Developing an Online Video Marketing Strategy, Part 2: Producing With Marketing in Mind

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at content creation for effective online video marketing at the conceptual, strategizing stage. The next step, after you've decided what type of content you're going to create, is to start thinking about preproduction and the production cycle.

At Clear Online Video, the biggest thing we always ask any of our clients first off is “Where is your content going to live? Is it going to be displayed on mobile devices? Is it going to live on social media? Is your content allowed to live on social media?”

Many Streaming Media Producer readers probably work for big organizations and brands, and if you look at some of your legal terms, you might not be allowed to post your videos to social media and public user-generated content sites like Facebook or YouTube and so on. It's important to make sure you have all your ducks in a row, to make sure that you know where your content is going to live and where it's going to end up. Then you can start planning for how that video will be played on those channels.

Defining Your Brand

At this point you’ll need to decide who the face is of your company and your brand. This is where you define your brand, and set a tone for how you’ll portray and convey it. Are you funny? Are you serious? Are you trying to establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic or discipline?

To answer these questions, you need to think about who is going to resonate most with your audience. Those are the people you want to put in your online videos. This doesn't just mean choosing your on-screen talent, but also their wardrobe and colors. All these things convey certain emotions that guide what your audience perceives with your brand. Your online videos are your visual identity, and that identity determines what customers are going to associate with your brand.

Creating an Active Viewing Experience

Another huge part of creating an online marketing video is to make sure that you're creating an active viewing experience. Writing conversational scripts or cue-driven scripts will encourage engagement and make your marketing videos a two-way experience.

That's key difference between online video and traditional TV: online video is an active, lean-forward experience. Viewers want to comment, share, and engage with online video; watching TV, by contrast, is a passive viewing experience where you just sit back and let the broadcast networks show you what they want you to see. Make sure that you're encouraging that 2-way experience in the online marketing videos you create.

Take, for example, a popular online video where a mother and her adult daughter are cooking a Thanksgiving dinner and the mother oversteps her boundaries by insisting that it should be done her way. Many viewers, presumably, can relate to this experience. Immediately, text pops up on the screen that says, “Comment below if this has happened to you.” It’s a great example of how you can encourage engagement with your videos.

On a similar theme, think about what the call-to-action is at the end of your video. What do you want the viewer to do? Do you want them to watch another video? Do you want them to subscribe to your YouTube channel (if you're using YouTube)? Do you want them to sign up for some type of a sheet where you can gather their information and capture a lead? You might also encourage the audience to ask questions, and maybe even follow up with their own videos and their own user-generated content. These are some things you can do to create that active viewing experience.