Whether you are just dipping into video or have been using videos for a while, it’s time to create a strong plan or strategy.
Having a strategy for your video will make your life so much easier! It’s going to save you time and money and ensure your ROI is much more satisfying.
So how do we start to plan our video marketing content?
Define your goals
Start by defining your business goals. What do you want to achieve by creating and publishing video content? This could be anything from brand awareness, engagement or ideally lead generating and conversions. This may mean that your cute dancing videos on Tik Tok, while great fun, may not be directing you towards your goals.
A great way to define your goals is to use the SMART acronym.
- Be SPECIFIC about your goals
- Are they MEASUREABLE through KPI’s and metrics
- Are the goals ATTAINABLE and RELEVANT to your business objectives
- TIME-BOUND – give your goals a time frame they are to be achieved in.
- Along with your goals, add a mission statement to focus on, covering these questions:
What type of video content do you plan to make? Who are you making this content for? What should you audience take away from the videos? Does your video create a call to action or a need to purchase?
Keep your goals and mission statement close by so you can always check your content ideas against them to ensure you stay consistent.
Research
Research is key to planning your video content. The more you know about your target audiences, the better. Are you a B2B business or B2C? What platform does your audience use the most? Don’t consider a low “like” or view rate to be a failure, especially when you are starting. Your main objective may be more about videos that give audiences an overview of who you are and your work or services – educating potential future clients prior to them making their decision to enquire or purchase.
Have a vision
Have a list or vision board of the styles of videos you want to create. Your research into your audience will show you the types of videos they are most likely to watch. As well as that, search the styles that are trending. However, do take into account what will suit your brand, voice and your capabilities more than what is popular.
Set a budget
Set a budget for your video content. Whether you decide to create them yourself or outsource the production. Marketing is an important part of the business process and leads to sales, so it deserves to be taken seriously, with a serious budget. Business experts suggest your marketing budget should be five-to-12 per cent of gross revenue. Once you know that figure, you can work out the percentage you have for content. You may not have a lot, but content can still be created. Remember, great content can have an amazing impact on your business growth, so if you can don’t skimp on creative. Don’t forget you also need a budget to get your content in front of your audience! Don’t fall for the problem of spending all your money on creative and having nothing left in the pool to promote your content.
These easy steps will give you the foundation of a strong strategy. You may change your content style as you go, but knowing exactly who you are creating it for, why and how you are going to do it, will help you to feel more confident in your marketing.
