Video Marketing Stategy 2021| Definitive Video Production Guide

Are you in need of the best video marketing strategy for your company?

If so, you’re in luck.

This is the most important video marketing and production guide on the Internet for 2021.

The best part is, all the tips and tricks in this article are working wonderfully now for companies just like yours.

Over the last 14 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with and continue servicing big brands video content needs, helping them achieve success with their corporate marketing goals. After working with over $2 million in production budgets, I’ve learned a few tricks along the way I’m here to share with you.

Let’s get focused:

Overview of Video Marketing in 2021

Video marketing is evolving at such a rapid pace making it difficult for even the most seasoned marketers to keep up.

With smart planning and execution, you can create and implement these hot new video strategies into your current video marketing plan.

Emerging technologies are paving the way for engaging videos like:

First, you need to understand the traditional video advertising practices and how to use new-age video marketing tactics to help you stay relevant, get more brand exposure, and sell more products.

The days of large Hollywood studios producing all the video content we consume is long gone, most likely for good. That is certainly good news for you because now you have the power at your fingertips to communicate, compete, and dominate your niche market with video done the right way.

FAQ’s about video marketing:

What is video marketing?

Video marketing is the use of videos (usually several types) to promote your brand and sell your products and services online.

How to do video marketing correctly?

Achieving success with video marketing requires strategy, creativity, time, and money.

Why is video marketing in 2021 so important?

Because video has become a dominating use of our time and will continue to be well into the future.

How do I pull off video marketing in 2021 with incredible results?

Think about your company’s target market and what problems it solves for them. Now choose how and where to communicate that solution to your audience with video. Keep reading and I will reveal all.

Video marketing is the future of all online marketing. Whether that’s Google’s new highly focused UX experience, video for SEO, social media, email marketing, or website videos – your customers now expect it – and a lot of it.

Video helps you establish trust, drive sales, and boost brand awareness across all platforms.

How to zoom in on your Target Market

Narrow down your target market for each piece of video content you create.

Consider questions like:

It’s time to create your buyer personas.

Buyer personas are 3-4 target market profiles. Here’s an example: Suzy, a 24 year old Hispanic American living in San Diego, CA. She likes Lady Gaga, Snapchat, twix candy, working out, Coca Cola and salsa dancing. Did that paint a picture for you?

Knowing what your market likes enables you to emotionally understand your audience and increase your insight into who you want to reach and what they want to see from your video marketing content.

Video Marketing goals checklist

Once you’ve decided on your target audiences, it’s time to nail down your goals for your video marketing strategy.

Your video marketing goals can be:

For best results, choose one main goal to focus on per video. This helps you plan the right video content and focus – which get better results in the end.

15 Types of Videos for 2021

You’ve zeroed in on your target market, set a specific goal, and now you’re ready to plan your videos and start creating some movie magic!

Diversifying your video content library is a great way to maximize your resources, reach a wide audience, and share interesting and valuable information.

Here are 15 Types of Videos you can create right now:

Social Media Videos

There are numerous social media platforms that can be used for connecting your brand to reach your target audiences. Maintaining video specifications can be a pain, however, it is necessary to ensure they are displayed correctly.

Let’s explore the multitude of social media sites and the different layouts they possess. For example, on Instagram, it’s a square format, on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn videos can either be in landscape or portrait. This means you will have to be mindful of the sizing of your video content if you’re going to publish them on different social networks. In essence, your content might not get played or will be incorrectly displayed without proper planning.

Before you publish a video on social media you must know their specifications. Play it safe by choosing square or vertical videos and you will have more platforms to accommodate the format.

Videos in Stories

Publishing transitory content on social media “stories” are increasingly popular and I expect more people to use this format.

Story videos are great for new product announcements and real-time updates. Due to the transient nature of video stories, individuals tend to check it out right away because they might not have a chance to view it later. Millions of people interact with this medium of visual content daily; think about the last time you saw a story video – I’m guessing it was today!

