Chapter 1 - Why You Need to Start Video Marketing - And the Video Marketing Statistics that Prove It

Video marketing has shown to be one of the most powerful strategies for promoting and growing your brand online. More consumers are interacting with videos today than ever before and, in 2017, it’s imperative that video is an active ingredient in your digital marketing.

You see, videos have a convincing way of fostering engagement, producing results like click-throughs, shares, lead generation, and sales.

But don’t take our word for it! We’ve compiled 9 stats proving why every brand needs video marketing services and tips on how you can implement it in your overall online marketing strategy.

#1 Companies using video enjoy 41% more web traffic from search than non-users (Source: SmallBizTrends)

Video is an excellent tool to boosting brand awareness and visibility in search. Owned by Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the web. Ramping up your channel while optimizing your videos positions you to get in front of your ideal customer and bring more exposure to what you do.

#2 Video posts on Facebook have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts (Source: Social Media Today)

With more brands leveraging Facebook for their social strategy, finding ways to separate yourself from the sea of content being shared is vital for reaching your audience. Uploading videos directly to your business page can give you that slight edge.

Not only will it capture attention but has greater potential in touching more of your audience than traditional text or image posts.

#3 Social media videos produce 1200% more shares than text and images combined (Source: SmallBizTrends)

Another statistic illustrating the positive impact videos have on social media. If you’re looking for ways to amplify and improve your social marketing, adding videos is your best approach.

#4 Video in an email leads to 200-300% increase in click-through rates (Source: Hubspot)

This is huge! With email marketing being a top way for generating revenue, incorporating video can boost sales for your business. Open and clickthrough rates are key metrics in proving the effectiveness of your email marketing. Any tool that can raise these numbers is worth including in your strategy.

By the way, adding the word “video” to the subject line has shown to increase open rates too!

#5 Including videos on landing pages can boost conversion rates by 80% (Source: Unbounce)

We can agree that growing your email list is the lifeblood of your business. Since videos have a compelling way of drawing users in and moving them to action, it’s the perfect tool to complement your landing page. You’ll build your sales funnel more efficiently by using the power of video.

#6 90% of users say that product videos are helpful in the decision process (Source: Hubspot)

Product demonstrations give potential buyers the chance to see your product in action. They’ll gain a better understanding of how it works, check out the features, and discover how it will help them in their needs. Consider creating a product video for each of your products for evergreen content.

#7 Top three most effective types of video content: Customer Testimonials (51%); Tutorial Videos (50%); Demonstration Videos (49%) (Source: Curata)

One of the best ways to building trust with your audience is by sharing customer testimonials. Reviews on sites like Yelp and Amazon can sway readers into believing in your product or service simply because of someone else’s positive experience. Video testimonials are increasingly effective. Host a contest or offer a special incentive that encourages clients to give a quick video review of your brand.

#8 After watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online (Source: Hubspot)

A whopping 6 out of 10 people are apt to purchase your product when promoted through video. This statistic alone proves the strength behind a solid video marketing strategy for increasing your bottom line.

#9 By 2019, global consumer Internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer Internet traffic (Source: SmallBizTrends)

YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100% every year. The time is now to begin positioning your brand to capitalize on this upward movement. Amplifying your video strategy today will yield amazing returns for you tomorrow.

Chapter 2: Planning Your Video

Planning Out Your Video

Feeling inspired to invest in video marketing? Let’s get started! As one of the most important elements of a digital marketing campaign, understanding the planning process behind a successful video is essential. We’ve compiled a guide of our best practices to ensure that your videos are expertly-crafted and well thought out for driving conversions and boosting your brand.

Who Is Your Target Audience?

Every business’s audience has a different set of beliefs, values, and life experiences that impact the way that they respond to videos. For example, a video created for a group of teenagers will have a different message than a video catered to business professionals. Because of this, it is helpful to pinpoint the audience you seek to reach before embarking on your video production journey.

Identifying your target audience begins with researching the demographics and psychographics of your ideal customer. In other words, what is the age, education level, socioeconomic status, and gender of your product users? What are the lifestyle behaviors, interests, and opinions that define them? With these questions answered, you are on the way to creating videos that win over the audiences that matter most.

What Are Your Video’s Main Goals?

With a target audience nailed down, the next is defining your video's intent. Spend some time brainstorming the message that you wish to deliver and the action that you hope your video will encourage audiences to take. Since video is just one piece of the marketing puzzle, it is important to plan and film videos that are aligned with the broader goals and objectives of your marketing campaign.

In general, a video can serve a multitude of purposes, including:

• Driving new audiences and traffic to your website
• Educating audiences on your industry and product expertise
• Demonstrating the uses of your product or service
• Establishing social proof through customer testimonials
• Displaying an aesthetic or lifestyle that showcases your brand’s identity
• So much more!

Where Will The Video Live?

With the goal of your video defined, what are the channels that you want your videos to be posted and distributed on? The answer to this question will play a large role in the structure, concepts, and overall design of your video. Every video marketing space has a different set of best practices and standards. Whether it’s on social media, television, emails, your website, or somewhere else, having a clear video destination in mind is crucial for making a strategically designed video.

What Is The Due Date?

One of the best ways to keep your planning on track is by setting a due date for your video. Without one, it is easy to get lost in the process and lose sight of your end goal. In general, when working with a hard deadline, it’s easier to allocate the proper amount of time, team members, and resources necessary to complete your video with ease.

What Are The Creative Requirements?

The next step of the planning process is outlining the essentials needed to deliver a video that lives up to your creative vision. Are you creating an animated video that requires graphics? Or perhaps a lifestyle video that requires flashy props and backdrops? Whatever the vision might be, it is important to have professionals like our team at Sparkhouse on board with the talents necessary for your creative requirements!

What Will Constitute Success For The Video?

Accompanying your video’s goals with clear ways of measuring the effectiveness of said goal is the key to a worthwhile video. For each unique video created, think about the KPI’s, or key performance indicators, that would display the success of that video. The success of, for example, a customer testimonial video, is not going to look the same as creating a training video, as each video encompasses a different primary goal.

Common measurable benchmarks used to constitute success in marketing videos include:

• Click-through rate
• New site traffic and conversions
• Social media engagement
• Video views and watch time

The Importance Of Scripting Your Video

Words are powerful tools for transforming your video project to the next level of professionalism.
With a solid video plan in place, you’re ready for the next key component to your video’s success: a quality video script! Scripts are responsible for cueing the actors or individuals recording voice overs for your videos.

The primary goal of a script is ensuring that you communicate with the voice and word-choice that you desire. Sticking to one cuts out the chances for filler words or rambling to take away from the key messages of your video. Unless your video only contains visuals, the majority of video formats benefit from writing a highly conversational and easy-to-digest script. If you are not sure where to start with scriptwriting, working with professional writers is a great choice!

