Video Marketing Tips: 11 Steps to Make Your Video Matter

This might be because video production can seem like an expensive endeavor for businesses with tight marketing budgets. But the truth is that there are plenty of ways to create quality videos without breaking your budget or stressing yourself out.

1. Find what works best for your business

Do you want something that grabs attention and captivates viewers (like a simple product demo), or would you rather create something that tells an interesting story (like testimonials from happy customers)? Researching what other brands in your industry are doing will give you some ideas about which direction might work best for your company.

2. Make them short and sweet

Most people’s attention spans these days don’t go much beyond a few seconds. Try to keep your videos somewhere in the realm of 30 seconds if you want them to actually be seen by people, and pay attention to what others are doing online.

3. Be consistent

It’s important that people are able to follow what you are saying, or watching—it should make sense throughout the video so they don’t get confused about who’s talking when. If you have a storyline through your business, stick with it. For example, if you sell products about dogs in all sorts of colors, try not to have too many different dogs in each video. If you have someone talking for commercial purposes but then switch back and forth between 2 people when showing off products it might just confuse the viewer.

4. Get your message out there

If you have a video, post it everywhere—social media, blogs, YouTube and any other place where people might see it. Make sure the content is exactly the same on each platform so that whenever anyone views your video, they are able to connect with the same message no matter where they saw it.

5. Produce different kinds of videos for all channels

Even if you have only started making videos recently, chances are you have an Instagram account as well as Facebook or Twitter profile—all of these need to be considered when producing your videos. Don’t make them too long or hard to watch but still be creative! It’s good to do some research and see what others are doing on each platform before just going out and filming a video that you never actually plan on posting.

6. Keep up with trends

It’s important to stay relevant, no matter what business you have. Try keeping an eye out for trends so you can use them in your videos. For example, making fun videos about memes or viral news stories might help bring some extra attention to your brand if it’s being talked about everywhere else online. Just be careful not to do anything with copyrighted material since that is illegal—make sure you have permission if anyone ever appears in the background of your shot or at least write something into your contract that allows you to film them.

7. Use music carefully

Music is great to add if it’s relevant to what you’re talking about in the video. Just make sure that whatever song you use isn’t copyrighted or protected by someone privately—there are plenty of free tracks that can be found online so you should have no problem finding something.

8. Pay attention to audio quality

Whether you’re simply uploading a piece of footage or actually having people talk, audio quality is very important. If your audio sounds distorted, amateurish or muffled, the viewer might not want to watch which will ruin your whole video at best and get your account shut down at worst. Investing some time into researching which microphone works the best for YouTube videos could pay off big time.

9. Give viewers something to remember you by

Try giving your viewers a reason to come back—give them subscriptions for more video updates, contests or giveaways. Make sure they are actually things that you’ll do so they don’t lose interest over time. Having a Twitter or Facebook account is a great way to keep in touch with people and show that you care about what they have to say.

10. Add subtitles to your video

Even if you have English as your first language, subtitles reinforce what’s being said and can translate what might otherwise sound like gibberish to someone who is hearing-impaired. Try uploading videos with subtitles especially for this audience since there are many different kinds of disabilities that people can face when watching online content.

11. Try something new

If you’re stuck for ideas, you might want to try making how-to videos instead of the usual stuff about your company. Sometimes it can be very helpful to see things being done rather than just reading text on a screen, so give it a shot.