is a cut above most others, and not terribly expensive. It’s a robust piece of software that allows you to do almost everything in the world of video editing. Think of iMovie or Final Cut Pro on steroids.
Conclusion
Video marketing has become a must for reaching consumers in 2017, and it’s set to become even more popular. In order to compete, you need to develop a strategy and set some time aside to get started. Before it’s too late!
*Grabs Popcorn*
Now get out there and start capturing magic. I’ll see you in the movies!
Published on May 24, 2017
About the Author: Chris Williams