Chapter 3: Video Through The Sales Funnel

Attracting leads and conversions starts with meeting consumers where they’re at in the sales funnel. Think about it; a consumer without prior knowledge of your brand will be turned off by a video that is focused on making a sale. Similarly, a consumer on the verge of purchase won’t find value in a video providing a broad overview of your brand.

Here are some rules-of-thumb for creating videos tailored to each stage of a general sales funnel:

The Awareness Phase: Top Of The Funnel

In this stage of the funnel, consumers are just beginning to identify the pain points in their life that need solving. They might’ve heard of your company before, but haven’t put much thought into what you have to offer yet. The number one goal in this stage is introducing consumers to who you are, what you care about, and most importantly, what value you seek to provide them with.

Think of this stage as an opportunity to bolster videos that let consumers dip their toes into getting to know your brand and products rather than jumping in headfirst with an aggressive sales pitch.

A few of the best videos for this stage include:

• Explainer videos that walk consumers through a product or topic of interest. This establishes credibility and positions you as a leader in your industry. Want to animate it? Even better for a fun video that sparks curiosity!
• Team interview videos that showcase the dynamic personalities that make up your team. After all, your team is a great indicator of your brand’s overarching culture and values.

The Consideration Phase: Middle Of The Funnel

If you’ve managed to pique enough consumer interest and buzz to move them to stage two of the sales funnel, you are ready to introduce them to videos that help distinguish your brand against similar competitors in your industry. Consumers are aware of your brand and the problem they need to solve but are also researching similar brands. This stage is perfect for videos that prove your product’s effectiveness.

Some of the best videos formats for this stage include:

• Product videos that show your product in action and display the benefits of using it.
• Customer testimonial videos that feature a positive brand experience. Consumers generally trust other consumers, so social proof is used as a technique for increasing a consumer’s confidence in your product and brand.

The Conversion Phase: Bottom Of The Funnel

The conversion phase means you’re closer than ever to making a sale and making a new customer happy! At the bottom of the sales funnel, consumers are at the cusp of a sale and are often seeking any final details to help them justify a purchase. Your job is to put out videos that offer very specific product and brand information so they can make this decision as easy as possible.

A few beneficial videos formats in this stage include:

• In-depth product demonstrations that go over the ins and outs of how to use it effectively. These are a surefire way of giving audiences a clearer grasp of the features that define your unique product.
• Personalized videos that use each prospect’s name in their messaging. These create a stronger connection with each consumer and helps them feel more valued just before a point of purchase.

How To Use Video Through The Flywheel Model

Another helpful model used to identify the right video for the right prospective customer is Hubspot’s flywheel model! As opposed to the traditional sales funnel, the beauty of flywheel is its further emphasis on maintaining consumer loyalty and generating new leads after a purchase occurs. It thinks about the sales process in a cyclical way in the hopes that a satisfied customer will refer your brand and grow your business.

Here’s how we reimagine your video journey through this model:

Attract Consumers

Similar to the awareness phase of the sales funnel, the first part of the flywheel is attracting new customers to your brand. Your job in this stage is positioning videos in front of customers to spark their attention and get them excited to learn more about your brand.

Convert Consumers

Converting aligns closely with the second phase of the funnel, as consumers consider your brand and the products or services offered. They are starting to narrow down into qualified leads, so your videos should stress the benefits of your product and contain relevant calls-to-actions to get closer to a sales point.

Close Consumers

It’s time to seal the deal and make a sale! In this stage, it is especially important to push the benefits and value of your company more than ever, with customer testimonials videos to give an extra dose of social proof to help customers make a sale.

Retain Consumers

After you make a sale in the flywheel model, the work doesn’t stop quite yet! Retaining customers and inspiring them to refer your business to others is key. Since you probably have their contact information, videos via email marketing to follow up with them are a good way to keep your brand at the top of their minds.

Chapter 4 - Types of Videos

With a clear video goal and plan in mind, it is important to have a solid understanding of the types of videos available for creation. With seemingly endless video opportunities and styles to choose from, we know how overwhelming it can feel when deciding where to start! Videos are essentially limitless in the types of videos you can do, however for businesses, the following are some of the most popular video types:

Website videos
Product videos
Testimonial videos
Announcement videos
How-to / Instructional videos
Training videos Examples
Team leader interview videos
Company profile videos
Investor presentation videos
App demo videos
Crowdfunding videos
Explainer animation videos
Lifestyle videos

Website videos

Videos that live on a website have been shown to extend the time visitors spend there and can even improve conversion rates. Videos often can do a much better job at explaining difficult concepts or can replace long bodies of text.  An auto-play silent video serves as an engaging addition to a home page background loop, or plant one on the "About" or any important landing page for a quick explanation of your company.

Sample website video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/releash-high-fashion/

Product videos

Product videos are increasingly becoming popular as online e-commerce becomes more and more dominant. Product video help point out key features, differentiators and uses as well as show off the actual product in a way that you can control. Photos are limiting and can be confusing for consumers to fully understand the use cases, quality or size. But video allows you to provide a realistic perspective, as if they are actually touching and feeling your product. Most importantly, you get to show the prospective customers how the product should be used.

Sample product video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/uag-facebook-ad/

Testimonial videos

The overload of information at our fingertips has made the need for social proofing even greater. There is no more direct and believable way to convince someone you're the best choice in the market than to let them hear it from a third-party testimonial. Knowing that there are real people and businesses that have engaged with your business and have great things to say can be the final factor to push someone into converting into a customer.

Testimonials also don't have to be boring. They can be much more nuanced and fun, showing the character of the company.

https://vimeo.com/112974908

Sample testimonial video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/gmc-capital-one-card-lana/

Announcement videos

Have a new product, service or technology that your company is rolling out? Nothing is more exciting than creating a new video announcing coming product lines or new features that will be available. By creating these announcement videos you can better engage and nurture current customers who are already working with your business, while also informing them of new great thigns to come. Announcement videos are also a great tool for companies to use as company wide announcements to spread a message and to get everyone motivated for new goals and horizons!

Sample announcement video: https://vimeo.com/246341810

How-to / Instructional videos

Once people know about your product, they are probably not Googling the product since if they knew about your solution, they would have already bought it. Instead, they tend to search for the problems that can be solved with your product. If you have a video that explains how to fix their problem with your product, then your target customers will find you, trust you and become a customer! These how to videos or instructional videos also help add trust for prospective customers who know that the company invests in continual education past just selling a product.

By continuing to invest in these instructional videos helps you gain traction as a thought leader in your industry by teaching your customers something new. If people look to you for expertise, they will continue to reward that trust by going to you first when making new purchases in the same field.

Sample instructional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBUUx-0EE-k

Training videos

Training video productions are an increasingly popular medium for businesses to train new hires. By creating videos, it eliminates the need for long, boring employee manuals that nobody reads. Training videos are a great way to dispense a whole lot of information to people in a short amount of time. Training videos have become so popular that many companies have created entire internal video libraries that employees can use to go and educate themselves. People are now even making their own training videos and packaging them as online courses, creating their own online courses businesses.