How-To Tutorials

Tutorial videos are incredibly valuable, but you don’t always need a big budget to achieve great success with them. You can put together brief but entertaining how-to’s that give your audience answers and insight. Simply lay out the steps and then show your viewers how to do it. Make it easy to follow and include a clear call-to-action.

You can make a how-to using animation, or by simply walking through the steps and demonstrating. Your viewers will get the answer to their question of “how do you do x?”, and you’ll have a great way to lead them into the next step in your marketing or sales process funnel.

Live Video

Social media has changed business, bridging the gap between companies and consumers by providing a platform they can interact with on a personal level. This is excellent for engaging highly interested customers in what your brand offers.

The problem is that traditional social promotion methods are not enough to reach out to new prospects. These days you can’t just regularly post on your feed, reply to comments, or share content to build a strong online presence. You need more meaningful social interactions between individuals. Brands have a tough time landing on their customer’s news feeds without the pay-to-play model.

But here’s the solution: Live video. Live videos are prioritized by social media algorithms because they’re taking place in real-time, allowing users to join in instantly as the live video is taking place. Meaning, you not only increase the chances of getting your content noticed, but you also can engage with your customers or target market in real-time which increases brand loyalty and sales.

Live videos hook viewers 3X times longer than pre-recorded videos and can produce six times more interactions. Live videos offer a more authentic experience for audiences and adds a human touch to your video marketing strategy in 2021. And you can do this all from your phone or laptop but if you demand high-quality consider reaching out to a professional video studio or production company to come on site.

With this in your face data, it’ll be difficult not to include live streaming in your video marketing strategy for 2021.

Ad Videos

Ad videos that are most effective are generally concise, simple and memorable. They should state a problem your market has and solve it with your product’s solution. These ads can be used everywhere from Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Youtube and several online video streaming services like Hulu.

Media services such as Hulu, Netflix, VUDU, and Amazon Prime are still fairly new but extremely popular right now as more and more people tune in. This means video marketers like you need to utilize OTT platforms and devices for your campaigns. If you’re not quite there, at least do your homework – you could be missing out on a huge opportunity.

OTT content is streamed on desktop, mobile gadgets, smart TV, game consoles, and streaming boxes. Just make sure your videos are responsive to all these devices.

Animations

Animated videos are a fun way to tell a story, do an explainer, show off an infographic, and much more. It’s a lighthearted and entertaining way to share info with your audience. All you need are some creative graphics and a voiceover to engage with viewers and capture their attention. There are many low cost providers and DIY software companies available to you.

Slideshows

Slideshows are a good option for bringing other kinds of content to life, like blog posts, sales decks, investment optics, and brand presentations. They’re easy to make and you don’t have to get in front of the camera if you don’t want to. Slideshow presentations help visual learners in your audience, and they can also be a great tool for capturing leads.

No Sound Video

You don’t want your customers watching something with the sound on full blast when they’re at work or in a public place. Verizon Media stated that 92% of people watch videos with the sound off when using mobile devices. And more social sites are utilizing this feature. Captions are now a standard among social videos.

Social media users now prefer to consume videos without sound. Utilize captions and make videos that don’t need sound to be viewed.

Behind-the-Scenes

Give your audience a behind-the-scenes look at what a typical day at the office looks like. This kind of video can be casual, yet professional. Viewers will love getting to peek around the curtain and see what your company culture is really like.

The intimacy and rawness of these videos help viewers feel more connected to your brand and message. You can do behind-the-scenes videos that are humorous and light-hearted. You can also stream this type of video live on your social media feed, giving people a real-time glimpse of your team at work.

Customer Reviews & Testimonials

Turn to your customers for review and testimonial videos. Testimonials are an absolutely essential part of sales because they’re so compelling for potential buyers. When your viewers see real people who trust your brand and use your products, it helps them believe in the quality and usefulness. Marketing Land finds that 90% of consumers are influenced by online reviews when making a purchasing decision. Great customer reviews from actual buyers can boost your sales.

