Corporate marketing methods have evolved over time, but the last ten years have seen an explosion in the use of video as a primary marketing tool. This is the first in a series of articles about the production of effective marketing videos. The mission of this article is to introduce you to the initial steps of the production process: the planning phase.
A Change of Focus in Video Production
In the early days of video marketing, it was quantity that mattered most with less emphasis on the analytics and return on investment (ROI) it provided. Did the video reach the right audience? Was it creating the intended response in the viewer? Companies did not give much thought to these questions; at the time, just getting their messages out as frequently as possible was the priority.
Fast forward to today’s marketing strategies and you will find that it is the complete opposite. Video marketing is a holistic business approach that requires production teams to consider a targeted, actionable and measurable way to reach and impact their viewer. Production quality, audience identification and analysis, as well as analytics have become indispensable concepts and tools for marketers.
Know Your Audience
So how critical is it to have these factors embedded into the planning phase of your video production? Let’s first consider the need for marketing videos. According to the current statistics, people are looking to video first and often before making purchasing decisions. Check out these numbers:
72% of customers say they prefer to learn about a product or service by way of video. (Hubspot)
78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. (Hubspot)
85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands (Hubspot) and will look for videos related to a product or service before visiting the company. (Hubspot)
81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool — up from 63% since 2019. (Hubspot)
By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15% higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)
Social network video ad spending (U.S. only) is predicted to jump to $14.89 billion in 2021; that’s an increase of nearly $10 billion since 2017. (Forbes)
What these numbers reveal is that 1) most people prefer watching a video first in order to learn about products and services, 2) that businesses have recognized this and 3) organizations are drastically increasing their budgets in this area of marketing in order to be more effective in reaching their customers.
So, with these things in mind, the next question might be, “What do I need to do in the planning phase to produce an effective video?”
It all starts with a simple question, but the answer is crucial: Exactly, who is it that you want to reach?
Pitching to the Right Audience
Regardless of the industry, the first priority when producing an effective marketing video is to know who it is that you are trying to reach. Every person viewing your marketing video is in one of four main stages which we call, “the customer journey”. Each stage has a specific audience type which is why the first goal in planning an effective marketing video is to figure out which audience type you are trying to reach. Take a look at these stages and see which audience type your organization is trying to reach:
Customer Journey
Stage I: Awareness (Audience type: Consumers that are not yet aware of your company or organization and products/services)
Stage II: Consideration (Audience type: Consumers that may or may not be aware of your company or organization BUT are actively searching for similar companies and/or products/services)
Stage III: Action (Audience type: Consumers that know your company or organization and are ready to make a purchase or join decision)
Stage IV: Support (Audience type: Current customers and members)
Once you have determined your target audience, it is important to recognize that each stage and respective audience requires their own videos with unique messages. Why? Because with each stage and varying audience your SMART goals (which we discuss in depth in an upcoming article) and metrics will be different.
Trying to produce a marketing video that covers multiple stages and audience types will create a longer, “mixed-mission” video. For example, attempting to create a single "awareness" and "action" video will lead to a lengthy video that is unable to hold the attention of key audiences. Often this means your viewer will skip ahead through the video or worse, ignore the video altogether. Along with missed viewers these videos lead to lots of wasted marketing dollars.
That’s why when planning an effective marketing video, the very first step is to be laser focused on a specific audience type. Once you know the target audience, it’s time to set SMART goals and metrics. This too is part of your planning phase and is important to the effectiveness of your video. So, stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on how to match the right goals and metrics to your target audience.
Please check back in the coming days for our next post where we’ll dig a little deeper into creating a video that reaches your intended audience with the right goals and measurements for optimal effectiveness. Thanks for reading.
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