Training videos are especially popular for sales and customer service departments as a method to train their staff. If you want your employees talking and acting in a certain manner or style, creating a video can help teach them these nuances.

Sample training video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/cambro-dry-shelving/

Team leader interview videos

People like to know that the companies and businesses they are working with are led by strong leaders. Customers want to know the culture and identity of the company, which is usually embodied by the leaders of the company. What better way to highlight your top team than with a high quality team leader video that truly shows off your company's style, attitude and passion for what you do!

Sample interview video: https://vimeo.com/237953696

Company profile/Corporate videos

Company profile videos are often the very first any business produces. These can also be called corporate videos or brand videos. These videos highlight the business as a whole and explain what the business is here to do. It provides a quick introduction to how your business fits into the world of the viewer. These videos help show viewers all the factors of the business that just cannot be communicated through text or verbally. It's where you really get to show off the visuals of the business and to get people excited!

Sample company profile video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/entrepreneur-the-innovators/

Investor presentation videos

An often overlooked application for videos, investor presentation videos are a great way for you to build the hype and excitement for your business idea. Looking to show off the big picture or the next huge opportunity? Investors can be picky and may not have a ton of time to read into your investment. An "at-a-glance" investor presentation video can get them excited — and do it quickly! Show off why now is the time, build excitement, highlight the numbers and get that investor on board.

Sample investor presentation video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/rich-uncles-brand/

App commercial videos

With app stores featuring videos and not just screenshots, an app video is a no-brainer. Just like product videos, app videos allow you to show potential users the great things that the app can do. You can show off your amazing game play and intuitive user interface, or just intrigue viewers with a trailer of the experience. By really showing the ins and outs, you eliminate the unknown for the users and build trust and confidence. Increase downloads and create customer excitement with an app demo video that drives downloads.

Sample app demo video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/playworks-playbook-app/

Crowdfunding videos

Everyone knows that videos are a HUGE part of making a crowdfunding campaign successful. We've personally helped create many crowdfunding videos that have helped launch campaigns to completely obliterate their funding goals. Crowdfunding videos needs to engage an audience, explain your campaign and drive contributions. Crowdfunding videos are a surefire way to make sure your story is told the way you want it, and a great way to get those backers excited!

Sample crowdfunding video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/argus-haters/

Explainer animation videos

You may have complicated products, processes or services that need to be explained quickly and in an engaging way to your customers. Explainer animation videos can help solve that problem. Since target customers usually don’t have the time (or focus) to read through pages of information, it's a sure bet that they'll be willing to watch a minute-long explainer animation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A6bGFTv7B4

Sample explainer animation video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/college-entrepreneur-contest-entrepreneur-magazine/

Lifestyle videos

As all of the successful brand leaders know, customers aren’t just buying a product or service; they are buying into the lifestyle of your brand, too. It's easy to TELL your audience about the kind of lifestyle your product supports, but why not SHOW them what you're all about in a video that evokes emotion and action? Creating scenes filled with fun times and happy people while integrating your product is a highly effective medium for demonstrating just how your product enhances that lifestyle.

Sample lifestyle video: https://thesparkhouse.com/portfolio/dice-featuring-kevin-skibba/

360 & Virtual Reality Videos

If your business is looking for a video that pushes traditional video boundaries and creates a unique user experience, then 360 or virtual reality videos are right for you! 360 and VR videos allow viewers to engage with your brand in the most life-like way possible before making a purchase. These video formats give users the opportunity to get up close and personal with your business’s service, product, or environment. Since not every consumer has a virtual reality headset, it is crucial to make such videos accessible through traditional digital devices as well.

Augmented Reality (AR) Videos

The rapid rise in digital technology makes it possible to market to consumers in a fresh and innovative way through AR videos. AR videos take a consumer’s real environment and add digital elements on top of them, allowing consumers to visualize what your product will look like on them or within their surroundings. Offering this immersive video experience is sure to create a more personal and novel association with your brand.

Personalized Messages

Personalized marketing techniques are ever-growing in popularity, and for good reason. What consumer doesn’t want to feel valued and seen? Overall, personalized video messages are catered to each unique viewer by including individualized details such as their name or photo. Including a simple personal touch works wonders for improving audience engagement, as it communicates that you care about connecting with them on a deeper level.

Facebook Cover Videos

With over a billion daily users on Facebook, there is no question that a compelling Facebook cover video is a successful technique for building brand awareness and identity, and is much more engaging than using solely a photo. Since they are on the top of the page, cover videos are a great way to make a positive first impression on new audiences checking out your business page.

YouTube Intro Videos

As one of the leading social media platforms in today’s digital age, regularly posting YouTube video content is a smart marketing move. You want to create videos that are not only fantastic content-wise but are also easily recognizable as your business’s work. How else will you build the brand awareness that you deserve? Placing a quick YouTube intro before every video with your logo, brand name, and other identifiable graphics makes any piece of content both memorable and cohesive.

YouTube Channel Trailers

As YouTube and YouTube Shorts increases in popularity, so does the need to market on the platform! If your brand has already started to capitalize on the power of YouTube, then a channel trailer is an essential next step for building your subscriber count and engagement to new levels. Like a movie trailer, a YouTube trailer is a short video that teases what a viewer can expect to see from your channel. Uploading a quality trailer with eye-catching visuals has the potential to hook viewers in and leave them wanting more.

Sales Videos

You and your consumers are probably sick of seeing sales videos that are overtly pushy in nature. But would if we told you it doesn’t have to be this way? Though a sales video aims to emphasize the features, benefits, and solutions that your product or service offers, with the right team, it can be done so in a way that is much more personal and fun for audiences to watch. In general, a well-executed sales video that focuses on educating and entertaining consumers over just selling is a goldmine for attracting new leads and customers.

Background Videos For Your Homepage

If you are looking for a way to make your website stand out, an eye-catching homepage video is the way to go! Since your homepage is often the first impression a customer has on your brand’s website, a background video is truly a no-brainer for creating a memorable experience. Since humans process visual information quicker than words, a video displaying your product or brand’s features is much more likely to stick with customers and sustain their attention more successfully than copy alone.

Chapter 5 - Planning Your Video Marketing Budget

Bringing up the budget might feel a bit uncomfortable, but the fact is that funding plays a huge role in the video marketing strategy. Obviously, the size of your company/brand is a factor when shaping the budget, but you can look at the video's ultimate goal as your key deciding factor. If your marketing goals are achieved with this video, what is the value of that goal to your company? You can also consider the other steps — like deciding where the video will live — and how these might affect your budget. For example, a video intended for a TV audience should have higher production value than one made for a social media post. And a brand or company video should look more polished then a testimonial video. You get the idea.

