How To videos, product reviews, tutorials, explainer videos and product demonstrations are the top 5 categories of video watched by Australian consumers. YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world after Google with the top 4 video categories watched by users being comedy, music, entertainment/pop culture, and ‘How To’ videos. For businesses, this represents a huge opportunity.
There’s no denying that video is a critical part of the consumer's purchase decision making process, and definitely something that should be an integral part of a brands marketing strategy. But where do you start, What are the foundations of a successful How To video marketing strategy for your business?
Here we look at 4 key elements to consider when building your ‘How To’ video marketing plan.
Goals
Topics
Video Production
Distribution & Analytics
1. Goals
Given we’re talking about How To videos, which are the foundation of Conversion Stage video content, the goal here will likely be increased conversions. Define your measures for success. If you are just starting out, get the basics in place then build on them once you have more data. The goal in the early stage is to build a scalable, streamlined system for How To video production and marketing.
2. Topics
Look at your FAQ’s for inspiration, talk to your customer service team, what are the most common things customers ask? Look at your product or service lines, pick a few to focus on initially and break each of those down into smaller topics. You want to communicate a step by step guide on how to use your product, keep it simple and don’t overwhelm with too much information in one video, split it out into multiple ones.
3. Video Production
Focus on Quality - whilst How To videos are functional video content, they still represent your brand so need a level of professionalism and brand consistency. Simplify and streamline the production process to reduce costs without compromising quality.
Set up Video Templates - work with your video production company to create on-brand video template ‘shells’ which include graphics, music, provide structure and set the tone for all your How To videos. This will standardise filming and editing making it more cost effective plus it increases brand recognition and loyalty, people will instantly recognise a video as one of your brand’s How To videos.
Film videos in bulk - maximise the content you get from each shoot by filming them in batches. An experienced corporate video production company will help you plan your shoot for maximum efficiency and content. Consider b-roll, close up and product footage to overlay and provide detail.
Build a library of video assets - manage, tag and store your video assets so you can quickly and easily repurpose them across other areas in your marketing activity or business.
Work with a corporate production company that understands your goals, understands video marketing (as well as video production) and can provide you with the scale, consistency and cost effectiveness needed to produce the volume of How To videos across multiple channels, products or services.
Include a call to action at the end of each video - make it easy for the customer to take action. Include links to products or services, add suggestions on related video content, you can even ask your customers what How To videos they want you to make.
4. Distribution & Analytics
Distribution and analytics are a critical part of the strategy. Set up your system early as it will streamline the process of getting your video content out to the right platforms at the right times, and importantly provide the data on what’s getting traction and what isn’t so you can adjust your topics, content and call to actions accordingly.
A platform like Brightcove’s Marketing Studio will make your video marketing funnel work harder for you. It also has plenty of features that can be built in as you gain traction, build your content library and have solid viewer data to base decisions on.
Work with your video production company to build an agile process that allows you to communicate, adjust and move quickly to produce and repurpose content based on what the analytics are telling you.
In summary, How To videos are the most widely viewed corporate video category and a powerful tool that can drive conversions and real ROI on your video production investment. The basics of corporate video production still apply, but doing them well can set you apart and grow your business.
If you would like to find out more about an affordable, professional How To video production solution that fits your video marketing strategy contact the team at YourFilm.
YourFilm have video production packages to suit your requirements, an experienced team with a wide network of over 1,000 crew across Australia & NZ and partnerships with hosting and analytics providers such as Brightcove to help you with a complete video solution.