10 Video Marketing Tips for Destinations & Travel Brand Promotion

Video marketing is one of the best way to promote a travel brand or destination. Whether you’re a hotel, vacation rental, city, or adventure park your goal is to showcase your unique features and attract visitors. Video marketing can be an effective tool to achieve this goal, but it requires careful planning and execution. In this article, we’ll share our top 10 tips and tricks to help you create compelling videos that promote destinations.

1. Define your target audience

Before you start creating videos, it’s important to define your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? What are their interests and preferences? What is the target demographic? What kind of content do they enjoy watching? By answering these questions, you can tailor your videos to your audience and make sure that they resonate with them. If you are targeting luxury travelers who are looking for a high-end experience then your videos should showcase the hotel’s luxurious amenities, such as spa treatments, fine dining, and personalized service. If you’re promoting a budget-friendly vacation rental, your target audience might be budget-conscious travelers who are looking for affordable accommodation. In this case, your videos should highlight the rental’s value, proximity to landmarks, and amenities.

2. Show them, don’t just tell them

When it comes to destination promotion, visuals are key. Your videos should showcase the destination’s beauty and uniqueness in a compelling way. Rather than simply talking about the destination’s features, show them in action. Use high-quality footage to capture the destination’s scenery, attractions, and activities. Show visitors enjoying themselves and having fun. Use music, sound effects, and narration to enhance the experience. For example, if you’re promoting a city, you might use drone footage to capture the skyline and landmarks. You might also show visitors exploring the city’s neighborhoods, trying local cuisine, and attending cultural events. By showcasing the city’s unique features you can inspire viewers to plan their own visit.

3. Tell a compelling story

To make your videos memorable, tell a story. Rather than simply showcasing the destination’s features, create a narrative that engages viewers and makes them feel emotionally connected to the destination. This could involve highlighting the destination’s history, culture, or local traditions. It could also involve telling the story of a visitor’s experience, from arrival to departure. Create a day in the life type video and the viewer will understand what to expense when they visit. If you’re promoting a beach resort, you might tell the story of a family’s vacation from start to finish. Show them arriving at the resort, playing on the beach, enjoying the resort’s amenities, and bonding as a family. If your location caters primarily to couples your video could show how couples can experience a romantic vacation at your property. This would appeal to anyone seeking a romantic getaway. By creating a narrative that resonates with viewers, you can inspire them to plan their own beach vacation and take action.

4. Use social media to amplify your videos

Once you’ve created your videos, use social media to amplify their reach. Share them on your social media channels and anywhere else you can. Use hashtags to make your videos discoverable, and encourage viewers to share them with their own followers. Consider partnering with influencers or bloggers who can help promote your videos to their own audiences. Use giveaways and other promotions to encourage people to share the videos on their social media profiles. Don’t forget to add the video to your website homepage to increase the conversion rate of your website.

5. Use paid advertising channels to boost your campaign

Once you’ve exhausted your organic reach on social media, it’s time to consider paid options. You’ve taken the effort to produce great video content. Now you should have the budget allocated to boost it out beyond your typical audience. Some of the best social media platforms for video marketing include TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Ads. One great piece of video content can be used as your primary ad creative for 6-months or more.

6. Take advantage of your city or county tourism agency

Most cities or counties have a tourism board which is tasked with promoting the destination as a whole. Even though they are not typically going to favor one business over another, if your content is good they will promote it. By sending your video assets to the local tourism board you can get an extra boost in your marketing campaign. In many cases these tourism boards have big social media followings so this can be substantial. If you own a business such as an adventure park which does not have any direct competitors, they might even help pay your advertising campaign.

7. Hire local talent for your video production

By hiring local talent you can save money and get the community involved in the process. People love to see their friends and family on video advertisements and campaigns, and will happily promote the video for you. This can give your video marketing campaign a great extra boost that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Plus, if it’s a paid gig the money for talent stays in the community which is a huge benefit to everyone.

8. Create buzz by running your video as a TV commercial

In most cases the majority of your viewing audience will be on the internet, more specially social media. With that being said, by allocating a small portion of your budget for Television, you can create a new level of buzz around your project. We have seen it time and time again that people see TV ads as special or more important than internet. By promoting your destination marketing video with local talent as a TV ad you can create a feeding frenzy of excitement around your brand. Surprisingly this is more affordable than you would think. Local TV ads that just run in your target demographic can be very inexpensive. There’s also service like OTT TV spots that run on internet based television that are another great option.