Just know that in the end, your budget is going to limit your production value as well as your concept scope — but these limitations don’t necessarily have to be a negative; Setting boundaries can have huge benefits to the creative process when it comes to developing concepts and making production decisions.

Your video budget should factor in the following:

• Number of shooting days
• Number of actors (paid or volunteer)
• Number and cost of locations
• Props, set designs and wardrobe
• Special or visual effects
• Level of animation and graphics
• Music and sound effects
• Final mastering like color correction or audio mixing

How Much Does a Video Cost?

Here at Sparkhouse, clients and interested parties often ask us: "How much does a simple video cost?" And the answer is always the same: it depends, there are a TON of factors to consider.

Take a 1 minute video as an example. Sure, we can give our client an exact quote for such a project, but only after we hammer out all of the details; and there are a lot of details to consider: production values, location, script, actors, special effects, etc. We often compare the question of how much a video costs to asking: "How much does a house cost?" There are many variables that come into play when buying a house (number of rooms, size, location, age), and it's the same with video production. It all depends on what you're looking for.

Our team at Sparkhouse is all about working with clients to meet their specific goals, and stay within their budget. With that in mind, here is a breakdown of some important factors that play a role in video cost:

Actors

This is a big consideration; after all, the ultimate success of your video will depend in large part to the skills of any actors/actresses that you use. In addition, the typical cost of an actor for a smaller production ranges between $50-$400/hr, which makes this area a clear difference-maker when it comes to the overall price tag for the video.

Cost Factors

In order to get an idea of actor-associated costs, we try to get the answers to such questions as:

• • Are actors needed in this video?
  • If so, how many?
  • Do the actors need to have special talents?
  • How many days will we need their services?

Pro Tip: Use company employees to fill certain roles instead of professional actors.

Location

Another huge cost factor can be location costs. Some video concepts are great fits for low-budget settings, like an office in the company's building, or even a private residence. Other clients are looking for a more exotic background, or even multiple locations for their project.

Cost Factors

It's no surprise that the more exotic the location, or the more locations in use, the higher the video's cost will run. Here are some key cost factors to consider:

• • How much will it cost to rent a venue?
  • Are multiple locations needed for the production?
  • How "exotic" do the locations need to be?

Pro Tip: For clients that are really concerned about budget constraints, we often recommend making use of "zero-cost locations" for the video setting, like a park, a quiet avenue, or another appropriate venue.

Production Days

The length of time that must go into the production can also drive up video costs. It's true that some videos can be shot in one day, which greatly reduces overall cost. However, some projects require shoots at multiple locations at some distance from one another; or, perhaps featured actors or interviewees are only available on certain days, which could lead to an extended time frame.

Multiple production days mean bringing out your cast, crew, producers, director, and support personnel on multiple occasions... and paying them for their time.

Cost Factors

• • Will we need to shoot at multiple locations?
  • If so, how far away are the locations from one another?
  • Will featured actors only be available on certain days?

Pro Tip: There are some ways to work around the need for multiple production days, such as:

• • Design your concept for single day production
  • Use multiple rooms in the same residence, or multiple offices in the same building, to achieve the effect of being in different locations
  • Film at locations that are near to each other, and don't require a lot of travel time

Travel

Speaking of travel time, if you video concept requires a lot of travel, then you'll be looking at a much higher cost of production. This is especially true if air travel or multiple days of travel are involved.

Cost Factors

• • How many days of travel are required for this video's production?
  • Will air travel be necessary?

Pro Tip: If air travel is needed, use resources such as travel search engines to find the best price for tickets.

Props and Wardrobe

If your video concept doesn't require a lot of special props, or an outlandish wardrobe, then this likely won't be much of a cost factor. However, if your actors need to wear elaborate costumes, or if you're giving a product demonstration that requires a lot of props, then you'll be looking at rental or purchase costs to count against your budget.

Cost Factors

• • Will actors need to wear an elaborate wardrobe?
  • How many props will be needed for this production?
  • What type of props will be needed?
  • Can these props be bought, rented, or borrowed?

Pro Tip: Even if your concept does require some out of the ordinary props, there are still ways to reduce costs. For instance:

• • Look for props that can be procured for free
  • Search through consignment shops or other outlets for less expensive wardrobe items
  • Obtain clothes, furniture, or pieces of hardware that can be returned and refunded after use

Know What You Need

Clearly, there are a lot of factors that influence the answer to that question, "How much does a video cost?" One of the best things that you can do to reduce unnecessary costs is to know what you need for a particular video project. Then, lean on the experts and their expertise to find creative solutions to make your vision come to life.

At Sparkhouse, we have both the expertise to produce high-quality videos, and the creativity to find cost-effective solutions for any budget challenges that you may face. If you'd like to see your video project come to life, reach out to our team at Sparkhouse today for more information, or get started by clicking here.

Nail Down a Video Concept

As with most marketing efforts, the concept is key, and it's no different when it comes to video marketing. Many people believe that their concept needs to be viral in order for their video to be a success. In reality, there is no one formula for going viral, so it's better to focus on the sales, the big-picture goal, and where the video will live to give you the best shot at success.

Keep the following in mind when developing your video concept:

• What do customers love about the product or service?
• What does the typical customer look like?
• What is the problem or problems the product is designed to solve?
• Who are the main competitors of the product? And how is this product better or different?
• Will viewers already know they want this product? Or do you need to show them that the solution exists before they will want the product?
• What doubts about the product need to be overcome in order to convert a viewer to a customer?

Start big and prepare to fail. Even with all of this preparation up front, you will probably come up with 10 or more bad concepts before you find your ideal approach. Brainstorm a bunch of concepts and share them with friends and co-workers to see which ones stick. Get a group together to mine for great ideas — you never know where your big "aha" moment might be hiding. You can tap their brain power in-person or collaborate remotely on Google Docs or other online venue.

Having a professional creative agency jump in to lead you through these beginning steps can be a tremendous help in nailing down an innovative video concept that will set you up for success. Just think of how many fun and powerful storylines you'll be able to generate when you mix your company's best and brightest with an experienced team of videographers, writers and editors who know what's creating a buzz in the video world right now. The sky's the limit!

Build Your Video Concept Structure

One you have your video concept nailed down, it's time to work on structuring your video so that it performs just the way you intended. Keep it simple by starting with the basics, then you can evolve it from there if you want to take a more complex track.

Here are the essential parts of a video that effectively reaches out to its target audience:

The Hook

You need to grab the audience's attention FAST, since you can't sell a viewer on your product if they don’t hang around long enough to watch your video. The hook is what makes them stay.

The Problem

Introduce the specific problem that your product is intending to fix. Make the viewer feel the problem and connect with them so they are invested in finding a solution.

The Solution

Show the audience your unique solution with more than just a clever one-liner; make sure you explain what all the current customers love about the product.

