The appeal of video content marketing continues to grow. According to the statistics, 52 percent of  marketing executives that focus on video content state that video provides the best ROI when compared with all other types of marketing content in their overall strategy.

Video is the single best way to engage your visitors and potential customers. It is much more efficient than text or photos. It keeps your target audience on your page longer and has the benefit of being able to transmit emotion and a brand persona to your target market. This singular ability is crucial for building trust and relationships. This article will address some simple steps for creating and integrating compelling video content that engages your target market and gets your message out in a positive, fun, and engaging manner.

Identify Your Target Audience And Your Video's Objective

Before you begin putting together a marketing video you must have a clear understanding of your target persona's, needs, wants, pain points and problems. You need to know what part of your sales target market your video will be created to address;

Top of the Funnel Contacts-Bringing awareness

Middle of the Funnel Contacts-Encouraging brand consideration

Bottom of the Funnel Contacts- Unique value proposition and demonstrating value

Along with identifying your target market it is equally important to identify the purpose or objective of the video content you will produce. Consider the question “What do you want your target audience to come away with after viewing your video.”

The Right Stuff

For each part of the sales funnel your market requires different information. You need to be able to choose the right type of content based on where your target customer is in the sales cycle. Here are some types of basic video content that work with the three phases of the sales funnel:

KISS

Keeping in mind that many viewers click away from a video within the first 10 seconds the rule is keep your video short. 2 minutes seems to be the golden measure for marketing videos. Videos of 2 minutes have the highest engagement rates.

Tell Your Story

Explain who you are as a brand and what value you provide. Tell your story. Focus on how your brand can solve their problem or fulfill their needs and wants. Befriend your target market and help them to see the benefits of doing business with you. Do not try to “sell” them.

No Talking Heads

If you are going to do a video then go all in. There is nothing worse than staring in the face of a talking head and listening to it drone on. Make your video diverse and enticing. Use a variety of techniques to keep your viewer engaged. Try using animation, screen cast, cartoons, motion graphics and live action. You might even try an interactive video. Get professional assistance so you optimize the value of your video content.

Determine Where Your Video Content Will Live

Where should your video content live? The answer is most likely in several places. Certainly it should be on your website but it may also be useful to post on various social media platforms and even on other websites such as industry professional sites depending on the content piece.

Measure and Analyze Performance

Not every video content piece will be an immediate winner. It is imperative to measure and analyze results so you can see how popular it is, click through rates, number of views, engagement rates and feedback. Measuring results and analyzing video performance will provide you with ideas for how to improve your videos and optimize your ROI and click through/referral rates.