Being the world’s second-most visited website, YouTube proves that people love watching videos. What that means for marketers is that videos are one of the best ways to reach customers.
Video marketing is extremely effective when done right. ‘Right’ is the keyword. That’s why we’ve written these 17 marketing video tips for you.
Keep reading and our tips for video marketing will teach you everything from how to do video marketing to how to use video marketing.
17 Video Marketing Tips
Here are the 17 video marketing tips for your campaign in 2024.
1. Be Authentic and ‘Real’ Instead of Perfect
Effective video marketing nowadays is all about being authentic and relatable. Consumers don’t want to use polished perfection. So your video marketing efforts should center around creating genuine content that resonates with audiences.
Say you’re creating a product video for your new lawn mower, hint how messy using a lawnmower can be. Don’t overemphasize it. Just give a hint to build a connection with your audience since they can relate to the messiness of using a lawnmower.
Audiences crave meaningful connections with your content. You can only provide that by embracing imperfections instead of chasing perfection. Authenticity is one of the best video marketing tactics you can employ for that reason.
A great example of authentic content in action is Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.
2. Use Comedy to Comment on Current Events
A humorous video pokes fun at current events and combines humor with professionalism to build an emotional connection with viewers. Include funny current event videos as part of your video marketing strategy to take advantage of new events.
Your video marketing content should comment subtly. Don’t overdo it by being too opinionated. The goal is to balance relatability with opinion. Keep it respectful.
3. Become a Good Storyteller
Audiences love a great story and who better to provide them with a narrative than you? Prioritize storytelling in your video marketing. Create narratives that resonate with audiences and deliver a powerful and authentic message.
For example, if you’re an immigration law firm, create a story around one of your clients. Show how your firm helped them achieve their immigration goals. Focus on the joy your client received thanks to you.
These types of authentic narratives are especially powerful for attracting millennial audiences. They especially prioritize authentic engagement and brand dialogue.
They do this because a good story inspires audience members. It builds a meaningful connection between them and your brand. It also helps build loyalty and community around your brand.
So it would be criminal to neglect storytelling in your content marketing video strategy.
4. Experiment and Do Something New
Leaving your comfort zone is one of the top video marketing best practices. Trying something new is a bold move, but it can bring great results when done right. The key is balancing the risk.
You want to try new video content marketing strategies because you might find something new that works. At the same time, you don’t want to risk it potentially backfiring on you. You have to temper the risk by starting small.
Say you’re from a typically serious industry like accounting. Try injecting some light-hearted humor into your video ads. It may be uncharacteristic for your brand, and it’s definitely uncharacteristic of your industry. But it could work.
Doing something atypical can set your company apart. Perhaps creating a slightly humorous video makes your accounting firm look more approachable. Maybe potential clients like the ‘human side’ of your branding.
Your goal is to engage audiences in new unexpected ways. That way, you’ll leave a strong impression and your brand stays ingrained in their memory.
5. Keep It Short
Today’s audiences have short attention spans. They don’t like longer videos. So ensure your content video marketing produces short and concise content that still packs a punch.
Your social video marketing needs to be concise but powerful. You want to take advantage of the short time span by injecting a clear and focused message.
For example, you’re producing a video ad for a car. You want to only showcase those qualities of a car that people really care about. Namely, it’s design, speed, mileage, and affordability. Don’t unnecessarily focus on other details.
Sometimes you will create content around a topic that demands more time. Perhaps you’re making an explainer video about a technical SaaS product. When that happens, break down your videos into multiple parts.
Most audiences prefer a series of shorter videos to a single long video of the same length. With this approach, you’ll maximize navigability and your audience will easily find relevant information.
6. Use the Right Content for the Right Audience
One of the most effective marketing video tips is to give audiences what they can understand. Online video marketing is all about building relatability and engagement with your brand as we’ve established.
You can’t do that if audiences don’t even understand your video’s content.
For example, maybe you create a complex ad about a new shoe that references Socratic Philosophy. That sounds sophisticated and interesting only to a very tiny percentage of your audience.
The vast majority will not understand what ancient Greek philosophers have to do with a pair of sneakers. they also won’t appreciate being made to feel dumb because they couldn’t understand you.
Instead, create content that makes sense to your specific audience. Cater to their needs, interests, and level of comprehension. The best way to authentically engage with audiences is to meet them at their level.
Launch metrics embody this exact principle in their video marketing almost perfectly.
7. Factor in Where You’ll Share Your Videos
Before even creating your videos, think about where you’ll share them. Your video’s intended distribution should impact many aspects of its production. This includes your video content’s length, whether it has visible on-screen text, and what visuals you use.
Each social media platform has its own norms. For example, you’ll want to use short 15-30-second videos for your TikTok. But you can publish longer videos for your YouTube or Twitter(X) channels.
More likely than not you probably want to share the same video across multiple channels. To successfully achieve that, you must factor in each channel’s needs in your video.
Optimizing your video content before production is the best way to produce videos suitable for all your intended channels.