The CTA

The call-to-action tells the view what they are supposed to do next. Do you want them to follow a link to buy your product, visit your website, learn more, or maybe share the video? Make the next step obvious.

Finally got your concept? Now it's time to get video production started

Chapter 6 - The Complete Video Production Process

Ready to move forward with a video or two? Here are the various steps that a seasoned video production company will guide you in, starting from the idea stage to a polished finished product:

Set a goal for the video.

Every video marketing campaign should accomplish a distinct goal, whether it be introducing a product, engaging visitors on a website, encouraging someone to learn more or driving people to a purchase. Once a goal is set, the production team will make sure to check back along the process to assure they are achieving what they set out to do.

Creating a video concept.

Producing a video is like building a house: You can go as big or as small as your company wants or needs. Should this video be a simple interview with the founding team in a walk around your offices to show who the company is and what they do? Or is it a lifestyle spot that requires actors, locations, elaborate scenes and props? The concept will set the stage for how much work, budget and time will be needed to execute a strong video.

Determine where this video will live.

Where will your video marketing be featured? Whether the video is placed on a website, tradeshow booth, TV or on Facebook, this decision will change the approach to the style and execution of a video. Did you know that 85% of Facebook videos are watched WITHOUT sound? Nuggets of wisdom like this will help the production company adjust the way the team presents a video, in order to assure that viewers understand the finished version while on the go, without any audio.

Set a deadline.

Most videos will have a deadline built in. Is this video going to be used for a tradeshow? A tool for a product launch? Or partnered with a new website launch? All of these can drive a reason for a deadline. Rush projects are always an option, but most video productions will take 4 to 6 weeks to accomplish.

Establish a video budget.

After setting some specific goals, next the team needs to decide what that goal is worth to the business. If the video will increase website engagement, how much is that worth? If it drives more sales to a landing page, what are those results worth? Remember, there are also exciting video benefits that may be unrelated to the original specific goals, like enhanced brand perception, customer excitement, increased overall engagement and much more. Other things that can affect budget that should be taken into account are:

Actors

Does the script require actors or extras to produce the video, or will it only require your team members or employees?

Locations

When making a video, special locations and permits are required in order to tell the story. Should these locations be outsourced, or is it possible to produce the video in existing locations like the client's offices, storefront or an employee's home?

Props

Does the video require props or decorations outside of what the company produces? If the client makes iPhone cases, do they have iPhones available to be used inside them? If diving goggles are the featured product, will the shoot require fins, a scuba tank and a boat in order to properly demo the product?

Shooting days

The most efficient way to produce a video is to limit the amount of shooting days. The production team's job is to think of ways they can fake a single location to act as multiple, or schedule locations that are close enough together to film in a single day. Each time another shooting day is added, the budget will increase with each crew member (normally producer, director, camera, AC, gaffer, key grip, grips, audio, hair and makeup, PAs and more!).

Pre-production

Now that the video marketing is coming to life with a goal, concept, display plan, deadline and budget, it is time for the real work to start. Planning and prepping for a video can make or break a production, and there are a lot of things to keep in mind as the team moves forward. Let's get started!

Script

Whether it be an explainer animation, an interview-based video or a full-blown narrative commercial, the first steps to preparing a production is to write out the script. The video production team offers copywriting services to help build the script to perfection. Most likely there will be breaks and pauses throughout the video, but a good guide is that you can fit about three words per second of video. It's important to keep the script short and concise so the video doesn't get too long.

Script breakdown

Often done in a two-column table, the next step is to break down the script into visual chunks. The production team will place the script on the left column of the script page, with a description of the visual elements on the right side. This is a good phase to check in with key stakeholders and members of the project to assure everyone is on the same page and imagining a similar end video.

Shot list

The video shot list is most likely done in collaboration with the director, director of photography (DP) and producer to ensure everyone is following the same vision. Every shot needs to be listed out so that each department can prepare what lighting, movement, effects, props, actors, etc. are needed.

Itemized breakdown

Once the corporate video script is locked down and the visuals get planned out, the next step is to itemize what elements of the shoot need to be sourced or planned for. The production team will circle or highlight every actor/character, location, prop, wardrobe description and special effect, earmarking them as action items that need to be sourced before production takes place.

Casting

If there are actors needed, the first task is to create a list of all of the actors and extras that will needed for the video. It is advantageous to reuse people throughout the video as background characters in order to reduce the amount of actors hired (and paid!). Each character will need a description to find the right fit— everything from gender and age to height, features and attitude.

For smaller roles or background actors, it is sometimes possible to get away with online casting only. For more key performances, it is recommended to do Skype video auditions, or even in-person auditions to assure the perfect actor/performance is found.

Location sourcing and permits

Each location in the corporate video production will need to be chosen carefully. If the location is not a key aspect of the concept, it is best to find a freely sourced location from either a team member or employee's home or their personal connections. If that is not possible, a location scout will need to source possible rental locations and pull the needed permits and requirements for each. Depending on the size of the production, you may have to hire security, police escorts and road stoppages.

Props / Wardrobe

Here is another great spot where it is possible to save budget if the team is resourceful. Using props such as phones, couches, bags, etc. that are already available at the location will help keep the costs low. Also, finding items that can be purchased for the shoot and returned afterwards is a common trick of the trade when it comes to keeping the budget tight. When there are unique items required for a shoot, they can either be purchased or possibly rented from prop houses based out of Los Angeles.

Wardrobe can often be sourced from the actors' existing wardrobe (which normally fit best anyways), but if there are specific wardrobe needs, new items can be purchased and returned after the shoot. Just like props, in some cases the specialty wardrobe items need to be bought or rented for the shoot.

Shot schedule

Although confusing, shot schedules are often out of order of the actual flow of the video script. This is to optimize the shooting locations, props, actors' time and location availability. Each shot from the shot list is broken into individual shooting time frames, and each of the props and actors are scheduled into their slotted times.

Production day!

Even with weeks of planning and pre-production, the actual production of a corporate video usually happens in a single production day (often 10-12 hours!). Here are a few things that will take place on production day.

Craft services

Breakfast, coffee, drinks, snacks, catering, etc. need to be planned out and provided for the actors, crew and clients to make sure no one has to leave and slow down the shoot day.

Equipment prep / rental

All equipment, including camera, lighting, audio, props, wardrobe, hair and make-up, need to be prepped or rented for the shoot day.

Actors / Talent releases

All actors and extras will need to sign agreements giving consent to use their likenesses. The releases will also detail the rights as to where and when the spot can be used in compensation for their pay rate.

Crew / Payroll

All crew will have to be documented for payroll and tax tracking for their rates.

Location / Permits

Locations need to be paid and issued permits if needed. The logistics team will also coordinate with any security or police required on set.

Hair and make-up

All actors and extras need go through hair and make-up before they can be placed in the spot to be filmed.