9. Repurpose your content for multiple social media platforms

Creating a 1-2 minute promotional video can give you dozens of clips for social media marketing. By repurposing your video into shorter social media clips you can make your advertising budget stretch further. If your original video production is filmed in 1920 x 1080 you can have a video editor cut that down into shorter videos for social. Making dozens of short 10-20 second clips can give you weeks of great social media content for Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and even YouTube shorts.

10. Cross promote with other local business

Cross promoting with other local business can help your budget stretch further and help you with promotion. For example, if you are a hotel you could partner with a local zip line adventure company. This partnership can make your videos much more interesting and compelling to the traveler because it combines recreation, not just lodging. By combining lodging with recreation the video will be more exciting and cost less to produce. Once the video is completed both you and the partner can promote the video saving you both advertising dollars.

Final thoughts on video marketing for destinations and travel brand.

Promoting destinations through video marketing can be a powerful way to attract visitors and showcase their unique features. By defining your target audience, showing rather than telling, telling a story, and using social media to amplify your videos, you can create compelling videos that inspire viewers to plan their own visits. Cross promotion, paid advertising, and local talent can all give your video marketing campaigns the boost it needs. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be well on your way to creating successful destination promotion videos. If you’d like to learn more about video marketing for your travel brand or destination than reach out to Morrisey Productions.

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Video Marketing on Social Media

When your business opens itself to video marketing, you can create videos to bring more traffic to your social media pages. This way, you can gain more followers and share important business information with them. If you’re looking for ways to promote your business through videos, then check out these five ideas.
Introduce new products

Introduce Your Business

Keep in mind that your social media pages will continue to draw new people as they find out about it or come across it in searches. Because of this, you should create an introduction video about your business so people can see what you offer. This way, you have a strong way to introduce yourself to potential customers.
Your should make the introduction video of the highest quality possible. This will help people to associate hard work and excellent quality with your business, increasing the odds of them becoming customers. On top of that, you can show these people exactly what you want them to know when they first come across your business.
Make sure that your introduction video is in an easy-to-access place on your social media pages. Some sites will allow you to pin your posts, meaning that people will see them before anything else. In essence, use your introduction video to share what you want about your business and make it one of the first things that people will see on your page.
Share Products

Share New Products

On top of this, if your business develops a new product, you can use social media as the perfect place to share the ad. Remember that people follow your social media pages for news about your business, so make sure that you provide information that they care about. This includes new products that apply to your customers.
If you create an ad or explain your new product in a video, then you will want to share it on social media. This way, people will come across it in their feed and this will encourage them to watch the video. This way, they can see the new products that you want to provide to them so they can decide if they want to buy those products.
Remember that these videos will stay on your page, so people can come across them if they want to look at all of your videos. This way, you have a permanent way of advertising your new products to people as they look through your videos. Make sure to create videos about these new products and leave them on your social media pages.

Answer Questions

Remember that you will face reoccurring or common questions when you have an online presence, so if you want to address those questions, you can do so through video. This way, whenever someone asks your customer service representatives those questions, they can link the corresponding video to provide quick and effective answers.
People appreciate it when you go through the extra effort to answer their questions as effectively as possible. Due to this, you can use your videos as a way to answer questions and show statistics to back up your answers. This will show people that you provide good answers and solid information alongside it, making your business trustworthy

Show the Human Side

Remember that people like to relate with businesses and see the human side of the process. Because of this, you should either show personal stories related to your business through your videos. This way, people can build an emotional connection with your business.
Many times, people forget about the human side of a business because they become focused on the entity and the products. By reminding people about those behind the business, you can build a relationship with your customers. This way, they will want to continue supporting your business so they can support those people.
You can show this human side by having workers, customers and leaders appear in the videos. Have them talk directly to the camera and share their stories so that the viewer feels like the speaker is talking directly to him or her. This will allow you to build up those relationships with your viewers.

Inform People About Events

While most people associate videos with new products or stories, you can also use them to tell people about events. Many businesses will hold events as a way to spread brand awareness, make money or even give back to the community. Because of this, your business can share these events with people through videos.
In the video, you can give people all of the information that they need, such as the day of the event, what it will include and how they can contact your business about it. This way, you can quickly inform people about the event and encourage them to join it.
Remember that you can use videos as an eye-catching way to quickly inform people about your business. Since events are time sensitive, you need to draw as much attention to them as possible, so make sure to create a video advertising your events. This will help you to spread the message about the event to others and increase the attendance.

