Ideating to Implementing: Our Guide to Video Marketing

Editor's note: This blog was updated for relevance and accuracy in August 2024.

There is a lot to consider when creating a marketing video for your company. First, there are the artistic considerations: What are your stylistic preferences? Will you use voice talent or produce documentary-style? What graphic elements or animation do you envision? Then there are the practical considerations: How much will it cost? Who should be in the video? Where will it be shot? How can we squeeze everything we can out of our marketing budget?

Let’s dig in with some practical tips for producing a marketing video, starting with ideating your video.

Developing Your Marketing Video Story

Your business is most likely the backdrop for a lot of stories. So how do you know how to find the best stories for your marketing video? Try to tell stories that:

1. Play to your audience’s emotion
2. Are simple and easy to understand
3. Focus on what makes you unique
4. Are shareable 

Creating Your Video Marketing Strategy

Yes, making your video simple, unique, and shareable is certainly the goal - but you need a strategy to get there. So here are a few tips to follow to ensure that you will separate yourself from the crowd by following video production best practices:

• Know the problem you are trying to solve. What role will these videos play in your overall marketing mix? Are you hoping to create awareness of your product or service? Drive new online business? Increase customer loyalty? Start with asking what problem am I trying to solve? 
• Understand who you are trying to reach. Familiarize yourself with buyer personas because before you can produce a meaningful, high-impact video, you have to know who you are trying to reach. Remember your message needs to be produced for the person who you are trying to influence. Don't try to be all things to all people.
• Know the competition. When you do a search on YouTube for your competitors, what do you find? Which videos have the most views? What topics do they cover? If you’re familiar with SEO strategy, what keywords are being used? Find out which videos are successful and which ones are not. The investment of time in research will pay off tenfold if you do the leg work up front.
• Produce your video with success in mind. How will you measure the performance of your new video? Is success based on the number of views? Shares? Engagement? Are you measuring success by the number of viewers that clicked on a call to action at the end? Or the number of viewers that subscribed to your YouTube channel? Get clear about what success looks like in advance.

Making the Most of the Shoot Day

If you’re paying for your marketing video, you should try to get as much out of it as you can. So, long before the day of the shoot, plan to optimize your time and the time of the video team. 

In fact, by spending a little extra time and effort in the planning phase of your video shoot, you could walk away with not just one video, but six videos. Think about your video shoot this way:

LEVEL ONE: Your overview video or primary marketing video is a 10,000 foot view inside your organization. This is your high-level look inside your business touching upon your unique services or key messages.

LEVEL TWO: Let’s go deeper. Each of your key messages encompassed in your overview video can be further developed into three individual videos further explaining your unique qualities, using the same spokespeople that were featured in your Level One Overview piece.

LEVEL THREE: Again, using the same characters featured in your primary video, answer some of your most frequently asked questions in your sales process.

Combining Art and Science for the Perfect Video

Video marketing truly is a mix of art and science. Your experimentation to find the perfect emotional, shareable, lasting video starts long before your pre-production meeting. It begins with truly knowing your audience, your goals, and your resources. Then in pre-production, you’ll be better equipped to plan the right story - and when the day comes, you’ll be able to maximize your dollars by creating a series of videos rather than just one.