Scene lighting and prep

Each scene will need to be pre-lit and designed with any props, actors, etc. before any filming can be done. Depending on the complexity of the scene, this can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a few hours.

Walkthroughs and blocking

Before the camera crew starts rolling any shots, the entire team (including actors) need to walk through the shots to assure the director, actors, camera crew and clients are all on the same page as to what is to be captured. The walkthroughs/blocking stage is where creative changes are often added based on last-minute ideas, weather changes and other factors.

Shooting and circle takes

During shooting, notes are taken about each shot — whether the performance was good, the lines were delivered correctly, any outside noises were heard and whether the camera had any issues. The director's favorite takes are circled so that the editor can go directly to those and start editing without searching through the bad takes.

That’s a wrap!

With a small celebration, the production day ends. The DIT (digital imaging technician) will transfer the day's video footage, photographs and audio files to an external hard drive for backup and ship to the post-production team.

Post-production

Even if a shoot day is pulled off successfully, if the post-production isn't on point, the corporate video will fall short of its true potential. Ensure your finished product is the best it can be with flawless execution of these stages:

Transferring and organizing

With today’s high video resolutions, the files can be massive! Each card is often well over 500 GB and takes a few hours to transfer to the editing stations. Once the files are transferred, the editor will need to organize them by video and audio, various scenes or separate videos that are being created.

Syncing and trimming

A tedious next step is to sync the video footage with the audio recording. It's interesting to note that the editor actually uses the famous film “clapper” to sync the exact moment when the audio recording has the clap noise to when the video footage sees the clapper close.

"Story cut"

First, the post-production team needs to lay out the story of the corporate video — no need for music, sound effects, titles or color correction just yet. It is really important to make sure the flow and storytelling feel is there before adding any bells and whistles. Many times the video's story cut is kept internal at the post-production house.

"First cut"

Adding music, basic titles and graphics, a simple pass of color, etc. makes the corporate video's first cut presentable for the client or general audience to view and provide input.

Client review

Best done with a dynamic video collaboration tool such as Frame.io, the review stage allows key stakeholders to assess, comment and collaborate on their vision and thoughts of the video.

"Final cut"

The editing team then takes into account all of the comments and recommendations from the client and gets to work finalizing the corporate video.

Graphics / Titles

With the video is finalized, a higher level of artistry and animation can be added to the graphics and titles in order to bring the production to its final state.

Visual effects

Any visual effects — fixing skin tones, skylines or removing logos — happens near the very end of the the post-production process.

Color mastering

Depending on delivery via TV, online or elsewhere, various levels of color mastering will be needed to make sure every viewer is seeing the same colors and tones that the director desires.

Audio mastering, music and sound effects

The final step before exporting is to mix all of the audio, dialog, sound effects and music so the video can be clearly heard and is not distracting no matter the display format (TV, car, headphones, phone or laptop).

Exporting for delivery

An often overlooked piece needed for a successful video is to properly export the video files with the correct settings for the final delivery — again, the protocol will differ depending on where the video will live (YouTube, Facebook, TV, etc.).

And Lastly, Distribute Your Finished Video

Your video might be completed, but you're not done yet! It's now time to give your video a proper distribution to get the right eyeballs on it. If your masterpiece is headed for TV, you'll need a strong media buying strategy. If the video will be placed on your website, ask your webmaster to tag the video with proper keywords and descriptions. If it's bound for social media, make sure you have a strategy ready for posting it during optimal days and times to garner the most views.

If you have the time, you can also test different variables to optimize your branding video's performance. Try giving it a different title, changing the call-to-action, or switching up the editing structures to drive different results. Keep an eye on how many views it's racking up — if exposure is dropping, switch it up and see what happens!

Chapter 7: How Do I Distribute My Video?

Your marketing process isn’t finished after filming and editing your video materials. It might sound counterintuitive, but the spaces that you choose to post your videos on are often equally important factors in your video’s success than the production value itself. With all of the time, energy, and resources you’ve spent on making your video, it would be a waste not to properly distribute it to the platforms that will bring it the best engagement, views, and conversions possible.

Having trouble understanding where your finished video should go next? We’ve broken down some of the key digital locations for video distribution by owned, paid, and earned media to make the process easier!

Owned

Owned media, as the name suggests, is media owned by your business. You have complete creative and legal control over these digital platforms. Popular owned video distribution methods include:

Company Website

Your company website is a major hub for disseminating information about your brand, making helpful video content an obvious choice. Overall, housing a video on your website’s landing page or homepage is perfect for quickly capturing your visitor’s attention and improving the attractiveness of your website. Plus, embedding a video is known to boost SEO and rank better on search engines than solely written content!

Blog

Blogs are already effective mediums for establishing credibility and building consumer trust, so why not beef one up with an added video to reach its full potential? Let’s face it: not everyone likes to take the extra effort to read a lengthy blog post, and many prefer digesting information through images and audio. Pairing videos with your blog posts gives audiences the chance to choose their preferred mode of content consumption.

Email

Sprucing up your emails with a video has a proven track record for increasing open rates, audience engagement, and future conversions. In general, a video through email is an easy way for consumers to stay up-to-date with your brand’s upcoming events, products, and sales without wasting much time. Just make sure to always include video in the subject line so audiences are motivated to open your email!

Organic Social Media Presence

Your business’s social media accounts lend themselves perfectly for your video’s distribution without having to spend a penny. With millions of daily social media users, your video has the chance of getting shared by multiple users, or better yet going viral, making it easier than ever to reach new audiences. Whether it’s your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or another social media channel, distributing a video can help your traffic skyrocket!

Paid

Unlike owned media, paid channels of distribution require you to muster a higher marketing budget upfront, since you’ll need to purchase the slot that your videos lie in. Some of the most effective paid video distribution tactics include:

Search Ads

If you have a solid understanding of the keywords and phrases that your audience searches for, then search ads are perfect for you! Distributing via search ads allows your video to pop up higher on results pages than organic videos alone if users search with your allocated keywords. Since most consumers don’t look past the first page of results, the higher your ad placement, the more clicks it’ll receive!

Paid Social Media Ads

Though your owned social media platforms are inherently free, there are paid options to choose from as well! With the sheer mass of business videos to compete with on these platforms, sometimes a paid social media ad is just the boost you need for getting in front of your target audience before your competition. With advanced audience targeting options on Facebook and other sites, investing in these ads can connect your video to the people it will impact the most.

Native Advertising

Are you worried about looking overly spammy with your paid ads? If so, native video advertising might just be the distribution method for you. Native videos are embedded within content in the exact formatting of organic content. This means that audiences taking a quick glance probably won’t notice it’s sponsored in the first place, making its click-through rates and engagement levels better than a traditional video ad!

