What goes into a video strategy

The high level components that go into a video strategy include:

1. The Shoot - Filming the video through a webcam, video camera or by a professional. Each of these types of video can be used, but each must be managed properly based on the results expected.
   • Webcams are very informal and generally used for personal communications. They are typically not viewed as a professional means of communication unless you have an established relationship. This is a good way to blog to your customers.
   • Video cameras offer an affordable way to stay in touch with your customers. They are a preferred method over webcams, but do require a little more work to film, edit and deliver the video to your website. These are generally used in a more informal, yet personal way to communicate with your customers.
   • Professionally produced video is the best way to present yourself, your business and your brand to more people online. It is a great way to introduce yourself to new customers in a professional, yet personal manner.
2. The Edit – the revisions and personalization of your final video to deliver your message in the time allotted and in the most interesting way possible. Usually includes music, branding, screen transition and final call to action. We also must focus on keywords for maximum search engine results.
3. The Player – The video player is the dashboard to watching your video online. It is the console that is used to control the video playback as well as provide additional videos in the Playlist. If you use a free player like YouTube, you will not have the ability to brand your video watermark. There are affordable solutions that enable brand-able watermarks with your logo and call-to-action hyperlink buttons at the end of each video (see Call-To-Action section).
4. Hosting – Just like anything on the web, you must host your videos for people to view them. There are a few options with each having pro’s and con’s.
   • Free Social Sites: hosting on sites like YouTube can generate new traffic and create a buzz. However, they should only be a part of your overall video strategy. Nothing looses a buying customers’ attention faster than when they finish watching your video and get distracted by a cat in ceiling fan, or even worse, your competitors’ video. These free players should not be used on your website if you want control the message, your brand and generate a lead or sale.
   • Customized Solutions: hosting your video should be as mission critical to your business as managing the content your website. As a matter of fact, videos are another form of content and should be managed accordingly. Just like you wouldn’t host your competitors’ articles on your website; why would you risk their videos showing up along with yours on YOUR website? Custom video hosting and players are affordable, easy to use and with the reach of any budget. They can also enable a custom button for a call to action in the form of hyperlinks (see Going Viral section)and customized branding (see The Player section)
5. Syndication – syndicating your video content is critical to generating traffic, leads and most importantly new sales. Getting your video to the most appropriate channels online can be an automated process when partnering with the right company. There are syndication services available for the rapid delivery of your video to social sites and the major search engines for fast results. As a matter of fact, search engines crawl video content faster than more traditional text related posts.
6. Optimization - when preparing to deliver your video to the web, it is critical to your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy that you choose the best keywords and tags to include. This is important for both search engines and how people view your video. If you mismatch your keywords that don’t relate to the subject of the video, you can have a negative effect on your viewers and your brand.
7. Going Viral – adding a viral component such as ‘share this’ or javascript for posting on a website or blog is an important decision. Most people will immediately think they want as many people to spread the word about their video. In most cases this can be true and may have no adverse affects. However, in some cases, you will want to control the placement and use of your video content. This is more important when you are creating original videos or providing high-value content. Some example of this can include:
   • You are an online merchant who produces a series of videos to sell branded products on your website. If you’ve invested in the production of these quality videos, you may not want any other merchants using them on their website without you capturing the sale.
   • You are a subject matter expert and create a series of informational videos to sell your product or services. The video is likely placed on your website with a telephone number and contact form to generate leads. You would likely not want other marketers to use your expertise and insight to market their services without you getting paid for the video use or the consulting opportunity.
   • You create an educational or exclusive video where you want to sell the video via access to the website or video download. You would not want to encourage people sharing your video or posting online without your written content and compensation
8. Call-To-Action – is a critical component of any video and marketing campaign. This is the reason you are in business and what drives your sales. Most free video sites and players do not allow you to create custom hyperlinks, buttons or branding. Custom solutions are available that enable you to brand your player, create custom buttons with hyperlinks to your website or online store to maximize the results of any video experience.

Let our team of professional videographers and marketers go to work on your strategy today. We can deliver amazing results.