How many of you are struggling with video marketing?
It looks easy.
You:
- Get on camera
- Talk about a topic
- Publish it on YouTube
But…
It doesn’t get the traction you were expecting nor does it rank in Google like you hoped.
You read stats like how 76.5% of marketers and SMB owners are getting good results with video.
Or, how 85% of Internet users watch online videos.
You know its value…
…you’re just struggling to make it work.
Let’s fix that.
This post shares a simple, effective video marketing checklist to create more video and get better results.
Creating Great Video Content: The Video Pre Production Checklist
The video pre production checklist sets the stage for the great content you’ll be creating.
This checklist covers a few items:
- Topic
- Structure
- Intent
You could easily set up and start shooting video with a general idea.
And it may get some views.
But, this is video marketing meaning it needs a purpose.
That purpose could be any (or all) of the following:
- Generate leads and sales
- Increase brand awareness
- Gather feedback and suggestions
- Boost organic and social traffic
Ideally, you’d get the mix of them but one is good enough per video.
Let’s dive into the three items…
Creating Great Topics for Your Video Marketing
We recommend choosing video marketing topics based on:
- A keyword universe (also used for your site efforts)
- The frequently asked questions you receive daily
- Using Google Trends to find hot topics and interests
- Reusing your best content based on stats and site data
There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel.
You already likely have a trove of great content on your site — use those as the basis of your video ideas.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #1
☐ Find 5 – 10 high-performing pages on your site
This will provide both site data and keywords you’ll use for the video topic and (later) optimization.
Setting the Structure for Your Online Videos
Short and crispy.
That’s the point.
Leave out the ‘Hey YouTube!”, “Don’t forget to…”, and the other jargon YouTube creators throw into the mix.
Instead:
- Keep your videos between 3 – 5 minutes
- Get right to the point and front-load the value
These short videos won’t land you much monetization on the platform.
But, monetization wasn’t the point — these videos are about conveying brand value and driving viewers to your site to buy products or services.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #2
☐ Pull the main headers (from the post) which you’ll use as topics/title cards
This will keep the video on-point and moving along without getting winded.
Having an Intent for the Video Efforts
Lastly, have an intent for the video — like:
- Sending a viewer to a branded landing page to opt-in to an email newsletter
- Getting a viewer to subscribe to your channel for on-going content and series
- Driving a viewer to a product page — perhaps by enticing them with a coupon
Of course, this is your video marketing efforts… so this is up to you.
But, an intent drives purpose and keeps the project progressing vs scatterbraining the efforts.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #3
☐ Choose 1 purpose for each video
This will help both scripting and seeing how your videos become interconnected.
Filming Engaging Video Content: The Video Production Steps
Video production is quite easy after the first couple of takes.
We’ve covered the video creation process before.
But, in the spirit of keeping it a checklist, we’ve condensed that information down to the essentials.
Ideally, you’ll want the smallest investment possible when starting as you want to avoid information overload.
Let’s figure it out, shall we?
Setting Up the Video Production Environment
We want you to consider:
- Making a video with photos
- Making a video with you on camera
Either is fine.
A photo-based video (like explainer videos or screencasts) are perfect for covering technical topics.
A personalized video is great for conveying your authority and building your brand.
Once you figure which you want to do — either:
- Install a screencasting tool like Camtasia or OBS
- Set up a productio environment with a camera and microphone
Yes, really… that’s it.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #4
☐ Decide which type of video content you’ll produce and get the gear/apps
This will have you fully set to begin creating a video for business.
How to Make a Video for Free
We want to keep costs as low as possible since this is still a relatively new area to explore.
That said, time is money so aim to nail the video in a few takes.
Remember, you’ll get better the more you videos produced.
Here’s a template for your first video:
- Tease the topic by opening with a value proposition
- Cut to the title/animation showing your brand
- Work through the 3-5 points displaying info on the cards
- Include a call-to-action in the closing (+ graphics for your social)
This could get done with a simple screencast and voice-over work. Or, using your cell phone to record an off-the-cuff video.
Don’t worry if it’s amateur — it gives the video authenticity.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #5
☐ Hit record and dive right in by ‘rifting’ or following a script based on your prior content
This gives you the main points distilled into bite-sized snippets easily conveyed through your video.
Editing Video for Your Business
Video editing is down-right easy-peasy these days with a few different tools:
- YouTube’s built-in editor
- Magisto or PowerDirector app
- Sony Vegas or Adobe Audition
Check your OS, too, since you likely have iMovie or Windows Movie Maker.
All that’s needed is the slicing tool.
This trims the video — removing the pauses, um’s, and anything detracting the content.
- Chop out the fluff
- Add title cards and video overlays
- Render the video at its highest quality
That’s it!
Video Marketing Checklist Item #6
☐ Use the ‘slice’ (or ‘trim’) tool to remove pauses, add titles/graphics, then export
This takes about 1 hour of real-time to edit 1-minute of the video if you’re super analytical about it.
Optimizing the Video and Channels: The Video Post Production Outreach
You’ve got it uploaded to YouTube (and other video platforms).
Awesome.
Now it’s time to put a little extra work to help it get found in search listings.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #7
☐ Apply keywords to the title and fill-in a unique description
That’s all? Not really, but these will get you most of the way there.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #8
☐ Publish the video content everywhere
YouTube is 1st but also get it up there on Vimeo and your Facebook business page.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #8
☐ Repurpose the video into other formats
Consider taking the video and cutting it down into snippets so that you could include it within an email series. Get the snippets published on social channels like Instagram or Snapchat. Or, host it as part of a Webinar by giving it a lead in/out sequence.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #9
☐ Engage with your audience
Keep the YouTube and social feeds open to respond to comments and feedback. Use this opportunity to learn how to improve or get ideas for your next video.
Video Marketing Checklist Item #10
☐ Track and build on your success
Begin expanding off previous ideas and make it a regular occurrence where you are recording a video for your projects. Within time you may also want to consider hiring a professional to do the editing and publication as this will allow you to focus solely on the video content.
Follow the Video Checklist and Dominate the Listings
Video marketing is the biggest investment you want to explore now and into the foreseeable future.
People are shifting away from the text-based content.
They want bite-sized chunks of engaging information.
People want to watch and share videos.
What better way to engage your audience and entice sales than using the medium they love the most?
As you can tell from this video marketing checklist, it’s not that hard.
What’s stopping you?
Get into it now before your competition dominates your opportunities.