Influencer Outreach and Sponsorships

Today’s top social media influencers have reached celebrity status. Public figures, both traditional and digital celebrities, play a massive role in shaping the popularity of products and services. Reach out to influencers to promote your video or feature your product in their own video for pay through a sponsorship. Especially when their reach is wider than yours, this technique is a recipe for improving brand awareness, audience trust, and likely more sales!

Earned

Feel like your video deserves more attention than your brand alone could warrant? In the earned video distribution process, another entity is involved in spreading the word about your business by sharing your content or speaking about your product or service. This can be an individual influencer, brand, or even a news outlet.

Social Media Shares

Social media is in many ways the digital equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing, as social media users often share the content that they enjoy with their friends, family, and followers. Video distribution through social media users sharing, retweeting, or reposting your video can attract new viewers, increase responses, and perhaps even bring new followers to your social media accounts.

Product Reviews

Social proof is amongst the most powerful tools for influencing consumer opinion. Sending influencers or other consumers exciting new products or prizes in exchange for video reviews is an easy way to generate earned buzz for your brand. Plus, videos from influencers that aren’t sponsored by your brand can ring more authentic and sincere for viewers.

Traditional PR

Don’t fix what isn’t broken! Traditional public relations tactics are still a viable option for your brand’s video distribution. If you have an announcement, brand update, or product launch that can be deemed newsworthy, it doesn't hurt to try your hand at pitching to news outlets and online publications in your industry niche through a press release with a link to your video.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing doesn't have to cost you an arm and leg through a sponsored endorsement! You can organically reach out to influencers in your business’s industry through social media dm’s or emails and ask them to share your video on their platforms. If they like what they see, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get some free press.

Which Type of Distribution Is Best For Me?

Now that you have a rundown of the plethora of video distribution methods, you might be wondering: which type is the best fit for my business?

There is no simple answer to this question, as your marketing goals, budget, types of video content, and the digital channels that your target audience is found on are all factors to consider when making this decision. To pinpoint the best distribution for you, we’ve outlined the benefits and challenges that accompany each method:

Owned Distribution Pros and Cons

Perhaps the sweetest part about owned media is that your business is the only entity that has a say in how videos are posted or shared! On the flip side, if your business is small and just getting started with video marketing, you won’t see fast results, since it takes time to gain an organic audience.

Paid Distribution Pros and Cons

Paying for your videos to be displayed highly on SERPS and optimal advertising locations can help you gain traffic and eyes on your video faster than other methods. Whether we like it or not, sometimes spending the extra money is indeed worth it in the end! On the other hand, if your budget is tight, this isn’t a sustainable distribution method to use in the long-run.

Earned Distribution Pros and Cons

Earned distribution has its perks, as your video gets publicity, attention, and buzz without needing to purchase an ad. When a reputable source or well-respected influencer shares your video, they instill a sense of trust and credibility in your business as well. However, the downside is the lack of control you have over what someone could say about your video, as the earned media you receive isn’t guaranteed to be positive.

If you don’t want to miss out on the benefits of paid, earned, or owned media, don’t you worry! A healthy combination of all three distribution methods is a great way of covering all of your video marketing bases and getting diverse results.

Chapter 8: Video & SEO

SEO, otherwise known as search engine optimization, is creating content that is optimized to perform better in search engines such as Google, Bing, and even Youtube. If you’ve used SEO for your blogs and other written materials in the past, it’s time you used it for your videos as well!

Why Does Video Help My Website Rank Higher?

It’s no secret that website videos and higher search engine rankings go together like peanut butter and jelly. But why? Below are some of the key reasons that explain your video’s role in helping your website rank better:

• Video’s entertaining format has been shown to grab visitor’s attention longer than other types of content. The longer your web visitors are engaged with your website, the better that your site appears to search engine algorithms.
• Strategically placing keywords into your content helps your web rankings improve immensely, and videos are no exception. When a user searches on, say Google, with a word that you’ve embedded into your content, your website will rank more highly on the page. Whether it's within a video transcript or a title, videos offer you another opportunity for implementing keywords into your website!
• If your website has an interesting video, it has a greater chance of being shared by others and collecting backlinks, and more video backlinks lead to higher rankings.

What Can I Do To Improve My SEO?

With all of these benefits up for grabs, what’s stopping you from capitalizing on SEO today? If you find yourself stumped on why your video isn’t getting sufficient attention, views, or engagement, here are four tips for improving your SEO:

Use Videos On Your Website

We’ve already established that videos are invaluable for creating a website that appears entertaining, trustworthy, and valuable for consumers and algorithms alike. Videos in the background of your homepage, embedded on a landing page, or even placed within a blog post are great places to start. Just make sure to include only one video per page… you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with too much content at once!

Embed Your Videos Around Quality Content

If you’ve worked hard on creating a high-quality video for distribution, the worst thing you could do is slack on the marketing materials that surround it. No matter how great your video might be, if you have weak copywriting or design associated with them, you won’t get the engagement and rankings that you desire! In general, a website with a mix of compelling videos, visuals, and written materials are the ingredients for better rankings, as it displays that you are well-rounded in the content that you provide consumers with.

Be Consistent and Post Video Content Often

A regular posting schedule is essential for appeasing the search engine algorithms, and fresh content usually performs better than dated ones. Brands that post often show search engines that they are trustworthy to deliver consistently to audiences. We are definitely not saying you should bite off more than you can chew, but instead make a video content schedule that works with the capacities and expertise of your team.

Pay Attention To The Details

The devil is always in the small details when it comes to an effective SEO strategy. In the end, algorithms are programmed to reward content of the highest quality that provides the best value for users. So never take shortcuts on crafting your titles, video descriptions, and video thumbnails. We promise you, the extra efforts will be worth it in the end.

Chapter 9: How Do I Know If My Video Was Successful?

With all of the blood, sweat, and tears put into your video marketing thus far, don’t lose sight of one of the most important aspects of a campaign; seeing if your video accomplished what it was set out to do. If you’re unsure about how to measure your video’s success, you’re not alone! Believe it or not, many businesses struggle to make sense of the analytics, numbers, and statistics that accompany their video marketing efforts.

If you need to make better sense of this tricky but crucial element of a marketing campaign, this is the chapter for you!

Essential KPIs For Video Success

Key performance indicators are the measurable aspects of your video’s success. However, it is essential to note that not all of the same KPIs are used from video to video. This is because your individual video’s goals and intent can impact which KPI you should be paying attention to!

For example, your animated how-to video made to attract a new audience versus your consumer testimonial video made for making a sale have different indicators of what success might look like. We’ve broken down the key performance indicators you should utilize for each part of the consumer sales journey:

Did Your Video Attract Viewers?

If your video’s intent was to impact audiences at the top of the sales funnel by gaining their attention, some KPIs that can help you include:

• The number of views and impressions that your video racked up
• The number of unique users watching your video

Did Your Video Engage Viewers?