Conclusion

Video marketing gives you the perfect opportunity to quickly share information with your customers in an easy-to-understand way. Each of these video ideas will allow you to advertise and share your business with your customers. If you’re beginning to use video marketing on social media, then try out some of these ideas to draw attention.
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Video Marketing Strategies & Tactics

Are you wondering how to use video marketing to increase leads and sales? Getting good at using video strategies across your marketing channels is one of the most effective ways to attract a larger audience to your brand.
Video helps to deliver information in a simplified manner that helps your prospects understand why you’re the best option for their needs. Including intriguing calls-to-action inside highquality video content is effective for producing sales.
Let’s discuss the various video production and marketing strategies to use for a more productive sales funnel.
Build a youtube channel

Build Out Your YouTube Channel

YouTube ranks behind only Google as the world’s second largest search engine. Capitalizing on YouTube’s search capabilities makes sense all by itself. It becomes even more compelling when you factor in the fact that embedded YouTube videos improve your website’s SEO results.

There are many types of videos to create and post on your YouTube channel:

  • Webinars
  • Instructional videos
  • Product demos
  • Getting started content
  • Interviews
  • How-to videos
  • Tutorials
  • Company events
  • Behind-the-scenes content
  • Information about your company or team
Learn high-quality video production skills so that your audience remains engaged with your content longer. Create a content calendar that helps you post videos on a regular basis. Share those videos across all of your other social media channels and post them on your website.
Video sponsor advertisement

Use Social Media Sponsored Video Ads

It’s important to create an engaging presence on your social media platforms in order to raise brand awareness and increase revenue. The challenge is that the competition is high across almost every niche imaginable. Your company is competing with competitors and also all the other distracting elements vying for your audience’s social media attention.
Building out a paid ads campaign is one of the best ways to stand out inside today’s crowded advertising space. You’ll discover that using videos in those ads will boost engagement more than any other paid advertising technique.
Use short, punchy videos for your paid ads. The goal is to grab attention, get the lead and then educate your prospect on the backend about why they need to do business with your company.
Engage your followers

Keep Your Fans & Followers Engaged With Video Marketing

Always keep in mind that social media isn’t only about gaining new followers, prospects and customers. You should invest time engaging the social media followers that you already have.
It’s easy to fall into a trap of using text or images only when posting organically on social media. Don’t forget to post videos aimed at personalizing your brand into the minds and hearts of people who already follow along.
Another way to get a leg up on your competition is to strategically find followers who are worth creating personalized videos for. Your social media manager should invest time each week finding followers who have a sizable audience themselves.
Next, create a personalized video for each particular influencer and send it over via chat or direct message. This extra personal touch makes that person feel special and can turn into lucrative partnerships for both sides.
Use a strategic call-to-action at the end of the video and encourage them to take the next step with you.

Leverage User-Generated Content

We all know how important testimonials are for gaining new leads. However, the best testimonial is one where a customer actually shows themselves using your product.
Hold a contest on social media. Include a call-to-action where customers send in videos showing themselves using your product. The winning video can be shared across all your social media platforms and on your website’s homepage.
Prospects feel more confident becoming customers after seeing user-generated videos. This type of video content turns customers into brand ambassadors. Another advantage gained via this video marketing strategy is that it makes your company more human in the minds of both prospects and customers.
A variation on this method is to ask customers to film themselves unboxing your products. These videos show the real-time excitement of taking your product out of the box and using it for the first time. They create a “me too” effect where prospects feel influenced to buy and experience the same emotions.
Instagram Stories

Use Snapchat Stories & Instagram Stories

Stories are popular on both Instagram and Snapchat. Use these short video experiences to drive extra engagement. If your audience size is large enough, then you can link straight to your site. It makes Stories powerful for driving revenue during a flash sale promotion.