Promos

Promo videos function like trailers, grabbing your audience’s attention and captivating them with a story or attractive visuals. A professionally produced promo video is well worth the cost, but you can also come up with quick promos for marketing that boost your brand. They can increase awareness in both your business and your products and services.

They’re especially helpful when running a specific promotion, like a limited time offer. For these types of sales, you may not have the resources to plan out a marketing campaign. Putting out a promo video lets your audience know they need to act fast to take advantage of a great offer.

Whiteboard Explainers

Set up a whiteboard, grab a dry erase marker, and get to work teaching or explaining to your viewers something worthwhile. Whiteboard videos are so effective because they give you an incredibly affordable way to explain a process or product. You don’t need animations, graphics, or actors to bring your concept to life. All you need is an easy, basic visual to help you teach your target market.

Interviews

Turn the camera around and interview someone, whether a thought leader in your industry, a member of your team, or even a customer or collaborator. Interview videos are useful for building authority and thought leadership. They give viewers greater insight into your brand and products.

Depending on the participant, you can choose to do an off-camera or on-camera interview. Off-camera interviews give the viewer the feeling that they’re watching a conversation. On-camera interviews require the participant to be more comfortable in front of the camera since it appears that they’re speaking directly to the viewers.

Interactive Video

Customers gravitate towards brands providing unique shopping experiences. 75% of consumers expect brands to use new technologies to build better experiences.

That’s where interactive video comes in. The rise of augmented and virtual reality technologies makes creating these types of videos easier than ever.

Maybelline produced an interactive step-by-step make-up tutorial featuring their new products.

Disney promoted their live-action Jungle Book movie where viewers can take a peek of the movie and move the video slider to uncover how Disney filmed it or click on the characters to open up short descriptions of each character.

Interactive video is changing video marketing in 2021. AR and VR technologies are still developing and as these technologies get more advanced, we can expect interactive videos to be more varied in the near future.

Product Demonstration

Show off your amazing product by doing a demonstration video. This gives viewers a look at how the product works, its features and details, and how they can benefit from it. Product demonstrations don’t have to be elaborate or well-planned. You can simply set up the camera, get the right lighting, and show just how to use the product. These videos are great for helping buyers make a purchasing decision.

Building your video content library doesn’t have to be costly and time-consuming. Try these quick and easy video ideas to give your audience more to watch while improving your marketing plan. You’ll be able to share more frequently and increase your reach.

With so many different types, it shouldn’t be difficult to fill out your content calendar with a mix of interesting and useful videos. It’s also a good time to take a look at your video marketing budget. Some videos will require more resources than others. For example, a short customer testimonial can be put together quickly, whereas a behind the scenes look at your business requires more footage. Think about where you’ll need to spend more to get a great result.

As you create outlines for the videos, keep your brand style, tone, & messaging in mind. Every video, regardless of type, should stick to your brand message. This shapes the audience’s perception of your brand and helps them identify it easily. Always aim to have a positive image that makes your target market feel good.

How to Delegate & Create: In-house VS Video Agency

After all of the behind-the-scenes planning and preparation is complete, you’re ready to start creating your video content.

Decide which videos will benefit from professional input and which videos can be done in-house.

Working with a professional video production agency can take your concept and bring it to life by delivering a high-quality result that supports your brand’s image. Video agencies also bring in new concepts and help you think out of the box.

Don’t just rely on a demo-reel - these are often the company's best work and do not reflect their quality.

Ask for examples of projects like yours they’ve done start to finish - call their references

Get a few different bids to see what the prices are like for your video projects.

Know that you will get what you pay for. The lowest price option isn’t always the best. Instead judge the video agency on what you are looking to accomplish based on their previous work.

Find the right staff that has experience creating videos

Give them your target market with brand personas

Give them a budget to work with (they may need to rent gear, hire actors, get a location, and need help with advanced editing)

Give them a time-frame to complete the video by

Support them in the process by offering constructive feedback at important milestones (like scripting, casting talent, location scouting, etc…)

Whether doing it in-house or hiring an agency, working with a team makes the creation of awesome videos much easier. Everyone should have a specified role to play.

