Video marketing remains one of the best ways to attract a targeted audience and get them to convert into paying customers. According to 92% of marketers who participated in a recent Wyzowl State of Video Marketing Survey in 2022, video is an important part of their strategy for lead generation and conversion.
Image: Wyzowl
The rising importance of video also speaks to the recent changes in consumers’ habits as well. Wyzowl found in their exact same report that people are watching more videos than ever, and video watch time and consumption has nearly doubled since 2018.
After all, more and more countries are improving Internet speeds to support (and even encourage) this new change in consumption, and video is proving to be one of the best platforms to deliver value, while plugging in your product and talking about its benefits in an easy to understand way.
However, just because video is a powerful marketing strategy doesn’t mean that any and every video will do well.
Marketers still face the challenge of producing high quality videos that actually help convert customers. Take a look at these potential challenges that might arise when you start creating videos for your own marketing funnel.
Potential Challenges for Video Marketing Campaign
Low quality audio and visuals can impact overall video effectiveness
There’s no denying the importance of your actual video production. Videos that aren’t filmed properly and have good audio will likely not convert as much as you’d like.
Take, for example, poorly done video of your product. If you can’t capture the fine details of your products, you might not be able to show potential customers just how great it is.
The same goes for audio. Whether you have people speaking in the video itself or have a voiceover, if the audio isn’t clear, then people won’t understand what you’re trying to say. And if people don’t get to hear what you want to convey, you risk losing out on conversions.
Videos can become too sales-y
Even if you use videos to help you convert leads into paying customers, there’s a time to do a sales video and a time to not do a sales video. The problem is that some marketers might tend to create videos that are always about sales, making your entire video marketing campaign too salesy.
This can hurt conversions in the long run because you aren’t delivering any value to your customers before you pitch them your offer.
There’s a right way to create a video marketing strategy, and it all points to giving value first, then pitching later.
Poor editing can lower engagement and overall conversions
Yet another big challenge for marketers looking to get into video is the editing. Poorly edited videos, even if the raw video and audio is clear and high quality, can lower the effectiveness of your video, which makes it harder to convert customers.
Also, if you are downloading videos from other social platforms to upload on other platforms, there is a chance that the quality of the videos might get affected. To not compromise the quality of the video, you can use a high-quality video converter which will help you to keep the video format unchanged.
In today’s day and age, marketers need to know how people interact and best receive video. It’s both a science and an art to keep engagement high for your video, so that you can increase the amount of time people watch. When you do so, people can get more value from your video or get more information about the benefits of your offers.
Videos that are not well executed can hurt your branding
Finally, the last potential challenge that marketers risk running into when using video is that videos may inadvertently end up hurting your branding instead of helping it.
When not done well, a video could confuse your potential audience and take away any positive touch points that could contribute to your branding goals. You might also risk producing videos that help other brands instead.
10 Video Production Best Practices to Observe
Now that we understand some of the potential challenges that might come with doing video in your marketing funnel, let’s now look at the best practices you need to make your video strategy come alive.
1. Be Clear of Your Goals
Video production best practices aren’t much different from any content marketing strategy: you need to start with a clear goal in mind. Just as you might create clear goals for your content strategy as a whole, you can create clear goals for your video strategy — and even every video too.
If you want to boost conversions, then center your goal-setting for your videos around that. Brainstorm how your videos might help attract, nurture, then later pitch leads that they end up buying from you.
As a best practice, focus on the value of your video and content more than you focus on the sales. When audiences see value in your videos, they’ll associate positive things with your brand and be more likely to turn into buyers down the road.
Here are some guide questions that might help you set better, clearer goals for your video marketing:
- Where do videos fit in your marketing funnel?
- What kind of videos will you use in your funnel? E.g. YouTube videos for awareness and consideration; webinars and workshop videos for conversion
- How many videos do you want to publish per month?
- How many short videos will you do? How many long videos?
- How will each video be repurposed and distributed?
- What KPIs will you track for specific types of videos? E.g. views, clicks, watch time, conversions
2. Understand Your Target Audience
Another big part of video production best practice is understanding your target audience. What works for one audience won’t always work for another.
This will especially inform the way you produce the video. In fact, when you start the planning process of each video, it’s good to have your target audience in mind at every point.
Doing so helps you make decisions about the tone, the delivery, and even the editing of your final video.
Here’s an example of this step in action. Say your audience wvidere the average shopper, and your brand sells regular items people can purchase from your eCommerce store.
Your tone and delivery when creating videos for this type of audience might be more conversational and everyday. You’d probably avoid hifalutin words and stick to phrases that anyone could understand.
On the other hand, if you are a service provider for, say, digital businesses, you might be able to afford using industry jargon wherever appropriate. You can afford to go deeper with your scripts, and even showcase more complex processes inside the video.
One of the other big benefits of starting videos with your target audience in mind is that you’re also able to address their concerns and potential objections. This helps boost your conversions when you can already anticipate what might be keeping people from buying.
This best practice is incredibly important. Never start a video strategy without starting from your target audience.
3. Have a Clear Message When Writing Your Script
Video production best practices always encourage having a clear script. Your script might be an audio visual script — that is, a combination of the elements that will make up the final product.
A script like this can include not just voiceovers or talking head messages, but even sound effects, text overlays, and other visual elements like stock footage ideas or animations you want to include.
If this is your first time creating a script for a video, keep it simple and easy to understand. Over time, you’ll be able to create better and better scripts that can include more elements until it’s a clear storyboard.
