Top 12 Tips for Creating Exceptional Marketing Videos

Video marketing has become absolutely essential for most businesses in the past ten years. Here's how to create great videos that work for your business without consuming too much time or resources.

I think you will agree when I say: creating successful video content is a challenging task for anyone.

There are many things to consider long before picking up the camera. Then there are even more things to consider after shooting the actual video.

It's a herculean task for beginners and experienced marketers alike. Yet, we all know video marketing is a powerful strategy to grow your brand.

Not to worry, though, because, in today's post, we share the top twelve tips for creating exceptional marketing videos that could go viral and drive your business forward.

Know Your Audience

The very thing you want to do is research your target audience. Who are they? What are their pain points?

What kind of content do they need to make their lives easier? What are they asking on social media? And what do they expect from you or businesses like yours?

With a clear picture of your target audience, you're in a better position to create videos that resonate with them.

Creating videos without planning is just shooting yourself in the foot. Take the time to understand your target audience and the problems they are facing.

You can use the data that you already have. Dig into your analytics reports to understand your target audience and what they are actively looking for.

Use tools such as Google Trends and results from your existing content, i.e., past emails and blog posts, to see what works.

Your SEO reports are also a reliable source of ideas. The more you know your target audience, the more engagement you'll get.

Plan, Plan & Plan Some More

You must have an effective video marketing plan from the word go if you hope to create great videos.

Your video must be helpful to your audience, and that needs planning. Create a storyboard that ensures you hit every goal.

Many businesses decide they want to create videos because it is a trending thing to do right now.

They don't stop asking how the videos they create tie in with the company's overarching goals.

And that's the quickest way to create videos that don't work for your business.

To craft an effective video plan, you have to ask yourself questions like:

• What problem is your video solving?
• Who is the audience, and why would they care about your videos?
• What types of videos are you going to create?
• How will you distribute the videos?
• What is the customer journey of your audience?

Answering these basic questions ensures that you create a video highlighting the customer's problem and the right information about your products and services.

On top of that, ensure you have an experienced person leading your video marketing campaign. This person will monitor the strategy, production, and campaign results to ensure success.

Storytelling Wins Every Time

Storytelling is one of the best video marketing tips you can take away from today's post.

No matter the length of your video, strive to tell a story. Keep in mind every story has a beginning, middle, and end.

In the beginning, you want to make sure your video catches your viewers' attention, so they can keep watching.

In the middle, you want to provide more details to build the story. Here's where your video needs to have the most useful content.

At the end is where you tell your viewers what to do with the information you just shared. This is the perfect time to drop your call to action.

You can tell whichever story you want, but make sure it's at least entertaining or educational.

Whether you're telling your story in a single video or across multiple videos, keep in mind that it is a marathon and not a sprint.

The best stories are personal, so tell a story that your audience can easily identify with.

Make their prominent pain point the villain, and then demolish it with your solution.

Also, transport the viewer into your brand's narrative by making them feel like the hero of the story.

Keep telling your story and stay consistent.

Grab Your Viewer's Attention Immediately

There are millions of videos out there, all competing for your viewer's attention. If your intro sucks, you have no chance.

That's why it is vital to capture the viewer's attention with a powerful introduction.

Many viewers click off a video within the first 10 seconds, meaning you have a slim window of opportunity to make an impact.

For this very reason, focus on creating the best title and intro you can. Your video thumbnails should also stand out. It's called "clickbait" for a reason.

You want to draw in the viewer within the first three to five seconds. Of course, the rest of the video is important, but it's the intro that makes or breaks most videos.

Create a powerful opening scene to capture the viewers' attention and then continue delivering great visuals and content to keep them engaged.

You can ask an interesting question or add something impactful, emotional, or shocking at the beginning of the video.

Don't waste the first 10 seconds talking about boring stuff or your business. Instead, set the tone with an exciting introduction that keeps the viewer watching.

Don't be a Perfectionist

Many people get stuck in the planning stage and end up creating no videos at all.

So, instead of taking it slow and creating a complex content calendar, branding, and whatnot, you need to keep creating videos consistently.

Remember, you're practicing, and practice makes perfect. You don't have to get everything right from the beginning.

Create videos and share them with your audience. Then check your analytics to understand how each video performs.

With this data, you can improve your next video accordingly. Little improvements make an enormous difference over time.

You cannot afford to overthink - most viral videos I've come across aren't perfect. Some were actually shot on smartphones.

Be yourself, and don't be afraid of being different - just don't let perfectionism stop you from creating videos.

By all means, buy the cameras and software that makes you feel ready. If you're on a budget, work with what you have.

Your iPhone has a great camera, and there is a ton of free video editing software online.

Just read a quick guide on using a smartphone to create professional videos or invest in video production gear if you must.

And then keep churning videos and checking your analytics to establish what works and what doesn't.

Address Real Problems

The best marketing videos are helpful. They address real problems that your audience is facing.

See why it's important to define and understand your audience?

Read the questions that customers ask your customer service team. Then address those questions in your videos.

Your customers will love you for that, plus potential customers might have the same questions.

Being in touch with your customers will help you identify the content they need to make their lives better.

That's why answering their questions in your videos is crucial to creating successful marketing videos.

Creating videos is expensive, so you want to maximize your marketing dollars' value by ensuring your videos are relevant.

And how do you make your videos relevant? You answer the questions that customers are asking.

Be creative when addressing your customers' problems. You don't have to be boring to the core because you sell tires, for instance.

Be Human

Yes, you're a business. But you're not a robot without normal human feelings.

