Modern marketing is going through a metamorphosis. More people are flocking to videos to consume content, stay entertained (and informed), and consider purchase decisions all while navigating a more distracted world.
Today, over 82% of all internet traffic funnels to video. For businesses looking to stay ahead of the marketing game, a solid video marketing strategy is a must.
However, the barrier of entry can feel high. The time and cost of building concepts, production planning, and distribution can make a strong video strategy feel out of reach.
Thankfully, there are easy ways to incorporate more video into your marketing mix. Once you have your video in hand, there are a number of ways to maximize your content to reach your audience and grow your business.
In this guide, we’ll share how anyone can pull more out of their video strategy by sourcing, optimizing, repurposing, and analyzing video content to capture imagination and drive engagement.
3 types of video marketing content
Before building a video marketing engine, marketers need a few tried and true techniques to create exceptional visual storytelling with video.
We talked to Vimeo’s creative team to get their perspective on which types of videos are most useful, easy, and intuitive for marketers to use.
Customer stories
One of the best places to source authentic video content from is your customers. Forbes reports 86% of people believe authenticity is important when deciding what brands they favor and choose to support. Elise London, Senior Content Production Manager at Vimeo, emphasizes that customer testimonials are a great medium to share customer spotlights and narrate important pain points and solutions your customers can learn from.
“Think about the audience, understand what the audience is struggling with, what the audience’s objections are in terms of buying from you, and make testimonials centered around that. Make sure that the messaging is aligned with a clear objective.”Elise London, Senior Content Production Manager at Vimeo
Product videos
A product video is an opportunity to let your team’s hard work shine. Get excited about the research, development, and white boarding sessions you’ve all done to solve a problem and bring your new product or feature to market.
“Find your pain point and problem that your intended customer faces and match it to a product feature/solution. Before you worry about generating sales and doubling down on marketing jargon, the first aim should be simplicity. A simple, concise story and message is more likely to stand out and be remembered.”Gabriel Towles, Creative Lead at Vimeo
Product videos typically introduce a problem your customers face, show how your product addresses the problem, and include a call to action for viewers. A product video is perhaps most effective when it’s broken into the following pieces:
- Description of the problem or opportunity
- A story or message of how your product addresses the problem or opportunity
- An action a viewer can take to start using the product
Branded videos
Evoking your brand’s identity through video can generate awareness and help your audience understand your company’s mission and purpose. Branded videos combine cinematic storytelling with brand messaging.
Just remember that branded videos don’t necessarily have to sell products. Instead, their aim is to elicit an emotional response from customers and help build a stronger connection with a brand and better understand its values and initiatives.
“Focus is the name of the game here. Brand videos and campaigns zoom in on creating a positive emotional connection with the customer through powerful storytelling. They may tell a story about the brand’s values, mission, or heritage. They may also highlight the brand’s personality or culture. Tone and approach is key to differentiate the brand from its competitors.”Gabriel Towles, Creative Lead at Vimeo
Gabriel makes a point that branded videos are based on a deep understanding of who you want to speak to. To help refine your video messages and story, make sure you have a clear picture of who your target audience is and what motivates them. Ask yourself:
- What do they care about?
- What are their needs and wants?
- What makes them tick and how/where do they consume information?
How to source video content
One of the biggest obstacles to creating video content is knowing how to create and source it. In this section, we’ve highlighted eight stress-free ways businesses can fuel their marketing with more video.
Shoot video footage
Grab your favorite camera — DSLR, mirrorless, GoPro, smartphone, or pro-grade unit — and get out there! The world is your oyster and your lens allows you to capture your distinct vision. Keep in mind that the best camera is often the one you have with you, so don’t hesitate to reach into your pocket to make a video with your phone. The more footage you capture, the more raw material you’ll have to work with when editing.
Create script ideas
Consider a video where one or more actors narrate a set of ideas in a structured and polished way. It may be an instructional video, advertisement, or onboarding video from HR. You can either write a script on your own or leverage tools such as an AI script generator to speed up the process.
Record face to camera or record your screen
Screen recorded video that includes your face in front of a camera, a recording of your screen, or both can be easy and inexpensive ways to start creating footage.
Screen records are great for showing product demos, announcing new products and feature updates, or capturing testimonials and quotes from customers.
Collect user generated content
User generated content or UGC is content created by customers about specific products or brands. The content is created and published on social media and other channels. Similar to customer testimonials, user generated content provides authentic reviews, feedback, and tips for customers using branded products.
Use stock footage
Stock footage is an asset for any video marketing strategy as it helps cut the time and cost of your overall video production.
Typically, stock footage is used as B-roll to round out your main video footage. It can also be overlaid with narration for commercials, how-to videos, product videos, social media videos, and even branded videos.