Videos that sought to build a stronger connection and engagement level with audiences considering your product can be measured through KPIs such as:

• The average watch time, or how long a viewer was engaging with your video
• View-through rate, or how many people actually got to the end of your video

Did Your Video Nurture Viewers?

If you made a video with the hopes of getting users to a point of purchase in the buyer's journey, your KPIs should be:

• The click-through rate, or the number of viewers who followed your video’s call-to-action link
• The number of video viewers that became your customers and converted after watching

Did Your Video Delight Viewers?

Since only happy customers are likely to positively interact with your video and brand past the point of purchase, the KPIs to look at when deciding if you delighted your customers include:

• Your video’s comments, likes, shares, and overall social engagement
• Return visits to your video

How To Measure Return On Investment

Let’s talk about money! Though not the only indicator of video success, sales that were made with the help of your marketing videos should aim to outweigh the cost it took to film and produce them. In short, your return on investment tells you if you’ve achieved this goal.

Measuring ROI can be a difficult feat when it comes to content marketing as a whole, especially when the videos are meant to attract or engage consumers. The number of views, social media comments, or watch time don’t always say too much about whether or not you made a sale from them. For traditional monetary ROI, focus on the videos that nurture prospects with clear metrics that point to sales and conversion, and focus on other performance indicators for videos with less of a sales goal.

Picking The Right Data Platform

All of the metrics and analytics that you need for uncovering your video’s performance don’t appear in thin air. You need a video data platform to do this work! The data platforms you have to choose from are as follow:

Video Hosting and Social Media Platforms

Not only do most video hosting sites do the job of getting your video in front of the eyes of audiences, but they make it as easy as can be to track your video as well! Many platforms such as Vimeo, Youtube, and other social media sites have their own analytics pages in place for tracking KPIs.

Analytics Platforms

If the location of your video doesn’t have enough data to track your video’s success, analytics platforms like Google analytics are perfect, especially for videos on your website!

Optimize and Adjust My Content

The key to every well-rounded marketing campaign is having a clear understanding of what was done right and what can use some improvement. Whether your video went viral or solely reached a few audience members, no piece of content is perfect and there’s always an opportunity to find room for improvement.

Find Ways To Optimize Your Current Video

Not seeing the results and analytics that you expected? No worries! You have the power to tweak and freshen up elements of your videos to improve their quality and perhaps even meet some of the goals you missed out on!

This could look like this:

• Switching to a better hosting or distribution site
• Implementing new relevant keywords for better SEO
• Changing up your thumbnail or title
• Use Insights To Create Better Video Content In The Future

If you investigate KPIs and ROI to uncover the achievements and shortcomings of your videos, you are equipped with the tools to create better video content in future marketing initiatives! Your videos can only improve from here on out.

Chapter 10: Advanced Strategies and Techniques

If you’ve made it this far into our video marketing guide, odds are you’re just about ready to get started on your video marketing strategy. However, to gain a few last-minute tips to feel as confident as can be with video creation, keep on reading for our favorite advanced video strategies and tips!

Nail The First 5-10 Seconds Of Your Video

Since the internet is ingrained in our everyday lives and routines, consumers never truly get a break from the constant flood of digital marketing. Because of this content overload and more video options than ever before, viewers aren’t going to stick around for ones that aren’t compelling from the start. Whether it’s by sharing a shocking statistic, using lively music, showcasing aesthetic b-roll, or another creative tactic, always make those first few seconds count.

Try Out The Sequel Technique

Do you know of a popular video in your business’s industry and know you can make a better one? The sequel technique is the process of doing just that! Use this technique to make a video similar to that of a popular one in the hope that audiences will get yours suggested to them on Youtube. If you decide to try this out, remember to only seek inspiration from the original video… no plagiarizing allowed!

Mix Things Up

Even if your audiences seem to be happy with the types of videos that you are posting, complacency is never an option. With the world of video distribution opportunities at your fingertips thanks to the internet and social media, trying a new video concept, approach, or style can open your brand up to new audiences and results.

Easy ways to spice up videos are:

• Shifting around your camera angles, nobody likes a stagnant video!
• Trying an animated or cartoon version of your usual how-to videos.
• Making your product demonstration a virtual reality experience.
• Creating custom thumbnails and outro screens with exciting graphics.

Test Out Longer Marketing Videos

In any form of content marketing, A/B testing is always your best friend. You’ll want to test different video titles, thumbnails, and even lengths to see what captures your audience’s intrigue the most. Though some video formats and stages of the buyer journey lend themselves much better to short content, longer videos shouldn’t be neglected. Longer videos for more educational, how-to, and tutorial-based videos gives you the time to break down complex topics with ease!

Maintain a Consistent Look and Feel

You want audiences to always be able to recognize your video apart from the crowd. To accomplish this, your brand identity and story should infiltrate every piece of video content posted, no matter the subject matter. This can look like adding your branded logo in intros and outros, sticking to a script that stays true to the voice and tone of your brand, and perhaps even using the same music and color scheme across videos.

Use A Touch Of Humor

A little bit of tasteful humor never hurt anyone! Letting your personality shine through relates to consumers more than an overly sophisticated video that feels forced or fake. We’re all human after all, so there’s no need to take yourself too seriously. So try throwing in a few jokes into your script and see how your audience responds. You might be surprised to find that it increases your authenticity and audience connection.

Chapter 11: Our Video Marketing Case Studies

With years of experience under our belt, the dynamic team of creatives and film junkies uses tried and true video marketing methods to our client’s advantage. If you’re still not convinced that we know what we’re talking about, learn more about our client work!

Denso: “One Small Piece” Campaign

Denso’s campaign video for their power edge line was focused on the juxtaposition of toughness and refined precision. To bring this idea to life, we hired an actor to fit this aesthetic and filmed on-location in a sleek commercial garage. The key video production elements that contributed to our sophisticated final results were the darker-toned color scheme and smooth technocrane camera shots.

EvaDrop: Animated Product Video

To showcase the innovation of EvaDrop’s Smart Shower, we were inspired to create an animated video that walked customers through the function of the product and coinciding app. To keep the video’s aesthetic simple and efficient to mirror the product itself, we opted for a crisp blue and white color scheme.

Final Thoughts

Any company that's committed to growing and building strong customer relationships can look to video marketing as an effective way to reach customers where they're at — on social media sites, websites, TV, crowdfunding and other arenas. But just because your first video is done and distributed, it's no excuse to sit back and let all your hard work lose traction. To get the most out of your production, test your results as often as possible, get feedback, and use what you learn to plan your next video. Use video marketing as an ongoing tool to continue building your brand and connect with current and potential customers in new and different ways.

We hope our guide to video marketing has been useful in demystifying the video production process for you. The general structure we described can be applied to videos of any size budget — from $5K to $1M — no matter if they require a one-man crew or 100-plus team members.

Before you make your next video, review the steps above, take your time, and most importantly — have fun along the way.

Best of luck!

—Sparkhouse Crew

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