Share Video Via Email Marketing

Don’t forget to use videos throughout your email marketing campaigns. Feature an employee interview inside the first or second email of your onboarding sequence. Then, use demos and instructional videos later in the series. Finally, insert webinars and/or tutorials that use calls-toaction over to the sales page.
As you send broadcast emails each month, brainstorm ways to use webinars, interviews, how-to videos, behind-the-scenes content and company event videos to continue driving subscribers from email back to your sales pages.
Seo

Improve SEO Results

Embed videos on your blog to improve SEO campaigns. Visitors stay on your site longer while watching video content. They visit more pages looking for extra content after engaging with video. The end result is an improvement in search rankings.
As you can see, using video inside your marketing campaigns is highly effective when it comes to improving engagement, attracting leads and closing sales.
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Ways To Use Video To Promote Your Small Business

22 Awesome Ways To Use Video To Promote Your Small Business

One of the best ways to promote your small business is to use video, but small business owners may not necessarily know how to use video. To give you some ideas, here are 22 different ways videos can be used to promote your small business.

22. Utilize Youtube

YouTube is a great platform for content creators. If you plan on publishing video content regularly, you should try to upload it onto YouTube and build an audience there to help grow your brand presence. Videos uploaded to Youtube (any any platform for that matter) should be your best quality videos as it is often peoples first impression of your brand. If you dont want to post your full length content, consider posting teaser videos, a video ad you have created, etc.

21. Build an Audience via A Contest

Another great way to use video is to promote a contest. Contests can be a great way to bring in traffic, leads, and increase your engagement resulting in and increase of social media followers. Consider making an “explainer video” describing your contest and how to enter it – its a good opportunity to put out some more video content!

20. Use Video In Your Outreach

Trying to strike a business deal? Instead of just using email, why not add a personalized video presentation with your proposal? It will stand out among all the other requests that are sent.

19. Collaborate with Other Content Creators

A great way to expand your audience is to collaborate with other content creators. You will be able to push out the same video content to each other’s audiences and networks for more exposure.

18. Enhance Your Email Marketing

Did you know that people tend to be more responsive to word video in emails? And did you know that you can actually embed videos in your emails? If you want to enhance your email marketing campaigns, videos are worth experimenting with.

17. Film a Series

Rather than regular content, why not film a regular series? It can be something as simple as a monthly interview with the experts, a weekend industry roundup, or Friday news recap. The types of content you create will depend on your industry, just make sure you’re not wasting time and creating things that arent relevant to your customers!

16. Create Unique Social Media Content

There are many new forms of videos. This includes boomerangs which are short looping clips,  and social media “stories” which can be made up of a variety of multimedia content. These content formats are popular on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. The content and the type of videos for small businesses that work best vary from industry to industry.

15. Offer Instructions

Using videos to instruct users is a great way to get them to take action. You can offer instructions on how to reach customer support, add to their order, use the checkout page, take part in a promotional deal, use on of your products, and more! Consider scheduling an annual Facebook live video based on content that is relevant to your customer base.

14. Create Video Tours

Companies in industries like construction and real estate are using features like virtual video tours to attract potential clients and drive more traffic to your website. This is an effective interactive and promotional marketing strategy. It can be a great way to promote whatever you’re selling in the right industry. Consider adding a video on your landing page if you are in an industry where a virtual tour would make sense – a well functioning, good looking website helps increase conversion rates!

13. Videos are Great for Training and Onboarding

Whether you’re training and onboarding new users to your platform, employees, or new affiliates for your business, videos will prove to be an indispensable tool. Videos are often more effective at teaching people than written content and images.

12. Use Video Testimonials

Social proof is one of the best ways to add selling power to your products and services. Rather than use text-based testimonials or photos, try to encourage people who use your products or services to provide video reviews. You’ll see a big difference in believability and most importantly, your sales numbers.

11. Offer Step-by-Step Tutorials

Complex products or products with many features will benefit from step-by-step video tutorials. These tutorials not only show off the capabilities of your products, but they also help users get an idea of how they can use it themselves. Companies that have complex products will benefit from this as written content and images arent always the best way to relay information.

10. Use Video Teasers to Launch Products and Services

If you’re launching a new product or service to the marketplace, a great way to stir people up is to use anticipation via a video marketing campaign. Short video teasers or a short video series are a great way to capture people’s curiosity and interest.

9. Use Videos to Support Your Sales Message

Who says you have to solely rely on written content or video for your sales message? You can use both in your sales message to support each other. Many websites use this combination because it allows users to better understand the message ultimately driving traffic and increasing conversion rates.