Pro tip: For a no-shoot video, Patrick Robinson, Digital Production Manager at Vimeo, recommends reviewing existing content you’ve produced and finding ways to repurpose or cut down content into shorter clips. You can use Vimeo Create to source templates or search unique stock videos using sites like Getty and Film Supply.
Use animation
People are highly visual and tend to better understand ideas that are presented visually. Simple and complex ideas can be better communicated and distilled through animation.
Imagine explaining the migration patterns of penguins or the design of a system diagram. In both cases, animations consisting of abstract representations can help the message stick. Consider creating a video that is entirely animated or creating one that has animated segments interspersed.
Host virtual events and webinars
Speakers at virtual events and webinars generally spend a lot of time crafting their talks. The content of those talks are highly valuable and should be captured.
Use a virtual event or webinar platform to live stream and record keynote speakers, panel discussions, and Q&As. The footage can be shared on demand post-event for attendees. It can also be trimmed or used in its entirety when crafting new videos.
Tips to optimize video performance
Creating and sourcing videos is half the battle. Having a plan to edit and optimize your videos for the widest possible audience is another thing entirely.
We talked to Jon Henshaw, Head of SEO at Vimeo and Zahia Reguieg, Senior Paid Social Manager at Vimeo, to get a shortlist of optimization and performance tactics to get more bang for your buck.
1. Focus on the hook
A hook is a concise, compelling message that resonates with your audience and grabs their attention. Jon Henshaw emphasizes the urgency by stating, “focus on capturing the viewer’s attention within the first few seconds of a video.”
You can choose between a variety of different types of hooks, depending on your video. Some types include: a question hook, a narrative hook, a shock hook, a statistical hook, a humor hook, and a visual hook, amongst many others. Hooks share the same goal of grabbing a viewer’s attention and improving the odds they watch the entire video to completion.
2. Cut the fluff
In a world of endless scrolling, marketers need to be very mindful of short attention spans. An excellent way to lose viewers is by not editing out irrelevant banter, filler words, and long pauses. A perfect way to keep viewers watching is to remove it using text-based editing and only using footage that entertains, builds anticipation, and informs efficiently.
3. Design for sound-off
Digiday reports that over 75% of consumers watch videos without audio. No matter what story you’re portraying in your video, you’ll want to make sure the message gets across even without audio.
Include closed captions, title cards, on-screen graphics, action sequences, and scene-setting shots to convey your message visually.
“Videos should be able to communicate your messaging without audio. Try using closed captions or graphics overlays to ensure your messaging gets across in case the user switches to sound off.”Zahia Reguieg, Senior Paid Social Manager at Vimeo
4. Add interactivity
To drive more engagement from each video, you can layer interactive video elements like clickable hotspots, overlays, and branching elements. These are great ways to convert a passive viewing experience into an active one, creating immediately tangible outcomes. On-screen presenters can gesture towards interactive buttons that are added later in post-production.
5. Ideate with AI powered video tools
AI powered tools won’t replace human creators, but they can massively streamline a creator’s workflow and improve the speed, quality, and creativity of their output.
Think of AI as a skilled collaborator. Visual mockups can be created, scripts can be created and edited, subtitles can be added, and prompts can be expanded upon all with minimal effort. Creators who embrace AI tools and learn to use them effectively will possess a distinct advantage over those who opt not to.
“Marketers should expect generative AI tools to improve and make video creation more efficient, but the success of their videos will continue to depend on human creativity, knowledge, and experience.”Jon Henshaw, Head of SEO at Vimeo
6 ways to repurpose video content
Creating compelling video content takes time and effort, which means businesses should plan to repurpose video content into a suite of customer assets post production. Videos can be broken into multiple modular scenes or parts that can be plugged into highlight reels, short takes, long takes, or different videos together. In addition to saving time and effort, repurposing video can lead to a consistent look and feel across multiple pieces of content.
The one-size fits all marketing strategy has fewer benefits for businesses. Research shows that 67% of customers use multiple channels to complete a single transaction. A study found that marketers that used three or more channels saw an 18% engagement rate and 250% purchase frequency. Having a solid strategy to integrate video into all your channels — websites, social media, email, mobile apps, etc. — can have a profound impact on your bottom line.
From a hero video, branded video, or event, marketers can create a suite of distinct video assets that can be used across multiple marketing channels. Below, are a few examples of the types of custom video cuts you can create from a single video:
1. Social cut-downs
Social cut-downs are short video clips taken from a longer video. They allow marketers to maintain a consistent brand presence on social media and also increase their chances of reaching a wider audience.
Each video’s size and length should be tailored for specific specs for each social media platform. When editing your clips from the main footage, create cuts that quickly capture the audience’s interest as they scroll through their feeds.
