Why should you use video in your marketing strategy?
There are several reasons why you should think about including video content in your marketing strategy. From the business point of view, the most important is undoubtedly the fact that video content engages more than other types of content. It is easier to consume than text or static images and can work for you as an effective channel of communication with the target group. With video ads you have a bigger chance to grab viewer’s attention – all this thanks to the fact you can use the body language, tone of voice and other visual cues that help you sneak specific emotions. Emotions that will make your message more appealing and resonating, and, as a result, much more memorable. This will definitely help you in building awareness of your brand.
Video content is also more often shared and as per Wyzowl research, for 62% of marketers, video marketing success is determined by the engagement their videos get – including comments, likes and shares. Of course, these are not the only metrics that are important from a marketing point of view – completion rate or average time spent on a given video are also important and worth monitoring.
Read also: What is the Future of Digital Advertising and why is it Video?
Start with a proper planning phase
Creating an effective marketing strategy, whatever it may be, requires starting with defining your business goals. This is the starting point for creating a strategic marketing plan. A plan that serves as a road map, in which we will detail all the assumptions and actions that should ideally be supported by thorough analysis and research.
Let’s start from the beginning, that is from defining the goal or goals of the planned video campaign. The campaign objective plays an extremely important role as it determines who we will direct the message to, what tools and channels we will use, what content we will use, what the tone of voice of the message will be and finally, how we will measure the effectiveness of the actions taken. The objective also directly affects how marketing activities are planned over time. As a rule, sales campaigns allow for intensive action and bring almost immediate results. When planning an image campaign, we have to take the fact that we will have to wait a bit longer for the results into account.
Video marketing is perfect for communications purposes and seems to be a natural choice for branding campaigns. Of course, that doesn’t mean it can’t be used to drive short-term performance campaigns. Think about what you want to achieve – consider what content you want to convey, to whom, at what moment and with what frequency. Knowing the answers to these questions will make it much easier for you to plan your next steps.
To increase the chances of success of your planned marketing activities, you need to know very well who the target audience of your campaign will be and, what is extremely important, create video content keeping the target group in mind. Even the best video advertising will not bring the desired results if it is addressed to the wrong audience. This is one of the fastest ways to burn through your marketing budget. At the same time, remember not to follow only the beaten track. Do not be afraid to experiment and reach for the possibilities that technology offers today. Let Deep Learning find a relevant audience for your campaign. By abandoning the traditional approach, you will get the chance to reach audiences you would normally miss, reduce biases and discover channels that actually prove to be effective.
How to start executing a winning video marketing strategy
Once you have the planning stage out of the way – figuring out what you want to achieve and which specific people you want to reach with your message – start putting your strategic marketing plan into action. What do you need to remember?
Create high quality, engaging content
Your video should tell a story. A story that will take the viewer on a journey, in which you relate to your brand’s mission and values while also conveying specific emotions. What kind of emotions? You have to decide on that yourself. It all depends on the goal of your campaign and the way you plan to achieve it. You can use humor and make the viewers feel moved or inspired to take a specific action after watching your ad. Be creative and keep your target audience’s preferences and needs in mind at all times when working on video content.
Choose the right targeting method
Defining your target audience and creating marketing creations that will effectively support your business goals is undoubtedly a difficult and time-consuming task. It is also a challenge to reach the right people with your message. Fortunately, in this area one can count on the support of modern technology. Depending on the situation and business need, contextual or behavioral targeting (both based on Deep Learning) allow you to precisely reach the audience. Taking advantage of the opportunities offered today by artificial intelligence will allow you to increase the chances of success of your campaign and at the same time make better use of your budget.
Good to Know: Double Power: Video Ads Combined with Contextual Targeting – What are They, and How do They Work?
Set the budget and define performance metrics
The implementation of any marketing campaign is, from a business perspective, an investment that is expected to bring specific benefits. You, therefore, need to know what resources and budget you have at your disposal and adjust the scope of planned activities to it. Also make sure you define performance metrics so that when the campaign is over you will be able to prove its effectiveness. You need to know how much you spent on video views, what the share of those who actually viewed your video from the beginning to the end was and how many users were engaged with your content.
Monitor results and act if needed
Remember to monitor the defined results regularly. Why? If you notice that the actions taken are not bringing the expected results, you will be able to take appropriate steps to remedy this. Modify your approach, drop or include an additional marketing channel, or reallocate resources within your budget.
Experiment as much as possible to effectively use your marketing budget
Is everything going according to plan? Nothing is stopping you from experimenting a bit. Sticking to methods that have worked in the past is never a good idea. Allow yourself to get a little creative – put some of the ideas that have been going through your head into practice, and just maybe you will find a better way to reach your target audience with the right message.
See also: Video Ads Streaming Combined with Contextual Targeting — Benefits of Double Power
There’s no denying that designing a video marketing strategy is a complex and challenging process that requires relevant expertise, market knowledge and intuition. Implementing the designed campaign into reality is equally difficult. Here, too, a huge role is played by knowledge and experience, as well as the knowledge of tools and solutions that support the work of marketers, allowing them to generate better results and more precisely reach the target group with the advertising message. Do you need help in any of these areas? RTB House experts will help you achieve your strategic goals, suggest optimal solutions and enable effective use of your marketing budget – if you are interested, please get in touch.