The most important thing to remember when writing your script is that one clear goal for your video. If you want to create an educational video, for example, you have to know exactly what information you want to give, followed by what viewers should do next, i.e. click through to a landing page or check out a product you mention in your video.
When you start with a clear script, you can cut your video production time in half. This is because everyone will have a clear idea of what you need to shoot or gather for your video, as well as how to edit the video in its final form.
This lessens retakes and extended shoot times, as you know exactly what’s meant to happen even before you hit record.
4. Pay Attention to Your Lighting
One video production best practice that might go ignored is lighting. Lighting can set the mood for a video, and well lit videos help viewers see exactly what you want them to see.
Flattering lighting can help present your speaker in a great light (no pun intended), and it makes the viewing experience better. If it’s products you’re shooting, great lighting can highlight the best angles and parts of your products.
There are a few types of lighting you can experiment and start with:
- Key lighting. As the name suggests, this is the main source of lighting for your subject. This is usually the brightest light. When your subject is a person, such as a speaker, a good angle for your key light is at about 45 degrees from your subject, so it adds more dimension to their face and features.
- Fill lighting. Fill lighting helps you avoid overly dark or shadowy areas in your video. One important area you can put fill lights in are opposite your key light to lessen dark shadows on a subject’s face.
- Back lighting. If you’re working with a subject, back lighting can help separate your subject from the background. Some videographers even refer to this as a hair light because it can help to illuminate the outline of hair against a background. This can help make your subject stand out more and make backgrounds less distracting.
- Ambient lighting. One other way to light up a scene is with ambient light. You might use warm lights in the background, for example, to help add warmth and dimension to your video. Other options might be using colored LED lights, especially using your brand colors.
5. Invest in the Right Talent and Tools
Video production best practice also tells us to pay attention to hiring or working with the right talent and tools in order to create the best videos with your budget and timelines.
The right talent might be marketers within your own team, but you can very much hire outside talent. One great strategy that might work well for you is working with influencers to be the talent in your videos, such as with product videos.
Imagine hiring a TikTok influencer to show off your eCommerce products, for instance, or talk about why they love your brand.
If you’re doing educational talking heads, work with a subject matter expert who knows and understands your niche.
And here’s something you might not have considered when planning out your video strategy: the right tools. We’re not just talking about the right tools for actually producing your video, such as cameras, lights, microphones, and editing software either.
We’re also talking about tools to help you run video projects smoother. Take, for example, using free online project management software like frame.io for video projects with a team or Visme for preparing video presentations. If you’re outsourcing, consider using time tracking software like TimeDoctor to help you track the time that any project manager, video editor, and the like puts in your project, so you don’t go over budget.
6. Make a Strong Impression
A video might very well be the first point of contact for your ideal customer. Because of this, it’s key to make a strong impression that leaves them with positive feelings about your brand.
Utilize Video Editor Tools to make a lasting impression with your editing and captivate your audience from the start.
By mastering your introduction and getting straight to the point in your videos, you demonstrate efficiency and respect for your viewers' time, ensuring they remain engaged throughout.
Jumping off our previous tip as well, you also need to make sure that your hired talent can command an audience through a camera, so pick people who are confident and comfortable being on video to represent your company.
7. Follow the “Goldilocks Principle”
The Goldilocks Principle suggests that people want just the right amount of something. It can be used in pricing strategies, where companies have a lower-tier price, a mid-range price, and more premium price for their products or pricing plans.
For video production best practices, this principle applies to the length of your video.
When in doubt, take only the necessary amount to explain or show something in your video. Anything that’s too short might not be enough time to convey the most important information to audiences. But anything too long might drag on and lose people’s attention.
Aim to deliver a video that’s just right in length. You might have to revisit your script and go back to your editing a few times to really cut out the fat and get to the point, but consider it an important step to making sure you create the best video you possibly can.
8. Match the Visuals and Music to the Video’s Message
When you’re in the editing phase of your video, pay attention to the B-roll, music, and consider the inclusion of a music visualizer. B-roll are clips that usually go over the main timeline of your video, especially when you’re dealing with talking heads or narrated videos.
These visuals and music have to match the message you’re trying to deliver with your video. If you’re delivering something lighthearted and casual, you might not want to use strong or sad music, for example.
If you’re using animations and stock footage, be sure that they also match the mood. Dark, somber scenes might not match a video that’s meant to be educational, while fun animations might not match a video that has a more serious tone.
9. Sprinkle Your Branding Within Your Video
Of course, one important video production best practice is making sure your video is an extension of your brand.
Whether it’s subtle elements like ambient lighting or using B-roll and overlays that contain your brand colors or imagery, that can go a long way to reinforcing your brand.
Here’s an example of a good video that does exactly this. In this Online Study Tips video from Victoria University, the creators are able to incorporate the brand of the university with subtle imagery, such as the diamond shape in the animations and graphics, the logo being placed in key locations, and the official colors scattered throughout the background and text transitions.
10. Don’t Forget Your CTA
Finally, part of video production best practices boils down to your clear call to action. This is what you want viewers to do next after watching your video.
Do you want them to visit your eCommerce store? Make an inquiry with your agency? Whatever it is, highlight this CTA in your video and be explicit.
Also make it easy for people to follow your CTA in some capacity. Include visual hints inside the video for any links they should click, or make it reiterate what you want them to do, such as comment or share.
Key Takeaways/Conclusion
Producing videos for your marketing can be a challenge, but when done right, it can boost conversion rates in a major way. Follow the tips inside this video to help you nail your video productions, and start seeing the results roll in.
