The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing for Businesses
By now, you’ve probably heard many times that you should be using video marketing to grow your business… but as someone who has been creating videos for over half my life, I know how daunting the idea of picking up a camera can be for a newbie. So let’s dive in and break down the essentials of video marketing, step-by-step.
First, what is video marketing?
Video marketing is simply the process of using videos, typically posted on social media, to promote a product or service you offer. With that said, the actual process of getting started is a bit more complex than that.
First, it’s important that you start by building awareness about your business and engaging your audience – not jumping directly into selling. This might mean that you start with general content educating your audience about your subject matter expertise, or posting timely, trending content that captures the attention of people scrolling by. Once you’ve built up a following and gained their trust, you can start sprinkling in videos about your offerings to move them down your sales funnel.
How can video marketing help your business?
Video marketing used to be a pretty niche concept. Only brands with big budgets and expensive products could afford it, but today businesses of any size can see a return on investment from video. It can help with each stage of the traditional marketing sales funnel: awareness, interest, desire, and action.
Video can generate awareness for your business by introducing your brand to new audiences through social media feeds, or even search engine results. It can grow interest in your offerings by introducing them to both new and existing audiences, and build up desire for them by positioning your brand as a thought leader in the industry.
Personally, video marketing is responsible for up to 90% of my digital product sales and service leads in any given month. I’ve posted a weekly YouTube video for the past several years, honing in specifically on the niche of social media marketing. When curious business owners or aspiring social media managers search for that term on YouTube, it’s not unlikely that one of my videos will pop up. From there, they watch, engage with my content, become a subscriber, and eventually join my email list where they have the opportunity to purchase a digital product or service.
That’s just my story, but I’m certainly not the only one! According to one survey, 87% of marketers say that video has generated more leads and sales for their business. [source]
Most effective platforms for video marketing
I’ve already mentioned one of the top platforms for video marketing: YouTube. And it is indeed a valuable platform to consider if you want to build your thought leadership and establish authority. In fact, 47% of global internet users access YouTube at least monthly, so there’s a good chance the people you want to reach are likely to find you there. [source]
But which other social media platforms are good for video marketing?
The truth is, most social platforms support video in some way these days. Therefore, my recommendation is to start with a long-form video platform like YouTube and then repurpose your video content onto other social media platforms to extend your reach.
For example, every Friday I post a podcast called Freelance Friday on YouTube… but I don’t stop there:
- I export an audio-only version of the show to post on podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple, and more. And fun fact: some of these traditional podcasting platforms also support video now, too!
- I cut out interesting soundbites and teasers to post across Instagram Reels, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
- I transcribe the episode and use the text for my weekly newsletter, in blog posts, and as captions for images I post on Instagram or Facebook.
It is important to know what makes each platform unique, though. From the same podcast episode, I might choose different short-form clips for each platform:
- My TikTok clip will probably focus on something timely like a news story, OR something entertaining or funny, like a joke I make or a funny story I tell.
- The goal on Instagram and Facebook is to get people to share your video in their stories or as a DM to a friend, so I’d find a clip that’s useful and relatable.
- My LinkedIn clip will likely be the most professional of the bunch: I’ll cut out a clip that focuses on data, statistics, or industry trends.
Once you start posting repurposed clips across all of your social media channels, you’ll be able to analyze which platforms are best for your videos overall. If, for example, you see your TikTok clips are really taking off, you might consider creating original TikTok videos in addition to the clips you pull from longer-form content.
How to make a video for your business
The great thing about living in this day and age is that making videos is more accessible than ever before! I like to say that the best video marketing equipment is the equipment that you already have on hand… and for most people, that means an iPhone (or similar quality smartphone).
We’ll get to production in a moment, but to start, you’ll want to outline your video by breaking it down into subtopics so your audience can easily follow along. While I personally do not script my videos word-for-word, it can be helpful to do that if you’re new to recording and are not very comfortable speaking off the cuff. It’s during the outline process that you can also research stats, quotes, or other data that might help tell your story.
From there, you can set up a tripod, record your video, and then send it over to an editor to get it ready for publication. Whether you want to work with a human editor as an employee or subcontractor, or whether you want to learn how to edit yourself using video editing software is up to you and your workload. Just keep in mind that most video creators note that editing is the longest, most arduous part of the video marketing process, so be sure to do the math to determine whether hiring or investing your own time will be the most financially savvy.
Video marketing tools
In addition to a camera (which can totally be your iPhone, at least in the beginning), you’ll want to invest in a few other pieces of equipment to start:
- A tripod to keep your camera steady (a portable option like this one is a good idea)
- A microphone so people can hear you clearly (I like this option as it can grow with you and be used for both a phone and camera)
- Lighting if you’re filming at night or in gloomy weather (this light can be controlled by your computer or cell phone and easily clamps onto a desk)
Some other tools that are helpful along the video marketing process:
- I use TubeBuddy to source video titles and topics. It’s a browser extension that helps you decide which of your ideas are most likely to perform well on YouTube.
- When I’m at a loss for video ideas, I often turn to Answer The Public. You can type in the keyword you’d like to rank for and be shown dozens of topics that often make good videos.
- For editing, I use Final Cut Pro, but CapCut is a great free (and user-friendly) option. Find a CapCut video editing tutorial here!
- CastMagic is a great tool for repurposing videos into text, sourcing short-form cutdowns, and creating summaries for podcast show notes, YouTube description boxes, and email newsletters.
- Speaking of repurposing, Metricool is a fantastic place to house video ideas, schedule content using their planner feature, repurpose across multiple platforms at once, review analytics, and learn how your videos performed.
Video marketing best practices
Now that you know the basics of video marketing for business, it’s almost time to start creating! Just keep these things in mind:
- Remember my “golden rule of content”: always ask yourself how your video is helping someone before pressing publish. Your videos should never be purely self-promotional and should always teach people something or entertain them in order to build trust and authority in your expertise.
- Measure performance and set goals. Video marketing is typically a slow build, so don’t set aggressive goals that will leave you feeling deflated at the start. But you should run a monthly report of all of your video content so you know where your videos stand and can make smart decisions about what to create more of in the months to come. (Thanks to Metricool’s reporting feature, you can set this as a template and get it delivered to you on autopilot!)
- Have fun! No one likes to see a stoic, bored, or scared creator in front of the lens. Video is growing in popularity because people like to see the real you! To get the most out of your video marketing strategy, create content that inspires you, that shows off your brand’s personality, and that speaks to your ideal clients in a lighthearted, approachable way.
How to build a video marketing strategy
To summarize, video marketing can be a helpful strategy for building awareness, increasing client leads, and earning more sales for your business. As more and more social media platforms prioritize videos in their algorithm, it’s a smart idea to begin testing how different video types perform for you and your business.
To get started, you’ll want to:
- Identify goals with video marketing: know what you want to get out of your videos and who you want to reach with them.
- Perform an equipment audit: luckily, most people have a smartphone on hand, but you may want to take your videos up a notch with a microphone, tripod, and some lighting.
- Set aside time to film and edit: decide who from your company will be responsible for being on camera and whether or not you need to hire an editor.
- Outline or script your first videos: highlight key points and do any necessary statistical or SEO research.
- Press publish and review analytics: don’t let fear of getting started prevent you from taking the first step! Publish your first video, repurpose it onto short-form platforms, and use Metricool to review performance so you know what to create next.
Ready to take the first step? Enroll in my free video marketing course to start making fun vlog content for your business, or get in touch to learn more about my video coaching programs – and don’t forget to sign up for Metricool to review video analytics, schedule content using their planner, and so much more.
