Video marketing is the most compelling way to promote your brand in an ever-evolving digital age. Effective Video Marketing helps you get in front of your audience, raise brand awareness, and it leads viewers to take action. The key to an effective video strategy is ensuring that your content aligns with each stage of the buyer’s journey.

Video camera against blue sky illustrating How to Plan Effective Video Marketing To Engage CustomersYou see, your marketing will attract different prospects who are at different phases in your sales funnel. You may have a visitor who is ready to invest in your service yet another who simply wants information. It’s important to create content that suits these needs at each stage that moves them to the next stage in your funnel.

The ultimate goal is to convert prospects into buying customers. Video marketing is a top tool in inbound marketing to help you achieve this objective.

In this guide, we’ll outline the three stages to the buyer’s journey and how to use different types of video marketing in each phase for maximum success in your strategy.

Awareness Stage

In the awareness stage, the prospect is in the discovery process of your brand. They understand they have a problem and begin researching ways to resolve the issue. As a result, they land on your content as the solution. Your prospect is simply looking for educational content that will help them quickly overcome their pains and challenges.

Your goal in creating video content for the Awareness Stage is to do just that build awareness of your brand. Here, you’re positioning your company as a resource, expert, and solution in the industry. It’s where you let your audience know what you offer so buyers recognize what you do and how you can help them.  

Therefore, you want to engage your visitor in a way that encourages them to indulge more in your content by focusing on their pain points, not your products or brand.

How to Use Video Marketing for Awareness Stage

Here are the typical content types that work best in the Awareness Stage using video:  

1. Social Videos: 

Social promotion is an excellent medium for building a following and community around your brand. It’s also a huge asset to getting your video content in front of an engaging audience.

There are three types of videos to consider when posting on social media:

  1. Sharing videos from your YouTube channel – As the second largest search engine, building your channel is smart towards growing brand awareness. Be sure to optimize your videos for better ranking
  2. Uploading organic videos directly to social media – you’ll obtain greater reach with your audience using organic videos (Source: Social Media Today)
  3. Live-streaming video – Facebook Live, Periscope, and Instagram Stories are generating massive engagement on social media. Excellent tactic to build exposure to your brand fast

2. Include Video in Blog Content

Your company blog is the perfect platform to create quality rich-content that educates your audience while increasing visibility to your brand. Add videos to these posts to enrich website-experience and keep people on your page longer (this also improves your SEO). 

Consideration Stage

Good news! Your prospect has warmed up to your brand and you’re now viewed as a credible source. They’re also clear on their goals, are committed to addressing it, and now looking at options on how they can handle their issues. At this stage, they’re actively looking for content related to solutions.

Content in this phase needs to be incredibly informative and help the prospect gain clarity on how to solve the problem they are experiencing. In the Consideration Stage, you’re also focusing on capturing qualified leads by leveraging compelling lead magnets to get them in your sales funnel.

How to Use Video Marketing for Consideration Stage

The beauty of using video here is that they’re highly successful in moving viewers to action. This is especially important for growing your email list. Giving a clear call-to-action in your video that directs users to the next step will have a tremendous impact on your conversion rates.

Here’s how to put it to use:

1. Video on Landing Page

Landing pages that include video can increase conversions by a whopping 80% (Source: Hubspot)

2. Webinars

Webinars allow you to showcase your knowledge and expertise. You can dive deeper into topics and give people a chance to ask questions for further understanding. It also bolsters your lead generation as each participant must register before joining your broadcast

3. How-to’s and Instructional Videos

YouTube and live-streaming are ideal platforms for how-to and instructional videos.

4. Promote Your eBook

eBooks are ideal sources for product comparisons, how-to’s, or giving detailed instructions. Shoot a video that promotes your eBook and shares how viewers can opt-in to get their copy

5. Mini-Video Series

Consider repurposing your popular, evergreen, or long-form blog post into a mini video series that you can distribute on social media or use as a lead magnet. Repurposing content fills your content calendar, giving you ample content to share with your audience.

Decision Stage

Your prospect is now closer to making the financial decision to solving their problem. Through your email nurturing tactics, they’ve been cultivated by your content (whether blog posts, videos, infographics, etc.) and perhaps ready to make the purchase. In fact, nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (Source: Emma). Your video marketing strategy is about to pay off big… but we’re not finished yet!

The content used to help close the deal will be different from the content leveraged in the previous stages. Your focus here is to make the sale, so it’s vital to create a smooth transition to the transaction.

How to Use Video Marketing for Decision Stage

Videos will help get the job done. Hubspot also shares that after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy that product online. You’re using the right tool to convert leads into customers.

The following ways show how:

1. Gather Customer Testimonials

User-generated content and sharing testimonials are extremely effective in boosting sales revenue. It builds trust with your audience and shows that what you have, works! Compile your customer’s social videos into one, compelling marketing video to share with your list

2. Live Demo

Show prospects how your products work live and in living color by hosting a webinar or live-streaming video on social media.  Outline the benefits, features, and how people use it as their solution. Allow an opportunity for participants to ask questions for immediate response

3. Share Your Story

Storytelling is a powerful strategy to pulling your audience in and connecting them with the vision of your brand.

4. Product Videos

Create an extensive video for each of your products and services. This can be evergreen content that you can use forever that highlights the details, advantages, and how viewers can purchase.

Final Insights For Effective Video Marketing

Video marketing is a powerful tool in the inbound marketing box! By honing on your video strategy, you can significantly boost brand awareness, get more eyeballs on your content, grow your leads, and increase revenue. The key is ensuring that you’re leveraging the different types of videos appropriately to effectively move your audience.

Use this blueprint as a guide to creating your video marketing strategy. Be consistent and patient with your results. Regularly test your outcomes to discover what’s working best with your audience and what needs to be modified. In due time, you will experience the desired growth in your business with video.

Are you ready to ramp up your video marketing in 2017? We are equipped to help you get in front of your audience and achieve results in your inbound marketing. Reach out to us here and let’s chat!