8. Tell Your Brand Story

Telling who you are as a brand is a great way to establish your business identity and connect with your audience. A great way to do this is to use video because it is a great way to tell your story, invoke emotions, and help your audience visualize your core message. Consider creating a short video series, or place a video on your landing page describing your brand, how it came to be, and its purpose.

7. Run Webinars

Webinars are one of the best ways to sell your products and services. It’s different from sales videos because they are usually packed with a lot of content. They also leave room for interaction through small Q&A sessions during the webinars.

6. Live Stream Events

If you’re hosting some kind of event, a great way to promote your small business is to do a live stream. This is simply a video where you broadcast to people in real-time. You can even interact with viewers in real-time.

5. Use Videos as a Sales Tool

Video can be an effective way to sell your products and services. Many companies have used long-form video sales presentations rather than sales letters to sell. Many have reported that sales videos often outperformed long sales letters.

4. Create Entertaining Videos

It’s nice to give people a small break from the seriousness. Entertaining videos are a great way to keep your audience engaged without any serious content or sales intent. You’ll find your audience will like, trust, and relate to you more with these kinds of videos.

3. Create Educational Videos

An easy way to use videos is to offer value to your target audience through educational videos. Do a little research in the search engines to find out what people are curious about, what problems they have, and what their interests are. Then create an educational video on these topics.

2. Show How Your Product Works

If you are selling a physical product, don’t simply rely on photos to do the job. Film a video that shows how your product works. This makes it easier for the consumer to understand the value of your product.

1.  Distribute To Most Major Channels

While you may not actively use major social media platforms regularly, we still reccomend keeping profiles up to date in the case that your profile is a potential customers first interaction with your business. There are many channels that can help give your videos more exposure. The list includes YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.

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How To Get Video Production Clients

How To Get Video Production Clients 

Are you a photographer, video production company owner looking to grow your business and secure more clients? We know that one of the most challenging aspects of running any business is the constant need for more clients and more sales. In this blog we discuss how you can begin securing more clients for your video production company and skyrocket your business to new heights. 

After over a decade in the business, the number one biggest problem I see is that creators rely to heavily on the quality of their work and its ability to attract clients. Although good production is key to a successful video production business, it is not an effective marketing strategy. Sure, your stuff might look great, but so does a lot of other peoples. And, in the digital age, how are you standing out amongst the crowd? Why should your ideal client choose you over your competition? There is simply too much competition on the internet to expect clients to seek you and your services out. Simply put, the best way to find clients for your company is to be actively seeking potential customers. If you’re ready to step up your marketing strategy and grow your video production company we have compiled some of our best tips below. 

Cold Outreach 

There are multiple kinds of cold outreach. Cold outreach, simply put, is reaching out to/contacting someone you have had no prior contact with. Now, this can seem scary because you don’t want to potentially be off-putting or embarrass yourself along the way. But, it is an undeniably effective method. Some examples of cold outreach are:

  • Cold Calling 
  • Emailing
  • Direct Mail 
  • Direct Message on Social Media 

Cold calling is one of the oldest forms of marketing. Despite its age, this form of outreach is still highly effective when combined with modern technology. Instead of making phone calls, you can reach out to potential clients via email or direct message. It is helpful to have a script pre-written to help speed up the process. You should make an effort to use this cold outreach method at least a few times per day. This will greatly improve your chances of finding work.

Bring Value Without Being “Asked” For It

Earlier we talked about how saturated the digital landscape is. A quick scroll through the discover feed on Instagram will likely  serve you up dozens of beautiful photos and videos from a creator just like you. One of the best ways to attract new clients is to offer free value upfront. When people search online for solutions to their problem, the company answering those questions will immediately gain their trust and recognition. Often times people aren’t even actively seeking an answer to their “problems,” but still resonate with someone willing to offer up free value. Think about it, why do you follow the influencers you do on social media? And I’m not talking your friends and family. I’m talking about the people you have never met yet follow their life through your phone. What do they offer you? What keeps you coming back? You should be actively creating helpful content online in the form of videos, blog posts, etc. Build up your credibility so that when someone does seek help on “What To Ask Before Hiring A Wedding Videographer” they are more likely to click on your blog post than the other guys. 

Content Marketing 

Similar to what we talked about above, content marketing is the act of creating and sharing online materials that do not necessarily promote your business, but help build interest in your services. Content marketing can be done in a variety of ways including blogging, vlogging, making videos, email marketing, etc. You really can take content marketing whatever route you want. Make tip sheets to distribute when email marketing, or make a blog on how new videographers can become more comfortable with editing. Do some keyword research, what terms are being searched that you can make a video or blog post about? Have you seen any trends you have some insight on that you can share? It can sound draining to be offering up all this content with no direct return, but trust us – it works. 

