7 Video Marketing Best Practices Worth Fighting For

Video is more compelling than text-based content. It engages minds and beautifies stories.

It boosts email click-through rates and on-page conversions. But let’s face it, building a strong video marketing strategy and integrating it with the rest of your marketing activities is no easy feat.

So how can you make the most of it?

By checking out these 7 best practices for creating a top-notch video marketing strategy that doesn’t just engage minds but captures leads and convinces buyers. Want to learn more about a certain best practice? Check out the corresponding resources for a deeper dive.

1. Plan your goals before pressing record

How can you aim for success when you don’t even know what success looks like? Before getting swept away by the fun thunderstorm stunt you’re trying in your next shoot, sit down for a minute and lay out your top goals for the video. Is it intended to generate brand awareness? Or is it a lead generation campaign? What feeling are you trying to elicit? What do you hope viewers’ next steps will be? Nailing these goals ahead of time will ensure you get the biggest impact once you hit publish.

Dive Deeper: How Real Marketers Plan Video Projects (Video)

2. Align videos to the funnel

You wouldn’t write a whitepaper or e-book targeted at the whole funnel so why would you plan a video aimed to do the same? The truth is that different videos perform differently throughout the funnel. Some types of videos specialize in gaining viewer interest and engagement, like explainer-style videos; while others help to educate viewers who are further through the funnel, like webinars or product demos.

Mapping your video content to your buyer journey is a crucial component to a successful video marketing strategy, hands down.

Dive Deeper: Aligning your Video Strategy to the Buyer Journey

3. Always think of the story

We are biologically hard-wired to love a good story. Heck, it doesn’t even have to be a page-turning, edge-of-the-seat type of story. The fact of the matter is that our brains have an easier time processing stories than say, random bullet points or straight facts. So always ask yourself “what’s the story here?” whenever you’re creating a video (yes, even a talking head or product demo video), and it’ll definitely gain the attention of your audience and better yet … retain it.

Dive Deeper: Storytelling Advice and Resources for Marketers

4. Reach beyond brand awareness

Video called. It wanted me to tell you that it’s tired of being dumped in brand awareness campaigns over and over. Did you know that landing pages with video see 80% more conversions than those without? Or that videos can capture leads within the players themselves? Since many marketers are finding video to be the most engaging content medium, why not get it to do some of the heavy lifting for you?

Dive Deeper: Video Marketing How-To – Using Video for Lead Generation

5. Remember that shorter is better

Have you heard? We have short attention spans. Yeah, you’ve heard. The average attention span has decreased from 12 to 8 seconds in the last 15 years alone. Hence why shorter is better. Generally speaking, the lower you are in the funnel the longer your videos can be, but top of funnel videos should be under 90 seconds.

Dive Deeper: The Optimal Length for B2B Videos Throughout the Funnel

6. Measure more than view counts

Sure YouTube fame and ‘viral videos’ are something to be proud of. But seasoned video marketers are measuring more than just view counts. They’re looking at metrics that show how engaged their audience is – through attention span data – and what pipeline contributions their videos are offering. And those marketers that track these advanced metrics see more than 2x the ROI.

Dive Deeper: The Principles of Video Analytics

7. Plug in to your marketing tech stack

Video wasn’t meant to stand on its own, segregated from the rest of your marketing activities. There’s a lot to be gained by integrating video into your marketing automation or CRM platform, but only 15% of marketers are realizing these benefits. Just think, you could join that 15% and track who’s viewed which videos, how long they watched for, and even see parts they re-watched! These are valuable insights that will help you score and qualifying your lead pool.

Dive Deeper: Adding Video Viewing Data to your Marketing Automation Platform

Lattice, a company providing industry-leading predictive analytics, has mastered these video marketing best practices. Join them to learn how they’re using video to strengthen social, email, and pipeline.

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