The Ultimate Guide to Video Marketing for 2022

Most businesses are doing it wrong

Here is a typical video marketing scenario at a typical business that doesn’t have an experienced business consultant like me looking out for them:

“We’re trying something new,” said the marketing team, sitting around the table. “It’s called video.” A couple of people around the room chuckled and asked what they needed to do.

“Well, we need to invest a lot of time and money,” replied one of them. “And we need to test a lot of content to see which tactics work best.”

Everyone nodded approvingly before going back to their tasks. They continued doing this for months on end with no results or growth in business whatsoever. They used a video production vendor who insisted they just needed to give it more time. “This will work; you just have to be patient,” they told the business owner.

The business owner knew that video content was a powerful marketing tool. But at this point, it didn’t give any traction when it came right down to it; when it mattered most, they were getting nothing out of it.

Why do so many businesses fail at Video Marketing?

If you or a business owner that you know has experienced some version of this scenario, welcome to the club. It is very disappointing to put forth the effort that video marketing requires only to come up short on results. There are many reasons why businesses fail to get video marketing right. But, in my opinion, they fail because they do not honor a fundamental marketing principle. Video marketing, like any other marketing tactic, needs to be a part of a strategic business plan.

Stop listening to vendors and start listening to your customers

Video marketing is an important part of any business’s strategy to reach its target customers. Video content marketing can be a very effective way to connect with your audience and drive conversions. Many video content creators and vendors play to this fact. They impress business owners with beautiful videos and editing techniques. But most video editors out there are not well versed in marketing and strategy and fail to address messaging and sales. They lead many businesses to invest in video marketing that does not yield results because they focus too much on the tactics and not enough on content that converts.

That’s where having a business plan can help. When you have a business plan with a clear sales and marketing strategy supported by research about your customers, you can infuse your video content with the marketing muscle it needs to be profitable. Business plans should include insights on what your ideal customers are interested in, what they think about, what they want out of your business and out of life. Customer insights and listening tools like Semrush and SparkToro should be guiding your video marketing and content decisions more than vendors

Work with a production team that understand marketing

Most video production service providers out there are simply not skilled marketers. It’s understandable. The amount of time and dedication it takes to excel at a craft like video production is significant. I recommend hiring a marketing director, business consultant, or other strategic roles to hold creative projects accountable for results. You can also try to find a team like Fusion Media Group in Atlanta. They are a rare unicorn video production provider that is also well versed in marketing and sales. You can hand them a business plan, a brand guide, and they will help you develop your video ideas from script to screen with your goals in mind. They will offer creative recommendations, but they will also factor marketing and sales expertise into their recommendations. When you work with a video team like Fusion Media Group you can expect them to understand research on your potential customers. They will help you produce video marketing that resonates with them.

Fussion Media Group Demo Reel

Optimize your content for each platform and use

You should think carefully about how you want to use each video you create and where you want to place it before you create it. Video marketing is not one size fits all. For example, if you are trying to promote your products or services at trade shows or conferences, it might be best for video content marketing purposes to use short product demos that include the price tag – these videos should definitely live on your website, and their title tags will help them rank well in search engines. Think about how where your videos will live and their use before you determine how your videos will look. Different platforms like social media have various best practices and video specifications requirements, so make sure you research those too.

Tips to use Video Marketing as part of a content strategy

If you are thinking about making video a part of your content strategy on social media platforms, you will definitely need to consider each platform’s best practices before you dive in. For instance, most people scroll through video without sound so make sure you add closed captions to your videos. You can use tools like Zubtitle to do so in seconds. But, no matter which platforms you use, you will have to be consistent about publishing new videos if you are using video as part of your content marketing strategy. This may be an overwhelming idea if you consider the cost of producing large quantities of amazing videos. There are tools you can use to produce a lot of videos fairly quickly. Social media platforms like TikTok offer tools inside their platform that you can use to edit and publish video content for free. Other editing tools like Canva and Breakout Clips also offer options to create videos quickly.

Video marketing has been a hot topic for a while, and I anticipate it will continue to be a valuable tool for businesses in 2022. There are many tactics you can use in your video marketing, and I am sure there will be new ones to explore next year and beyond. But remember that what matters the most is the content and how well it fits into your overall business plan and sales objectives.