Your video should feel like a one-on-one conversation with your viewer. You want to keep things human and authentic, which allows viewers to connect with you.

The best marketing videos offer useful information that helps users know, like, and trust you.

That is why it's crucial to keep it simple and be yourself. If you're faking it, viewers will see through the facade, and your video will fail.

Your marketing video doesn't need to be overly produced or even scripted, but there are many autocue apps available if you feel comfortable with an autocue.

Just be human and endeavor to connect with your audience on a human level. Authenticity goes a long way as far as creating exceptional marketing videos go.

Many businesses assume marketing videos need to be business-like. What that does is kill the fun factor and make your videos boring.

You end up coming across as salesy, which repels your viewers. You want your viewers to feel like they have a casual coffee date with you at Starbucks.

You wouldn't bore a friend to death with business jargon on a coffee date. You would be cracking jokes and having a great time.

Adopt the same approach when creating your marketing videos, and you have a better chance of enjoying success.

In other words, bring all the energy and personality you have to your videos. It is a video, and your viewers can feel all the energy you're putting off.

Keep It Short and Simple (K.I.S.S)

Attention spans on the internet are as short as short can be. Plus, there are millions of videos on the internet waiting to capture your viewer's attention.

To better your odds, you need to keep your videos short and simple. It's true long-form videos can perform well on YouTube, for instance, but short-form videos are perfect for just about any platform.

What you need to do is cut your video in half. If your video is five minutes long, how can you tell the same story in two minutes?

How can you tell the same story in 60 seconds? Cut and cut some more until you have a short video that tells the same story.

Obviously, it's not simple but do it - it's what video editors get paid highly to do. Eliminate sequences that don't add value.

In the age of digital distractions, a shorter and snappier video will get you through the door.

Plus, you can always repurpose the content you cut out for a second marketing video.

A shorter video increases customers' likelihood of watching to the end, which is exactly what you want.

So, create short, simple, and visually engaging videos that communicate your key messages without the fluff.

The operating principle here is: show, don't tell. And you must talk in your videos, keep it simple, and don't bore your audience.

Pay Attention to Details

How is your video quality? What about the sound? How does your thumbnail look? Do you even have a heading on your thumbnail?

If your video lighting and sound are off, it reflects poorly on your brand. If users cannot tell what they are getting from watching your video because you don't have a thumbnail heading, they won't click the play button.

Where are you hosting the videos? Yes, that matters too. Viewers on social media are exploring for the most part.

As such, it's important to create videos that help viewers discover and engage with your brand.

Viewers on search engines, YouTube, or your blog are looking for help and information. For this reason, it's vital to create videos that offer the information they need.

Viewers on your landing page, service page, or about page are potentially considering your offer. As such, you must create videos that tell a story and build trust.

As you can see, you need different videos for various platforms where you plan to host your videos. One video cannot cut it across different platforms.

A video that's popular on Facebook might perform poorly on YouTube because users have different intentions.

Pay close attention to such details, and you'll create videos that resonate with your audience wherever they hang out.

Keep Your Branding in Perspective

While you don't want to jam your brand down anyone's throat, you cannot afford to leave out your brand message altogether.

Unlike written copy, your brand voice, personality, and energy come through even more when you're creating a video.

As such, you cannot waste this excellent opportunity for your brand to shine. It's important to outline how your brand voice will impact your videos.

You easily make your brand stand out from the crowd by using on-brand jokes, references, and language.

Ensure that you're conveying your brand message and call to action as soon as possible but be creative about it so that you don't sound salesy.

You can use compelling visuals that incorporate your branding component without losing the viewer's attention.

So, pave your own path and don't copy what other brands are doing. In other words, create videos that are authentic and true to your brand.

Add Subtitles

Good videos convey your message visually. The best videos don't need audio content to convey your message.

After all, a huge chunk of viewers watch videos without sound nowadays, which is why your video needs to make sense even when viewers hit the mute button.

Enters subtitles, and your day is saved. Add subtitles to your videos so that people without sound can watch and understand your videos.

Unknown to many, adding captions to your videos is really simple. There are countless apps to add captions to your videos automatically.

We are not telling you to do away with the sound completely. Just add captions and callouts so that your videos can be enjoyed by a large audience, including people who have turned off their sound.

Consider Video SEO

Do you want to make your videos more discoverable? If that's a resounding yes, you must consider video SEO.

Video SEO is all about optimizing your videos for search engines. That way, viewers will find your video when they enter relevant keywords in search engines.

For starters, you need to choose the right video hosting platform, depending on your goals.

Different platforms offer different SEO benefits, so do your due diligence beforehand.

On top of that, add a video transcript to your videos. Search engine robots don't "see" your video the way humans do. But a video transcript allows search engine spiders to crawl and index your video.

Thirdly, make your thumbnail engaging. This has nothing to do with actual technical SEO, but it helps you draw the viewer once they find your video in search engine result pages.

Fourthly, create compelling video titles and descriptions. If you can, include a relevant keyword in the title and description. But don't stuff your title or description with keywords because that won't work.

If you're hosting the video on your website, ensure the rest of the page is relevant to the video. Ensure that you optimize your page for SEO as well.

Final Words

Creating exceptional marketing videos might seem challenging at first, but we hope you can now create videos that help your business move forward with today's post.

The best tip is ensuring you know your audience in and out, so you can create helpful content that addresses real problems. Also, don't forget to be yourself and create exciting content that gets people going.

Which are your favorite tips for creating exceptional marketing videos?