“Webinars and/or video interviews (really any long form video) is always great to dip into for social media because it can be cut into multiple, snackable sized videos I can post to any channel. It’s a win/win because it increases ROI on the original piece of content and supports my overall content strategy.”Heidi Jackman, Social Media Manager at Vimeo
2. How-to content
How-to content is extremely popular, providing valuable guidance on a specific topic or task. By repurposing existing video content into either short form or long form how-to, your brand can establish expertise in its field and build trust with their audience. These videos should break down complex concepts or procedures into easy-to-follow steps, ensuring viewers gain practical knowledge.
3. Speaker spotlights and quotes
Pulling speaker spotlights and memorable quotes from existing video content (especially events) can capture big ideas in small bites. These clips highlight key moments or insights shared by speakers, thought leaders, or experts in your videos. You can share these segments on social media or other channels to amplify your speakers’ insights while adding credibility to your content and furthering your brand’s message.
4. Trailers
Trailers are designed to generate excitement for upcoming events, products, or content releases. Only include snippets of the most compelling and intriguing parts of the original video to entice viewers and make them curious to learn more. Sharing trailers on various platforms, like social media and embedded on websites, can build momentum and drive engagement.
5. Highlight reels
Highlight reels are compilations of the most exciting and memorable moments from events that have already happened, like conferences, webinars, or product launches. They recap the essence of an event or showcase the buzziest parts of a video series. You can use highlight reels to recapture attention from attendees and summarize key takeaways.
6. Commercials or ads
Commercials and advertisements allow marketers to create polished promotional materials that inspire audiences to take action. Commercials and ads are typically short and focused, and so are great for furthering specific marketing campaigns. Commercials and ads should include a compelling message that resonates with the audience along with a clear call to action.
Important video performance analytics you should know
Most video platforms capture various interaction metrics including view count, engagement, watch time, shares, click-throughs and conversions. Understanding these metrics can help a brand or creator tailor their content to appeal to a certain audience or meet specific goals.
View Count
View count is the total number of people who have viewed the video. What qualifies as a “view” will vary from platform to platform, with 30 seconds or more equating to a view on YouTube, 3 seconds or more on Facebook and Instagram, and 2 seconds on Twitter and LinkedIn. On Vimeo, the view count is the number of times a video starts playing.
Keep in mind that you can only communicate so much in 2 or 3 seconds, so view count may not always be a useful metric for measuring whether the video gets a point across. View counts are a good starting point for identifying the number of viewers who were enticed into watching the video in the first place due to an appealing title, thumbnail, or placement.
Engagement
Engagement can mean different things on different platforms, but generally refers to the measurement of viewer interactions on a video. That might include clicks, comments, likes and reactions. If a video elicits a feeling in the viewer, they will be more likely to engage with it and remember what they watched.
Watch time
Watch time refers to the sum of all the time all viewers spent watching the video, including replays. Long watch times are indicative of compelling content that draws the viewer in and keeps them watching. Videos with long cumulative watch times are likely resonating with viewers and effectively conveying a message.
Social share
When a user refers any other individual (or group of individuals) to watch a video using either embedded sharing functions or by simply copying a link, this is referred to as a social share. Think of social sharing basically as free advertising, which any marketing profession will tell you is priceless. Videos with high social share metrics are something that viewers are excited for others to see.
Click-through rate
Click-throughs are the number of times viewers click a link presented within the video. If a video advertises a particular product or service, for example, click-throughs will be the number of times viewers click to an external site to learn more about that product or service. Click-through rate is the percentage of click-throughs over total views.
Conversion
When a viewer fills in a contact form or becomes a customer, this is considered a conversion. This number can sometimes be hard to measure as it often requires integration and reporting across multiple systems, but a conversion is ultimately the end goal of most marketing campaigns.
Hook rate
In paid marketing, a strong video hook rate refers to the percentage of all people who view your ad and watch the first 3 seconds. Videos that have a strong hook rate typically also have a high conversion rate. A good hook rate is dependent on your industry, but the average tends to be around ~25%.
Organizing video marketing assets in a single, secure place
Planning, shooting, editing, and repurposing a video can be a huge accomplishment, but content can’t exist in a vacuum on your local hard drive.
To maximize your video’s impact, videos should be intelligently stored, organized, and distributed in a secure place for your entire team to use. A video library can provide safe, easy places to upload and organize video content, tag it, track changes, manage access, and share it with the world.
For example, Allianz Partners, a global insurance leader, uses Vimeo to host, manage, and distribute their video marketing content across channels. Having a centralized hub for all their assets makes it easier for their distributed team to stay in lock-step.
“My team is based in Dublin, I’m in Croatia, and we work with colleagues in Dubai and Australia,” says Genevieve Deschenes, Content & Event Specialist at Allianz Partners. “Sometimes our collaboration can be messy, but with Vimeo, we have everything in one place.”
The creative process can be messy, but with the right tools, inspiration, and tactics any business can create and scale a video strategy that meets customers where they are.
Launch your video marketing strategy with Vimeo
