Spinning tires? We’ve got the information you need to get back on the road to success.
First — a round of applause. A pat on the back. Cheers! You recognize that video marketing is the future, and you’re attempting to do it right.
That puts you with the 69 percent of marketing, sales and business professionals who are staying ahead of the curve instead of the 31 percent quickly falling behind. But do you feel like something isn’t quite working out?
Maybe your boss kindly dumped video marketing onto your lap with big ideas, tight deadlines, and no time to figure out how the technology and strategy works. Perhaps you’re in a partnership with a video marketing agency, but they just aren’t producing what you want. A lot of marketers also describe feeling isolated. They aren’t sure how to use video to engage their audiences, and feel like they don’t have anyone to talk it out with.
Whatever the scenario may be — you are spinning tires in the dirt, and can’t get the traction you need to generate results. Simply put…video marketing has become a hassle.
It’s not your fault. Video marketing is a tough gig, and it takes time and experience to perfect. Plus — organizations don’t always set their marketing teams up for success. Some of the most common missteps include:
Leaders also frequently place unrealistic expectations on their video marketers. They want every campaign to go viral. Which, frankly, is an anomaly that sets the bar way too high. If any of this sounds familiar— we have some helpful insights to get you out of your rut.
Remedies for Mediocre Video Marketing
Before we dig in, let’s take a minute to reminisce on all the reasons why you and your organization decided to launch video marketing campaigns in the first place. Top of the list — you wanted to generate more leads, right? You also wanted to create more touchpoints that inspire your target audience members to share valuable information with you. Obviously, your ultimate goal is to get video marketing to generate more revenue. Here’s how to make your videos work for you:
First thing’s first — you need to communicate your stresses with someone from the executive team and get them to sponsor changes on your behalf. This is especially true for video marketers who know they don’t have the right technology in place, or the budget to effectively set up shop. Get an executive sponsor who understands the value of video marketing and what it really takes to do it right. This may require that you spend time educating them. Don’t even think about starting this conversation without case studies, statistics and maybe even a competitor’s successful video campaign in hand.
This is extremely important, and may also help you land more support from the executive team. You need advanced marketing software and a sophisticated CRM solution, and the two need to be fully integrated to create a closed loop reporting system. This will give you a complete visual over how your campaigns are being interacted with, the number of leads each campaign generates, and whether or not those leads closed. With this insight, you can analyze successful campaigns, refine your video content, and better target your audience. Equally important, you will be able to prove ROI and the value of your video marketing efforts, which could unlock a larger budget.
While we’re on the subject…
YouTube is the second largest search engine in existence. So yeah…it’s a powerful resource. But it’s not your only distribution channel. You also have Outbrain, Taboola, Google AdWords, LinkedIn, Instagram…the list goes on. Each of these channels will provide you with a dashboard that tells you how your campaigns are performing. Experts recommend checking your metrics at least 3x per week. You can learn more about these video distribution platforms here.
If you haven’t already, you’re likely to hear an earful this year about why sales and marketing need to put their differences aside and make nice. Video marketers — you need your sales people to help fine-tune who your videos should target. A better understanding of what your audience wants will influence which distribution channels you use to reach them, and what content you create to engage them. Take a look at your buyer personas. Use the data collected by your closed loop reporting system to replace assumptions with fact. Get sales to tell you when they close a lead and review all the steps your lead went through to become a customer. Review, refine, repeat.
Start following video marketing agency blogs and resources to learn more about strategy development and collect engaging video ideas. Host lunch and learns, or encourage your marketing team to take an online seminar. Watch tutorials to get more familiar with your video production software. Don’t forget about the learning opportunity right in front of your face — your own experiences. Scrutinize your campaigns and talk about what worked and what didn’t. Try new things to see how they influence campaign performance.
Inarguably, the best way to overcome your video marketing rut is to partner with a video marketing agency. As video marketing gains traction, it’s inevitable that specialized agencies will spring up by the dozens. Some of these agencies will be professional, dependable, valuable resources on which your organization should rely.
But of course, there will also be some agencies that just don’t have what it takes to support your organization’s ambitions. They’ll repeatedly run your campaigns out of scope and over budget. They’ll miss deadlines, and fail to understand who your organization is, what it does and why it matters.
The benefits of choosing the right video marketing agency include:
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