We have a question for you: when was the last time you watched a video on your smartphone or tablet? We are willing to wager it has been quite recently. Most likely no more than a day or two; maybe a week at most. Advances in technology have made it easy for us to access video from just about anywhere at anytime. This is great, because people like watching video. According to Statista, during the first quarter of 2018 adults 18-34 spent an average of 105 minutes per week watching videos on their smartphones. That?s an average of 15 minutes per day. As mobile devices continue to get more sophisticated and access to high-speed internet becomes more widespread, you can expect that number to increase.

We bring this up to illustrate that people are getting their information in much different ways than in the past. Whether via a blogging/news website or social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, people used to get their information by reading it. With video becoming more accessible, people have changed from reading to watching. For many it is a much easier and efficient way to consume information. News and marketing companies have adapted to accommodate this higher demand for video content. If you fail to do the same, you could be left without an audience.

How To Incorporate Video In Your Marketing Strategy

Incorporating video into your messaging strategy does not have to be a huge, difficult endeavor. Here are some tips to get you started.

• Make a plan designed to help you reach your short- and long-term goals – Whenever you create content it is important to do so with intent. Producing videos is no different. Before you get started, understand what your marketing goals are and who you are targeting. This will help with the next step.
• Determine what topics you should focus on – Remember you want to engage your audience to form a deeper connection. The topics of your videos should reflect this. Focus on addressing their pain points while making sure you are directing them towards contacting you or taking action.
• Get logistical – The last step of preparation is to make sure you get your equipment situated. Most smartphones are capable of taking very good videos. If within your means, you can purchase a more expensive camera. We do suggested using something to stabilize your camera such as a tripod or gimbal.
• Start recording – Once you have everything ready to go, it’s time to start recording! It will most likely be nerve-wracking at first. To ease do some dry runs where you can work out the kinks. Quick tip: don?t try to be perfect. You will most likely make a lot of mistakes the first few times. Those are opportunities to improve, so allow them to happen and allow yourself to use them to better yourself.
• Make sure to edit – Even though you should not shoot for perfection, you should aim to be professional. Review each video and see if anything needs to be corrected or if you need to do a reshoot. After some time, you will get a process down and this will not seem so daunting.
• Publish and Promote – When you have everything set to go, publish on your platform of choice. We suggest waiting until you have two or three videos ready to go so you can schedule them. Stagger the release of new videos if you still working on the process of producing the videos. You want to be consistent so your audience will begin to look forward to new content. Make sure to promote on all your marketing channels where people can find your video.
• Analyze and Adjust – Analyze how your videos are performing. This will help you understand what your audience is connecting with and what is missing the mark. From there you can drill down on what video content you should be producing.

Video marketing is the future of marketing. To stay relevant, you must develop a plan of action which works for your business. Failure to do so means you are ignoring what your target audience is looking. This could lead to them ignoring you.