If you could only choose one way to get in front of your target audience through digital marketing, what avenue would you choose? According to a study from 2020, over 92% of marketers would say one word – video – and we couldn’t agree more.

In one way or another, we are all familiar with and influenced by video. In 2020, adults spent nearly 312 minutes a day watching TV and digital videos on a smartphone. That’s over 5 hours a day of consuming video content! Video is a part of our everyday lives, from Zoom meetings at work, tele-health doctor visits, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and streaming television we have all kinds of video at our fingertips… literally.

In 1941 the very first commercial aired during a Brooklyn Dodgers vs Philadelphia Phillies game and it was promoting wristband watches. Fast forward 65 years later and businesses spend millions of dollars on video content in commercials between broadcast TV and YouTube; and now in the 21st century, businesses spend marketing dollars on a variety of other social media channels. Long gone are the days that your audience is reading content on your website, and although that’s still very important; video content is becoming a hot trend and in high demand in the digital marketing world.

So what’s the first thing you need to know when creating a video marketing strategy?

Your audience.

With video, you have a quick and easy way to tell your story to your audience and influence their buying decisions.  Knowing who you want to watch your video is a crucial piece of your strategy. Not only that, but your content needs to be vibrant, exciting, emotional, and engaging. With users scrolling for endless hours on their smartphones and being influenced by videos every day, your content needs to speak to them, connect with them, and help them remember you. In digital marketing, we talk about touchpoints, and video is one of the most important ones.

There are many elements to consider when deciding how you want to incorporate video into your digital strategy. Below are some of the most common questions we are asked:

1. What is video marketing?

  • Video marketing can be implemented in a variety of places throughout your strategy. Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LBA, and OTT are all opportunities to put video content in front of your audience. It gives you an opportunity to share your brand with an audience that has shown interest, affinities, and engagement based on their user behavior.

2. How do I create content?

  • If you have a smartphone, you are already at least halfway there. You can use your phone to take both vertical and horizontal videos and use apps and tools to piece them together. You can also hire a professional photographer or videographer to help produce dynamic and professional videos. This typically includes storyboards, interview questions, B-roll ideas, and much more when hiring a professional team.

3. How do I track my ROI?

  • This is a great question and a very common one! At Xcite we use tracking tools through all of our platforms with Google Analytics, Facebook, UTM parameters, Skai, and other programmatic platforms to ensure our clients see the results of their campaigns and how channels we are advertising video on can help influence the user in their path to conversion.

4. What kinds of videos should I make?

That’s really up to you and your business objectives. There is a plethora of choices when it comes to video, really the list is endless.

  • Live
  • Animated
  • Testimonials
  • Profile or Overview
  • Behind the scenes
  • Example Videos
  • How to/How to not
  • Do it yourself
  • 360 degree
  • Drone
  • GoPro

The impact of a global pandemic has forced businesses to find creative ways to discover new audiences and increase revenue. Video is one of the most affordable and inventive ways to do so, and it will be an imperative part of any digital marketing strategy heading into 2022.