Use Your Personal and Business Network

Networking is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of marketing in any industry. The same is true for video production. You can find a lot of work through a network of other freelancers. The photographer you encountered at an event may be able to refer video clients to you. And, in exchange, you could keep an eye out for clients who need some photography skills. Consider teaming up with other freelancers who specialize in different areas. Your combined skills can be offered an entire package. Aside from networking with other people in your industry, network with people who may need your services. Attend chamber events, make friends with people on the marketing side of companies. Anyone that pushes out content that isn’t produced in-house could always be in need of your services. Making those connections can get you a foot in when they look to subcontract a videographer for their next video. 

Frequent Certain Spaces

Active marketing requires that you seek out potential clients. You’ll find that your target audience tends to spend time in the same online spaces. Because they are in the same niche, they have the same problems, questions, interests, and solutions. Frequenting these client spaces can help expose your company while also establishing you as an expert in the field. These spaces can also keep you up-to-date on the latest trends and need within the niche. If everyone is discussing a new problem, you can be the first to offer a unique solution. There are endless benefits to frequenting these client spaces. They can come in the form of niche blogs, forums, social media platforms, and more. The same goes for people within your industry. There is always more to learn, and hanging out in photography/videography specific spaces can not only help you build connections, but expose you to other styles of work, trends, and more. 

Actively Seek Work 

Finding potential clients doesn’t always have to be a game of hide-and-seek. Although the internet is crowded with thousands of competitors doing the same work as you, finding work can be quite simple. There are always people, and companies actively searching for your type of services. Instead of assuming they will find you and your content, you should take time to search for their inquiry. There are countless job boards online, and on social media where people or businesses are requesting video work. Sites like UpWork, Freelancer, and ServiceSpace are great places to find clients who are in need of video production. Does your local area have a marketplace on Facebook? Check there to see if anyone on the local level is seeking work. Have a portfolio ready to send out when you come across these listings – they may get booked fast. 

Paid Ads Can Work 

Actively searching for jobs is an undeniable way to find work. But, some people just dont have the time to dedicate to this process. Fortunately, there are paid advertising options that can generate a nice return on your investment. Paid ads can be spendy, and in some cases we advise against them, but the trick to paid ads  is knowing where to advertise and how to generate a compelling campaign. Social media platforms are great places to start advertising because of the targeting measures that can be used. For example, companies that specialize in wedding videos can target their ads to engaged couples. When you set out to start a paid ad campaign, make sure you are targeting your ideal customer. We always say – advertising to everyone, is actually advertising to no one. If you are a wedding videographer consider changing your reach parameters to target engaged couples. Be specific with who and where you are targeting and you will see results. 

Build A Strong Online Presence  

We’ve said it once and we’ll say it again – the photographer and videographer market is so saturated it may seem like you’re one in a million. This is why we say you need to dial in your online presence. This means you need to have an outstanding website, up-to-date listings, social accounts that are representative of your professional self. Potential clients will always want to see your previous work in order to get an idea of your capabilities. If you don’t have any prior work examples, make some of your own content and have any good reviews, or customer testimonials available and in plain sight on your website. You don’t need to showcase every single job you’ve ever done, just some of your best work. Post freely on Facebook, and Instagram but keep your website sleek, and to the point. They need video work, and you’ve got the skills to deliver. Include call-to-actions wherever applicable to close that sales process as soon as possible. 

 

As you know by now, finding new jobs for your video production company isn’t impossible. However, it does take a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistency. The most important part of marketing and building a successful company is to be active. Actively seek clients, and actively work towards bringing the most value to your clients. Utilize these tips and you will be well on your way to a successful career.

 

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20 Video Marketing Tips

If a picture is worth a thousand words, is a video worth two thousand? Five thousand? More? In the digital age, content is king. Engaging content is one of the most powerful promotional tools a company can utilize. But, what makes content engaging? How do you catch someone’s eye that has been scrolling 50 miles per hour since the iPhone was released all the way back in 2007? Yes, the iPhone, the internet, social media, and so much more has changed immeasurably since that first iPhone took the world by storm but marketings definition has essentially stayed the same. When marketing, your intent is to promote and sell products/services via market research and advertising. Research your product/services market and its customers, and advertise said product/service accordingly. Sounds easy, right? Not so much. Now that most of the world is accustomed to viewing and absorbing content daily (if not hourly) it can be hard to catch your customer’s eye and stand out from the crowd.

