Video Marketing Tips – From Idea to Success

Videos are hardly imaginable from social media platforms these days. Pages like YouTube and Tiktok are even based entirely on video content. Nevertheless, only a few use this powerful tool for maximum effectiveness.

That's why we'll show you in the following article how to create high-quality and appealing videos, how to reach your target audience optimally and some tips and tricks that can help you attract new customers.

Why Video Marketing?

In comparison to other marketing options, video marketing is definitely the most emotional. Especially when it comes to selling something, emotions play an important role. That's why information or advertising videos are particularly popular, as they allow us to stage a story that inspires the interested party. These videos are often watched before the purchase, before deciding to purchase the product. Another advantage of videos is the fact that your website is preferred by search engines. Viewers stay on the site for a long time, which signals to the search engines that important information is on your website.

If you already have an idea for a video: Great! Because that's the first step to successful video marketing - developing and working out a precise idea. But if you don't have any concrete ideas yet, we'll also go into the content for a successful video in the course of the article. With a little creativity, structure and time, your ideal video can soon go online! Because here, too, planning is everything!

Goals of Video Marketing

In order to create an appealing video, you should first be clear about what you want to achieve with your video. You should therefore determine for yourself what your goals are and how you can achieve them with video marketing. Below we have put together some suggestions for you:

• Awaken interest
• Your video should inspire interest and attract more attention to your products, services or another defined goal
• Increase awareness
• Your offers should become more well-known, not least through a good placement in various search engines or a high reach
• Improve image
• So that your brand or product can be associated with certain terms or feelings, an image video can be created. You can do this for individual products or across the company.
• Support purchase decision
• Through a video, you can better showcase your product and make it more emotional than with most other marketing options. This can help support the customer's purchase decision.
• Increase customer loyalty
• If you have successfully sold your product, you naturally want your customer to stay with you in the long term. Video marketing is also ideal for this - with information on added value or tips on how to use your product, you awaken the desire in the customer to deal with your product in the long term.

Once you have chosen a goal, you can think about the further effect. The video should convey added value for the target group addressed, be it because it is entertaining, interesting or informative. Depending on the goal, there are various ways to achieve this: explanatory videos, image videos, interviews, reports, and much more - the options are almost limitless.

But it doesn't stop at the simple added value for the target group. It is ideal if the video is also distributed further. Videos can now be shared almost anywhere and thus spread further via social media. Of course, it helps if the content is of high quality and delivers a certain message that touches emotionally, makes things easier to learn, or is simply entertaining.

A good plan is everything

So that you don't just start aimlessly, it helps to create a roadmap in advance of how to best structure your video. The following graphic can serve as support. You should also consider at what point in the customer journey the customer sees your video. You should also think about what added value you want to convey and what exactly you want to say with your video.

The graphic has hopefully helped you gather your initial thoughts. With this, you can now further develop your video project and start working on a first storyboard in which you write down your ideas in detail.

The following structure of the videos is currently the most common. Of course, this cannot be applied to every single project, but it can serve as a first basis.

Finding a suitable video marketing agency

In order to find the right video marketing agency, you should inform yourself in advance about which providers are ideal for your own purposes. Here it is advisable to make a preselection of which agencies are suitable. The following criteria can be decisive here:

Specialization of the agency:
Does the agency only shoot feature films? Does it specialize in social media reels? When choosing the agency, it is important to know what you have in mind and how the agency can ideally support you. Furthermore, you should be aware of which additional services you would like to use. A conversation with the agency can help to clarify.

References of the agency:
Is the agency around the corner or at the other end of Germany? If shooting is to take place on site, this is another factor that should be considered, as otherwise travel costs must also be covered and less flexibility must be expected.

Agency reviews:
As with everything on the Internet, you should also check with the agencies which points of criticism are appropriate and weigh up how important they are for your own project.

Of course, the cost aspect should not be ignored. Ideally, you should consider a maximum budget in advance and obtain various offers. Larger companies often have higher prices than smaller agencies.

SEO and videos are good for visibility

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) deals with the findability of the page in a natural, non-commercial way. Because most things take place on the Internet nowadays, it is automatically an important topic. When it comes to SEO marketing, video / YouTube marketing should not be neglected. Those who already have previous experience with SEO will notice that the strategies are similar in both cases.

To support you in this, we have put together some suggestions in the following paragraph that could help you make your video more visible.

