The idea for this post came from a meeting I attended with SME manufacturers. It was noted that the business had spent money on several videos and social media, but had not achieved the desired results.

Naturally, they thought that they had wasted their money.

I wanted to counter this, so I asked them a couple of questions to understand why.

What initial research did they do?

Do they have a marketing strategy?

The answers were none and no. This is why they have had no impact.

It’s important to have a strategy; without one, you can head into the unknown. You can easily deliver the wrong message to the wrong audience in the wrong place.

The answer is that it’s not the act of creating a video that lets you down; it’s the content, who it’s aimed at, and where you place it, in marketing terms.

Video remains the most effective form of communication outside of face-to-face. However, it can fail if it doesn’t deliver the wrong message to the wrong people in the wrong place.

It’s therefore important for businesses to develop the right strategy, generate compelling ideas, target the right audience, and monitor results.

Developing a video marketing strategy

It’s about delivering the right message to the right person in the right place. Sounds easy when put like that, but in reality, you need to do your research to get the right information.

What is the message?

In business, you’re not needed unless you make a company money, save them money or solve a problem. With that in mind, it’s important that you understand what problems you are solving and how this will make or save them money.

It’s easy to assume you know the answer to this, but it pays to ask people you know questions to really understand their issues and what they want from you.

This forms your content. If you focus on this aspect, you will create content that is of value to your audience.

The right person.

You may have the right message, but if it’s not delivered to the right person, it has no value.

Focusing the message on the right person is important.

For example, the manufacturing manager will have different issues from the operations director.

They may both contribute to the final decision, but they may have different needs and make different decisions for different reasons.

They may be influencers, and the final decision lies with the CEO, for example. It’s important that you cover all angles, so we need to provide content for the CEO. They may have different criteria from the influencers.

The beauty of video is that it can be edited to target an individual with content that directly relates to them.

The right place

You need to put your content in front of the right audience.

Understand which social media channels they use, whether they open emails, and whether they go on YouTube.

Getting people's attention means going looking for them, as you can’t rely on them finding you.

It’s no good to hide content on a website intended to capture people's attention.

Similarly, if you want to educate, you will probably have more success with YouTube or a direct email newsletter. LinkedIn content needs to be engaging; otherwise, you will struggle to attract an audience.

Once you have this information, you can begin developing a video marketing strategy.

Delivering Value

It’s important to make your video of value to the audience.

Creating value for the viewer is essential. They have a choice: to watch the video or ignore it. Why would they watch if it doesn’t offer any value to them?

How do we overcome this hurdle?

We need to entertain, educate and inspire.

Entertain

How you deliver the content matters. Make it entertaining with interesting visuals.

Use storytelling to keep the audience engaged. People love stories, and there is a specific pattern you can use in any video. I have separate blogs on this.

Educate and inform your audience about things they wouldn’t otherwise know.

Break up the scenes with b-roll and examples to keep the audience interested. Use music and motion text to reinforce a point.

Monitor the results

How do you know if the video is a success?

The first and most relevant point is that you have more leads. This is relatively easy to see and monitor.

However, it’s not the best indicator, especially in the short term.

It’s well documented that marketing is measured in two forms: immediate results and long-term requirements. This means not everyone you target with your video is in the market for your services or product at that moment.

We need to educate and build relationships with these people until they have a need. This is even more relevant to the manufacturing industry.

Monitoring results for these people becomes trickier. We need to access data to see who is opening, watching, and reacting to the video.

We can do this via the platform it’s delivered on. Email, social media, YouTube, etc.

It will also indicate whether the message is working. We may need to change it, try another delivery method, or use a new style.

Monitoring results is important for learning and gaining insight into the success of our video.

In Conclusion

When done correctly and as part of a comprehensive strategy, video is a proven form of communication. It can reach an audience when you can’t, which is most of the time. It can attract attention, deliver a message, educate, entertain, and help convert.

It is worth the investment and can deliver the best possible return.

However, it will only do this if you're delivering the right message to the right people in the right place. To achieve this, you need a carefully planned marketing strategy.

Do your research to gather the information you need and understand the audience you want to reach.

Finally, provide value and keep the content entertaining.

Monitor the results and learn from the data so you understand what is working and why.

Do this, and your video will work for you.

If you would like advice on creating a video to help you communicate your message, please get in touch. We offer a free strategy assessment with no obligations.

Who wouldn’t want that?

Why your video isn’t having the impact it should.