Aside from helping you market your product or service, video marketing can be incorporated in promotional videos, value-based videos/content, customer testimonials, how-to’s, or before and after examples (when applicable.) While the thought of going out and shooting a great video can sound exciting to some, quality video production is costly and shouldn’t be taken lightly when incorporated into your digital marketing plan. Ignore the basic principles of marketing (data-driven campaigns) and you’ll end up wasting money on a video that might look cool to you, but won’t actually do anything for your customers, your business, or your sales. Develop an effective video marketing strategy and you can be well on your way towards engaging with your customers and skyrocketing sales and brand awareness. Read on for our top 20 tips on video marketing.

3)Check Out Other Videos For Inspo
Reflect on video marketing campaigns that have caught your eye in the past. For example, one of the things that make the Superbowl so popular is the hype around the commercials they air during the game. A 30-second commercial during the game costs companies upwards of 5.2 Million dollars – so you know they are putting out their best content. Find inspiration in the way they use humor, or current social issues to catch America’s attention.

2)Have an Intriguing Intro
Like we said earlier, it can be hard to catch someone’s eye when they’ve already spent a good amount of time scrolling and absorbing content. You should aim to catch your viewer’s attention within the first 3-5 seconds of your video. Not long, right? Experts also suggest viewers should already get the gist of your videos purpose within the same time frame.

3) Tell a Story
When someone approaches me in person, over the phone, or via email in a “salesperson” way I am immediately turned off. While video marketing’s purpose is to promote your product/service and brand you also don’t want to put off potential clients by pushing yourself on them. Let your video tell a story – aim to resonate in some way with your customer. Strike an emotion that gets the viewer hooked before pitching yourself too hard, if at all.

4) Mobile-Friendly – Always
Similar to your website, your videos must always be mobile-friendly. Some things on this list may only be applicable to some people and businesses, but this tip is universal. Mobile friendly. Always. Mobile devices are the #1 devices people use to surf the web. If your video isn’t mobile-friendly you can guarantee viewers will skip over it and move on to one that is.

5) Include a CTA But Don’t Go Overboard on Sales
Similar to how websites, pages, blogs, etc. should include at least one call to action, your videos should too. Think about what you want viewers to do once they’ve finished your video. Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter? Check out the highlighted product? Fill out an Inquiry form? We stress not making videos too “sales-y” but this tip is critical if you want action to come from your video – just make sure your CTA is easily completed, and relevant to the info you just presented.

6) The Shorter The Better
Now that people are conditioned to scroll Instagram and Facebook a million miles per minute, their attention spans are gradually getting shorter and shorter. Not only should you grab viewers attention within the first five seconds of your video, but your entire video should be short and concise enough that customers don’t click through and move on before you get your message across.

7) Quality Over Perfection
Focus more on providing quality content, rather than the perfect content. As a small business owner, you likely aren’t spending your limited time and money on fancy video production equipment or studio time. With all of the advanced technology we have access to nowadays, focus more on creating a good quality video that resonates and appeals to the same level as your customer demographic. Aesthetics are important, but not so important that you dehumanize your business and alienate your target customer.

8) Build Hype Around Your Video Release
This might seem silly if you just plan on releasing a 10-second video on how to properly whisk your scrambled eggs, but the heads up can help put you in the forefront of your customers and followers minds. Depending on the content you’ll be releasing you can hype up your video release for weeks, days, or even hours. A quick “New Video Coming Soon!” can go a long way when promoting your video content.

9) Consider NOT Using Audio
Don’t get us wrong, audio might be critical in SOME video production situations. In most, you can probably do without it. The majority of people are scrolling through their phones on the go, at the office, in a restaurant, etc. Essentially, people can be scrolling at any given moment in any given setting and not all settings are appropriate for blasting the volume on a video you’re watching. Consider adding text if you need to get info, or instructions across. This gives people a chance to receive your message even in situations where they can’t listen to the audio. Trust us, if someone scrolls away from your video because they aren’t able to hear it, they likely won’t be coming back or see it on their next scroll. Thanks, algorithms!