Keyword Research

If you have an idea for the topic and the general direction of the video, you should look at which terms could be particularly interesting for your viewers. It helps if you first make it clear to yourself what you want to focus on. Then you can use tools like ‘AnswerThePublic’ look at what is frequently searched in connection with these. Based on search engine data, terms or questions related to your entered keyword are looked at.

Alternatively, you can also use the auto-suggest function (automatic suggestions) in the Google or YouTube search to find out. Here you enter your keyword and see what is suggested to you. These are usually terms with high relevance for your keyword and therefore also interesting for you.

7 Tips for successful SEO in YouTube

To achieve a high ranking in YouTube, you should keep the following factors in mind:

1. Keywords
   It is best to consider which keywords are best suited already during the planning. Ideally, you have already done a keyword research before. It is often better to go into more detail rather than using too general terms. The keywords should be used in the title, description, tags and also as an audio version in your video. But keep in mind that it should still sound natural - after all, the video is primarily for your viewers.
2. Video title
   The video title should clearly communicate the topic and encourage clicking. Ideally, you already have an idea for the title before production and can align the content accordingly.
3. Description
   So that your viewers know directly what your video is about, not only the title, but also the description helps. There you can summarize in a few sentences what your video is about. Furthermore, helpful links can also be placed there, even if they should rather come at the end, as the first sentences often appear in the search results.
4. Thumbnail
   The thumbnail is one of the most important factors for your video. It should directly appeal to the viewer and motivate them to click. Together with the title, it is what is often displayed when sharing on social media. So it's best to look at what thumbnails other videos with similar themes have.
5. Intro/Introduction
   The first 10 to 30 seconds decide whether your viewer continues to watch the video. In this time, the viewer considers whether the video is appealing and whether it offers added value. It is ideal if you can grab the viewer's attention right at the beginning and show him what he can learn from your video. Statistics usually work well here, otherwise you can, depending on the type of video, also prove why you can help with the topic.
6. Watchtime
   The watchtime is probably the most relevant value for YouTube. The watchtime is the duration of the video that the viewer has watched. The longer the video and the more often the viewer has seen it, the higher it is rated by Google. Therefore, it is worth binding the viewers in such a way that they watch as much of your video as possible.
7. Interaction
   So that your viewers also leave a rating for your video, it has become established to call for interaction at the end of the video. It is advisable to encourage the viewer to like or comment. You can also point out your website or social media presence here and possibly also link to it.

YouTube Channel

If video marketing is to become a regular topic, it is advisable to create a well-maintained YouTube channel. This can become more than just a simple collection point for your videos. YouTube can also serve as a community platform, with which you have direct contact with your target group. For this, you first have to present your channel optimally: A nice title image as well as banner, playlists for your videos and a channel trailer make your YouTube channel appear more lively. Furthermore, it is attractive if you personalize your thumbnails and edit them in your own style - this directly shows that your videos belong to you or your company. In general, the more love you put into your channel, the more likely it is that you can directly contact your target group and have a positive effect on them.

Resolution and quality

When implementing the video, you should also pay attention to good or at least sufficient resolution. Normally, YouTube uses Full HD with 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p), with an aspect ratio of 16:9. This is also the standard setting for most smartphones and camcorders. However, the trend towards higher resolution videos with UltraHD and 4K resolution is becoming more and more established. A higher resolution is generally always good, but you should make sure that your equipment also supports it. Even if you have several different clips that are cut together, you should make sure that they have the same quality, or at least the same aspect ratio.

Reach and distribution

If your video has now been implemented, you naturally want it to be seen. So that as many people as possible see your video and also come to your page or your product, it makes sense to share the video wherever possible. For example, on the social media platforms of your choice, in blog posts or newsletters. So it is also worthwhile to announce a new video in advance, so that curiosity is aroused.

Analysis and follow-up

After the video has been published, the work is not yet finished. Here, as with all other projects, a detailed follow-up is worthwhile. Factors such as watchtime, views and comments are noteworthy to assess the success of the video. This is also meaningful for future videos. Is there a point where a particularly large number of people dropped out? Are there comments and criticism?

For a good overview, the YouTube Analytics function helps, which opens up the possibility to analyze your video in detail.

Afterword

The most important thing to keep in mind for your project is time. Especially for a first video project, you should plan a corresponding framework. You can create inexpensive first videos and thus venture into the topic. It is best to keep your target group in mind and you will gradually get a better feel for the content and keywords.