8. Don’t Overemphasize the Script
Viewers can easily tell whether the content is scripted. When they get even the slightest indication your content was scripted, they’ll immediately disengage. Why? Because fully scripted content comes off as dull and unauthentic, especially if it has static speaking.
Embrace an organic approach. Don’t script or decide every aspect of your video in advance. Instead, introduce spontaneity and natural delivery to maximize engagement.
Good video content comes off as real and authentic. The best way to achieve that effect is to minimize control from above.
Of course, there’s a fine balance between artistic freedom and completely abandoning the original intention of the video.
9. Don’t Forget CTAs
A call to action(CTA) is a must-have for your video content. You can include it in a bunch of different places, like your description, video title, or in your video itself.
The right place to insert a CTA depends on the type of content you’re producing and your audience. For example, adding a CTA in your title might come off as salesy.
The best way to decide where to include your CTA is with A/B testing. Place your CTA in different places and let your audience decide where they like it best. That way you’ll validate the best place to include a CTA.
A 2017 Wistia study found that it’s best to end your videos with a CTA. In fact, around 95.9% of YouTube channels include their CTA at the end of their videos. 0.1% included CTAs at the start of a video and 4% would include them midway through a video.
10. Get Professional Help
Video production isn’t easy. So unless your firm has some specialty or experience with it, it’s better to hire professionals. Investing in professional video production will provide you with the best results.
You could use your own smartphone to create content, and it might work once or twice at most. You cannot achieve consistent high-quality video production without professional help.
An experienced professional won’t just have the right equipment, they’ll also know how to build compelling narratives for you. With a professional leading the way, you’re far likelier to create inspiring video content.
11. Don’t Waste Your Intro
Your video’s introduction is a ‘hook’ that draws in your viewers’ attention. Without a good hook, they’re more likely to click the skip button. And you only have a few seconds to hook in viewers. So use that time wisely.
Don’t start your videos with a long generic greeting. Just ‘Hi, Hello, What’s up?’ and get straight to the point. Keep your opening greetings as brief as possible then unleash your hook to grab their attention.
Ideally, your videos’ introductions should be fluid and brief to engage and capture their interest.
Check out Flux Academy to see what we mean.
12. Have Influencers Create Your Videos for You
Partnering with influencers is an excellent video content strategy. They have access to large and relevant audiences that value their opinions. Influencers know how to create compelling content far better than most brands.
Take advantage of their expertise and their audiences by sponsoring them. Strategically partner with influencers to access their reach and expertise.
You want to find influencers who produce content for your target market. For example, as a skincare brand, you’ll want an influencer who posts skincare content.
13. Have a Balanced Approach
In video content marketing, there’s a spectrum between professionalism and authenticity. You want to strike a balance so your content is both professional and authentic. This can be hard.
Too much professionalism and your content is unauthentic. Too little professionalism and your content is no longer effective. You need to find the right balance and stick to it.
Video content production is a delicate task. You want to bring in as much quality as possible to achieve your marketing goals.
14. Choose the Right Production Company
If you’re hiring a production company, choose one that aligns with your vision. You need to clarify the message and emotions you want to give, as well as your target audience. And your production company should fully understand your goals.
The more detailed insights you provide, the better they’ll execute your vision. That requires both clear communication and professionalism on their part. So ensure you hire a company that has both of these qualities.
15. Integrate Creativity Into Your Videos
All your videos should have a compelling narrative and clear marketing goals. Don’t post videos for the sake of it. Your content has to be of a certain quality to achieve your goals.
Ensure each video is meaningful and serves a purpose that resonates with viewers. Without that, you won’t achieve your goals.
Align your creative endeavors with your strategic goals to achieve consistently impactful results and build a genuine connection with your audience.
Heinz can show you how.
16. Connect With Customers Who are Also Creators
You’ll more than likely have a few customers who create social media content themselves. Connect with them to improve your own social video strategy.
Include them in your videos and ask for their input too. Their creative suggestions could be what you need to improve your own approach. Engaging with your audience this way also improves your bond with your customers.
For example, you’re a luxury grocery chain and one of your regular customers is a local influencer. You could include them in your video content. Their endorsement of your brand and presence in your video will elevate your content’s reach.
17. Keep It Simple
Video content production is hard already. Don’t overcomplicate it further by focusing on too much. Keep your content simple and focused. Only introduce one thought-provoking topic per video.
Say you’re producing video content for your clothing brand. Introduce one apparel per video. Make one video about a shirt, another about a pair of jeans, and another about caps. Don’t put all three items in the same video.
Creating simple and direct content more effectively captures the audience’s attention and engages diverse demographics.
Video Marketing Success!
You now know how to do video content marketing. You need short, simple, but direct content that’s professionally made and resonates with audiences.
You should also partner with relevant influencers, customers who are creatives, and production houses to improve your video content.
Now that you know how to do video marketing, the next step is to put what you’ve learned into practice.
