Steven Beller
Video is a highly effective way to educate and entertain your customers while marketing your products and services. But if executed incorrectly, video can damage your brand just as easily as build it up. That is why, as a tech company, you need to ensure your marketing videos represent your brand or company voice correctly.
But there are many roadblocks that can put the brakes on a great marketing video. Here are few signs you will want to watch out for and a few tips to keep your video project running smoothly.
1. No Strategy
There’s a reason why strategy is No. 1 on my list. Strategy, in my opinion, is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood aspects to creating a great marketing video. Just to be clear, when I’m talking about strategy, I’m not talking about pre-production or script writing here; I’m talking about the reason why you are creating a video in the first place. And FYI “going viral” is not a good video marketing strategy.
Sure, “going viral” is a great way to build brand awareness, but it’s not easy to go viral. Some have said that going viral is all about luck and others have said going viral is a science. The truth is, there are more videos out there that have not gone viral than have.
The best strategy is to create video that will help your audience overcome their challenges and further your position as a thought leader in your industry. Take for instance, Adobe. Its YouTube channel has tens of thousands of followers, and it is putting out high quality videos on a regular basis that not only educate its audience, but inspire it, too.
2. Rushing through the Project
You have a new website launching, a new product going to market or a new service you want to start selling. You hear everyone talking about how video is rapidly growing, and you see the statistics to back it up, so you decide to make a video. You set up a a video marketing strategy and realize you only have a few weeks to make your video. So you decide rush through the project. You spend a bunch of money and create a stressful situation for your company just to find out that the final product is not what you were looking for.
Rushing through a project is a sure-fire way to ruin a great video marketing strategy. So remember to give yourself time and, if necessary, launch your product first, then create a video.
To keep your video schedule on target, here are some helpful tips from a company that knows all about video, ReelSEO!
3. Not Using In-House Talent
You really want to create a video for your company, but you are hesitant because you don’t want to hire expensive actors. And even if you do, you fear your video will look to cheesy. Well, there’s good news: You can use your employees!
Now just to be clear, you don’t want to force your employees to be in your videos or it might end up a lot worse than hiring a professional actor. When asking around, you will want to make sure you are looking for energetic, fun people who aren’t afraid to have a personality. Your employees can be some of your biggest evangelists, so don’t be afraid to ask them to be a part of your marketing videos.
Tech giant Google did a great job of showcasing their veteran employees:
4. Plain Ol’ Boring Videos
Your system might have a super slick user interface. You might have created a complex algorithm that can mine through millions of gigabytes of information in a fraction of a second. You might have created the most user-friendly cat meme generator in the world. But if your video is all about how to use your product and less about how your product can help people, then you will lose your audience’s attention.
I’m not saying it’s bad to create “how to” videos; just make sure that if you do, they are entertaining. If you are just starting with video you might want to start with a few that tell stories of customer success and let people know how they will benefit from using your product.
Zendesk and HootSuite are doing a great job at this. Check out Zendesk’s Zombie Desk video in response to Hootsuite’s “Essentials to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse” below.
5. No Promotion
So let me get this right…you just spent all of this time, money and resources on a video, but you don’t want people to see it? Of course not! Unless you already have a large, faithful following, you will need to spend a little cash to get your video out there.
So remember to set aside part of your budget for advertising! And make sure you’re not only uploading videos to YouTube, but also Facebook. According a recent study by Socialbaker, video has the most organic reach on Facebook. That means, more of your audience will see your video for free! (High fives all around!)
Don’t let these roadblocks stop you from creating great marketing videos for your tech company, and don’t be discouraged if you are thinking about creating video content. Now that you are aware of these roadblocks, it will be easier for you to overcome them.
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