Tap into your team’s talents and skills and start creating award-winning videos today. It’s fun and rewarding to admire and share your finished video project!

How to create video content worth watching

Here are the best ways to ensure that your content is compelling and worth watching:

Connect on an emotional level – Strive to make a connection with your viewers if your main purpose is to entertain, rather than to educate. Keep in mind that not every video that you create is going to be compelling on an emotional level
Entertain while achieving your goal – For videos that are designed to provide your viewers with information and to teach them something useful, aim to entertain. You can get the important information across while keeping your viewer’s attention. Use strong corresponding visuals, great sound quality, and provide value to viewers
For each video that you make, have a clear message for viewers to take away. Defining your message before filming makes it easier to convey through the combination of visuals and verbal content.
Help YouTube Understand Your Content – Uploading your video to YouTube isn’t enough. You need to include metadata so that the site understands what your video is all about. Metadata is important because it tells your audience what they are watching and gets more relevant eyes on your video.
Keyword optimized title – Your video’s title should be descriptive, but brief. It should sound natural but include your main SEO keyword. This helps it to be found by viewers performing a search for videos related to that keyword.

How to Share & Optimize your Video Projects

Your video content is done and it’s ready to be shared with the world, congratulations – hope you’re proud of it!

Before submitting it be sure to have a thumbnail handy and have your metadata handy (tips are below on how to create the right metadata)

You are now ready for the world to see your masterpiece, here are a few platforms to consider:

Each platform offers different functions and features, be sure to optimize your videos accordingly. Optimizing ensures your videos show up in search and maximize engagement with your audience.

How to make the most of optimization:

Choose a catchy and descriptive title, making use of your keywords.
Add captions, since many people view videos with the sound off (and it helps optimize for best search results)
Use an appropriate call to action so that viewers know what step they should take next.

5 Ways to Measure the Success of Your Video Marketing Strategy

You’ve planned, strategized, filmed, and then shared your amazing video with the world, now it’s time to see just how well it’s performing.

There are several different metrics to look at to help you gauge just how effective your video content is. Digging into the details of your video’s analytics will give you greater insights and help you continue creating more amazing content.

Here are 5 ways to measure a video’s performance:

1. View Count

The first metric that most people look at is the view count. This is the simplest, most obvious way to get a baseline idea of how your video is performing. A higher number of views can give you a boost in confidence and let you know that your video is at least initially appealing to people.

It’s important to note that each platform has its own way to measure the view count. On YouTube, a video has to be watched for at least 30 seconds. For Facebook, it only takes 3 seconds to count as viewed. Keep that in mind as you start counting your overall views.

View count is a nice starting point for measuring your video’s popularity, but ultimately you want it to lead to conversions. A popular video is good for brand awareness and can help boost your business’s visibility in a crowded market. To get an even better measurement of your video’s success, you’ll want to keep looking at other metrics as well.

2. Play Rate

Your video’s play rate is calculated by taking the number of viewers who clicked and watched your video and dividing it by the total number of impressions it received. Simply put, the play rate compares how many people could have watched your video and how many actually did. This metric can tell you whether your video is attractive enough for your audience.

Things that can impact your play rate include the thumbnail, the video’s title and description, the video’s size, and its position (placed above the fold or too far down on the page). A low play rate means that you need to spend some time making a few tweaks.

3. Engagement

To measure your video’s engagement rate, look at the average view time. When it comes to the engagement of individual viewers, you’ll want to know the percentage of viewers and how much of the video they watched. You can see how many viewers total watched your video, stopped watching, or re-watched it.

Seeing that a high percentage of viewers watched your video all the way through can give you some insight as to what it is that makes your video so effective. It could be a compelling storyline, good use of emotional connection, offering helpful advice, etc. Knowing whether people are sticking around to the end can help you choose a better position for your call-to-action, too. You may consider moving it towards the beginning of the video if the numbers are showing that viewers aren’t sticking around until the end.

