Best Practices for Video Marketing

Video has become a valuable component of marketing strategies across industries, but what are the best practices for video marketing? What makes a high-quality video? And how do you start using it effectively?

We had the pleasure of speaking with Lance Johnson, founder & CEO of Amplomedia and host of the podcast Amplify Your Business, who provided us with some valuable insights on the best practices for video marketing.

How to Get Started with Video

“Typically when I talk to a small business about video, I tell them you want to be very strategic about how you tackle it,” Lance states. He goes on to recommend that if you’re new to video, your best bet is to begin by considering your sales funnel.

If you need a refresher, the sales funnel looks like this:

Potential customers enter the funnel at the top as leads with an awareness of your brand, move through the stages of considering your product as an option, analyzing if you’re the best option for them, and finally come out the other end having converted and bought your product or service.

If you’re looking to just dip your toes in the world of video, you should start by analyzing what stage of your funnel needs the most strengthening. Maybe you’re struggling to get leads; you may want to invest in a video that focuses on brand awareness and positioning. If you have lots of leads but low conversions, you may want a video that focuses on your product’s benefits and features or something that addresses objections.

Testimonial Videos

“If [the client] says, ‘You know what, we don’t really know where our biggest challenges are,’” Lance explains, “then the first thing I would recommend is a testimonial video because it’s so versatile.”

Testimonial videos can hit multiple levels of the sales funnel in one go, as they provide powerful social proof that someone else has had the same problem your audience has and that your product or service has been a great solution for them. Not only that, if produced right, the testimonial can pre-emptively overcome a potential objection that you audience may have.

“A testimonial video is extremely powerful because it can accomplish two things at once. Beyond the social proof, and even more importantly, it can also deal with common objections,” explains Lance.

“For instance, it’s great if someone were to say something like ‘I’d buy product x again because I love the product,’ but think about how much more valuable it would be if they said ‘Product x wasn’t the cheapest version I found, but when you look at the workmanship there is no doubt that it’s going to hold up longer than the others and you can’t put a price on saving us the downtime that a failed alternative would result in. We won’t consider buying from another supplier because of this.’ Now, that’s pure gold because it handles the price objection at the same time!” adds Lance.

Testimonial videos can also be used as an ad to create brand awareness, or even be sent alongside a proposal to boost credibility with a prospect.

The Markers of Quality Video

Lance notes that there are several best practices for video marketing you can implement to optimize the strategy’s performance.

Messaging

“A well-crafted video has good content that is targeted to the audience and targeted to whatever their problems are.” Your video’s message should be aligned both to your audience’s needs and your own objectives.

Make sure you’re communicating your ideas in a way that is clear, motivating, and memorable. If it’s appropriate, keep your content engaging with humour.

Conciseness

“Another point of quality is that you’re keeping it as concise as possible because our audiences today typically want brevity.” Keep to the following structure as you’re writing your script: hook, content points, call-to-action. Focusing on this formula will help keep your videos concise and to the point.

Visuals

Video is obviously a visual medium, so it’s important that your visuals make sense and clearly connect to the message you’re trying to send.

The visual elements of your video should also be well-paced to keep the audience engaged. “You usually want to have some sort of movement every three seconds for animated video, and every five to ten seconds for live videography,” Lance advises. For interview-style video live videography, this could be accomplished by switching to alternative camera angles or b-roll footage.

Audio

Is the audio clean, clear and audible? Bad audio can kill a video a lot faster than bad videography. Lance explains that people will usually tolerate a clip that’s a little out of focus if they find the content interesting or valuable. However, if the audio is poor quality, they’ll likely turn it off even if they really wanted to know what the video was about.

Watch out for loud or echoing background noise, mics that give a lot of static, or simply if someone is speaking too quietly. Do a sound check before you start recording to avoid wasted time and work.

Conclusion

Still wondering if video is worth the work? Check out the first half of our discussion with Lance to learn all about the benefits of video marketing for business.

Once again, we want to thank Lance for sharing his time and expertise with us! To learn more about his work in marketing and video production, visit amplomedia.com.

Wondering if there are other ways you can strengthen your digital marketing efforts? A Constello digital marketing assessment gives an overview of how effectively your strategy utilizes video and other avenues. If you’re looking for information, clarity, and direction for your digital marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to get in touch with one of our experts today.

Check out Part One of this series: The Benefits of Video Marketing for Business.