10) Repurpose Past Blog Posts or Content and Recreate Into a Video
This is an easy way to jump-start creating video content. Want to get comfortable with making and distributing videos before investing time in new ideas? Repurpose past work of yours and deliver it in video form.

11) Use Live Video Streaming To Engage With Your Audience
Live video isn’t always the way to go, but it can be a fun way to engage with your audience. Doing a giveaway? Consider streaming your winner announcement live. Hosting, or attending a special event related to your company? Live to stream it and take viewers behind the scenes, or get them in on the action! Live streaming can be utilized in a lot of different ways, just don’t go this route all, or even most of the time.

12) Add a Video To Your Website Homepage
Simply put, Google loves video content. Any marketing campaign should include SEO in their plan, but don’t forget to include SEO when making your video marketing plan. Google is king and if you want your business to show up in their listings, you have to play by their rules. To ensure you’re getting all you can out of your latest video release include a well-written video description that uses relevant keywords.

13) Take Viewers Behind The Scenes
Similar to what we discussed about live streaming, taking viewers behind the scenes can make them feel more connected to your company. Have there been times you wished you could go behind the counter of your favorite store, or see the prep work it takes to make your favorite meal or snack? Inviting viewers behind the scenes makes them feel as though they know something others don’t – like they’re an insider at your company. Do this wisely, but have fun with it – you don’t need to give away your top-secret recipe in order to feel more connected to your customers.

14) Encourage People To Engage With Your Content
Similar to posting on social media, encourage viewers to engage with your content. This can be in the form of a call to action, but can be as simple as stating “LIKE this video if you love chocolate” or “COMMENT your favorite product of ours and why.” If you’re having trouble generating engagement, consider adding some incentive.

15) Include Employees or Customers in Video Marketing Campaigns
This can be a really easy and fun way for business owners to generate new video content while keeping things in-house and promoting customer/business relationships. Small businesses can often evoke feelings of family and unity. You’re likely working with a smaller team on a more personal level, and customers are more likely to recognize familiar faces. Go behind the scenes on the average workday or encourage employees to share their favorite product from your business. There’s a ton of ways you can do this, try it out!

16) Highlight In-House or Industry Experts
Similar to including employees or customers in videos, including an in-house or industry expert in your video can encourage viewers to stay engaged longer. This can not only add value for your viewers but can be a good selling point when promoting your video. “Master Yogi, Jane Doe, Gives Top 10 Tips To Kickstart Your Own Yoga Practice” is more appealing than “Watch This and Learn How To Open a Yoga Studio Someday.”

17) Consider Creating a Mini-Series
We don’t mean this in the sense that you should film a literal mini-series for your company (if that’s applicable to you, cool. Chances are it’s not though.) You don’t need to film a sequence of videos full of cliffhangers leading to a climactic ending somewhere down the line. But, consider releasing a themed video every Monday, once a month, etc. For example, if you’re a hairstylist you can post a video every Thursday highlighting different ways to style your hair to help beat the summer heat. Choose something that your customers will want to engage with time and time again and give them something to look forward to.

18) Include Tutorial Videos When Applicable
If you have a business that doesn’t sell a product consumers need to “use” you can still utilize tutorial videos! Have you ever seen those fast-paced cooking videos on Facebook? MAYBE you actually replicated a recipe you saw, but chances are you just enjoyed watching it first. While this can vary greatly from business to business, don’t limit yourself on what you can do. If you own a restaurant but don’t want to give away any recipes, consider making a video on how to cook the perfect fried egg. Easy, right?

19) Experiment With Different Length Videos
We’ve reiterated videos typically need to be quick and concise to really land with consumers. But that doesn’t mean every video you make should be fast-paced, and 10 seconds long. Put out videos of varying lengths. Tutorials can be longer, promotional videos can be shorter but have awesome music and graphics. Make sure you are paying attention to insights on the platforms you post your videos on – they can tell you which videos perform best based on length, time posted, and more.

20) Don’t Be Boring
Last but not least, just don’t be boring. Put your best foot forward and create content your AUDIENCE wants to see – not what you want to see (because they’re not always the same thing.) Follow these tips, keep things fresh and you’re on your way to creating video content that will not only increase sales but promote a stronger business and customer relationship.

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Oregon is Beautiful


Oregon is the most beautiful and diverse state, don’t you agree?

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