If you’re not using video marketing, you’re losing a major market opportunity. 100 million people watch online video every day and chances are, a good portion of them are looking for a service or product. In fact, 90% of online shoppers say that video is helpful in making purchase decisions. Video marketing increases sales, leads, and audience engagement rates.
But video will only make a real difference in your marketing strategy if you know how to create effective videos. So what are the keys to an effective video marketing strategy? A good strategy is different for everyone. But there are several things that all good strategies have in common. Here are 7 tips to make your video marketing more effective than ever.

1. First, Define Your Business Objectives
Your video marketing strategy should support your company’s goals. When developing your video strategy, examine your business values. How can you showcase these values with video? What kind of audience do you want to attract? Your videos should reinforce your identity as a company. An effective strategy will ensure that your business objectives are being met.
For example, if one of your aims is to encourage an open and interactive relationship with your customers, you should be creating videos that are mostly concerned with audience interaction and engagement. Or, if your aim is to raise awareness and educate your audience, creating video tutorials will fulfill this goal. Whatever your goals may be, always consider them when developing your video strategy.

2. Look At Your Current Video Strategy
Before you can create an improved video strategy, you need to look at what you’re currently doing with video. If this is the first time you’re using video for marketing, use your competition as a starting point. Identify your current strengths and weaknesses in your video campaign and opportunities for growth.
Some of your strengths or weaknesses may include the loyalty of your fan base, how regular your interaction is with your audience, the amount of video subscribers, and the number of comments, likes, or shares you receive. You should also look at the kind of relationship you currently have with your customers and the topics you address. As you consider each of these points, recognize any changes that need to be made. Review your video content and make sure it’s appropriate for your goals and audience.

3. Know Your Audience
Your audience isn’t “everyone”. You must define your target group to run a successful video campaign. If you create videos that appeal to a specific group, they will be able to relate better to your message. On the other hand, if you try to appeal to “everyone”, you will find that your videos won’t be appealing at all.
If you find yourself creating broadly focused videos, try redefining your audience. Consider breaking the video into sections that are intended for specific audiences. For example, a product presentation video highlights the benefits of your product or service. This kind of video is best used for an audience that is considering your business. Product demos, on the other hand, focus more on your perspective and the features of your service. This video will be helpful to those in the comparison phase of shopping. If you’re still not sure if your videos are speaking to the right group, try testing a video with a few members of the audience and analyze their reactions.
Once you’ve defined your audience, you can then concentrate on creating content for them. But you need to know what your customers value in order to create good content. Try listening in on customer service calls to know what issues your customers face. Connect with your target audience through social networking, such as a group on LinkedIn. You could also review the comments you receive on videos for feedback. When you understand what your audience values, you’ll be able to create relevant content for them. Here are a few content ideas for various target groups:

• Use animated videos to explain complex ideas
• A video interview with an expert will help you gain respect as a leader in your field
• Making a video with customer testimonials are a great way to build trust
• A humorous, light-hearted video will show off your personality
• A video overview can display your business or how a specific product works

4. Focus on Engagement
Engagement should be a primary goal of your video strategy. The more interaction a video offers, the more engaged the viewer will be. So how can you make your content ideas more engaging for your audience? Video is most effective when it shows your customers how your product or service solves their problems. Instead of focusing on you and your products, focus your videos on how it fits into a customer’s life.
Find ways to show your that your company understands and has solutions to your audience’s problems. A testimonial will be more compelling if the customer talks specifically about their personal experience with your product. A product demo or case study will be more effective when you show how it benefits the lives of your customers. Use every opportunity to promote the pleasure or utility your products give to members of your audience.

5. Leave a Message
An effective marketing video is made up of several components. But most important of these is the script, in other words, the “what” of your video. If you spend too much time worrying about the “how” of your video (style, lighting, how you present your material, etc.), you may find that your video doesn’t leave an impression with your audience.
Developing a script, whether formally written or a simple summary of your key points, will ensure that your message is clear and impactful. Even if you want your video to feel spontaneous and natural, be sure to spend time in planning the objectives and desired outcomes of the video. Always know what your video should communicate before beginning. Ask yourself:
• Are you addressing the key issues that affect your industry?
• What are the main messages that you’d like to communicate?
• Do you address the audience with the right style and language?
One effective way to leave a message that resonates is by telling a story. Stories make us think and feel. When done well, a story is relatable and inspires us. Stories should be simple. They’ll be more credible if you skip the exaggeration. The goal of a story video is to create a simple and easy-to-remember message.

6. Get To The Point
You have ten seconds to catch a viewer’s attention in a video clip. According to Visible Measures, 20% of your viewers will click away from a video within 10 seconds. By 1 minute, nearly half will be gone. In fact, videos that are 15 seconds or shorter are shared 37% more often than a video of 30 seconds or more. Fortunately, mobile users tend to have a longer attention span. Those with mobile devices will generally watch a video for over 2 minutes, and iPad users will even watch for up to 5 minutes. Still, that’s not very long. The point is, the shorter the better. Get to the point without rushing the video.
So how do you know when your video is dragging on? Take advantage of video analytics. Video analytics will tell you who’s watching your video and how long they watch. You can then use this information to fine-tune your message.

7. And Now, Make a Plan
Now that you have created your video content, you need to make a plan for promoting it. A big part of this is making sure that the right people are seeing your video. Simply uploading a video to YouTube or Vimeo won’t be enough to make a real dent in your marketing strategy. So what else should you do?
First, look again at your audience and your typical customer. You can then identify which marketing channels you can use to reach these people. For example, you can send out an email to introduce your video. Or perhaps your audience would be better reached through a promotion on your blog. You can also try paid promotion through ads on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit.
Now that you’ve tried various marketing channels, analyze the performance of your plan. You can use Google analytics to track your success. Did the numbers of email sign-ups, shares, and views change? Where did you see the biggest improvements? Adjust your plan according to the results.
Having an effective video marketing plan is essential to your company’s success. As you develop your own plan, be sure to review these tips for ways to stay on track and produce valuable videos.