4. Social Shares

Social share counts show how many times your video has been shared on each platform, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’s a great indicator of just how good your video is (or isn’t) because it lets you know whether viewers are finding it compelling enough to share.

Social shares are more than just a vanity metric, though. The more shares your video receives, the more visibility your brand has. More social shares build social proof and will lend credibility to your brand.

Shareable content shows people that you’re creative, knowledgeable, and trustworthy. When they see a high share count under your video, they’ll be more likely to click and watch. More shares lead to a larger audience for your content, and that, of course, can mean higher conversions.

5. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate can be the most important and insightful metric to measure your video’s success. It indicates the number of leads generated by your video.

As you planned your video, you likely set specific goals and included at least one call-to-action. Your conversion rate lets you know if the video is meeting those goals. For example, if your goal was to get subscribers to your email list, you’ll want to know how many viewers converted from simply watching to actually signing up.

To get an accurate look at the conversion rate, you might have to dig further into your analytics tool, like Google Analytics. You’ll see how many viewers are watching your content before converting into subscribers or customers.

When it comes to measuring this metric for ad videos on a site like Facebook, you’ll get a better idea of just how much it’s costing you to convert leads. This helps inform your ad budget going forward.

These basic, quick metrics are a great way to get a better idea of how your video content is performing. They’re an important tool to use if you want to maximize your video’s effectiveness and support your goals. Don’t focus on just one, though. Take each into account and continue running tests to see how and where you can improve. Over time, your video marketing efforts are going to get better and better.

Case Studies

#1. Consumer Fusion - Increased Trade Show Conversions

Consumer Fusion used video production and marketing to increase their trade show sales by 145% with the use of a key-note speech pre-roll video. What we mean is that before the keynote speaker presented the crowd was shown this video:

Our production helped them score new franchisees that are now loyal clients.

#2. Solar Gard - Branded Content

Solar Gard has been working with New Evolution Video for 6 years now and has increased their web traffic by 62% and social media following by 123% with the use of branded video content.

Our content connected the dots for their resellers by increasing revenue and brand exposure as well.

The following examples were done to showcase what makes Solar Gard exceptional in the solar film industry.

2015 – Overview of brand video:

2017 – Product video:

2019 – Branded content:

#3. Casper Cleaning

Casper Cleaning commissioned New Evolution Video to produce a commercial to educate their customers on their Covid cleaning process. The commercial below led Casper to close a deal with a local casino for $125,000. The casino was in the process of selecting a cleaning vendor and right before they went with another agency Casper was able to get this demo in front of them and close the deal.

Video Marketing Statistics

Video marketing is the future and that future is here. 2021 is the time to focus down on video marketing for your business. Have the resources to create video? Is your audience interested in videos? Will the effort be worth it? YES!

Below are recent video marketing statistics to show you 2021 is the right time for video marketing. Use these video marketing statistics to help guide your video marketing strategy for next year and beyond:

That’s a Wrap

Video content is king, there is absolutely no doubt about it.

The future of video marketing will get even more interactive as the technology leans towards immersive equipment. By focusing on the future trends and producing videos your market wants to watch, you will be more prepared and effective in engaging leads and keeping your customers interested in your brand.

Great video content alone isn’t enough to build your brand and explode your sales. You have to have the right video marketing strategy in place before you start creating and marketing your video content.

The strategy we’ve just discussed gives you a comprehensive guide to follow. Now, take your ideas and turn them into quality, impactful video content.

Be sure to check out Top San Diego Digital Agencies for help with marketing your videos and helping with your advertising campaigns.

You’re already on your way to a successful video marketing campaign that boosts brand awareness and brings you more sales while growing your customer base.

Now grab some popcorn and let the show begin!

The Definitive Guide to Video Marketing in 2021 (15 Must-Know Video Types)

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