A surprising number of professional marketing videos end up sitting on a hard drive somewhere.
Filmed.
Edited.
Looking lovely.
And not really doing anything.
And there’s nothing wrong with the video. But there is one important question that never got asked or answered before filming started.
What job do we need this video to do?
Start with the purpose
A marketing video can do lots of different things for a business.
It might introduce your business to new people, explain a service, build trust by showing the people behind the brand.
Or it might support a specific campaign or launch.
All of these are valid. The important thing is being clear about the purpose before filming starts.
Because when you’re clear on the purpose, the video becomes much easier to use.
When it isn’t, the video often ends up as a lovely (expensive) piece of content that gets shared once…and then disappears.
Where a marketing video can work hardest
Once you know what a video is designed to do, it becomes much easier to use it across your marketing.
For example:
Your website homepage
A short introduction video on your homepage can help visitors quickly understand who you are and what you do.
For service business in particular, it’s a great way ti build trust early on.
LinkedIn clips
A longer video can often be broken down into smaller clips.
These can work well as short LinkedIn posts answering common questions or explaining key parts of what you offer.
Your B2B newsletter
Including a video in your newsletter can add personality and help people connect with your business in a more human way.
Social media posts
Small clips from a longer video can become a series of posts rather than a single piece of content.
Proposals or email signatures
Adding a short introduction video to proposals or your email signature can give potential clients a quick way to understand what you do.
Make one video work harder
A professional video is a significant investment, so it makes sense to get as much value from it as possible.
Rather than thinking of it as one piece of content, think about how it could support multiple parts of your marketing.
One video could become:
- your home page introduction
- several short social clips
- newsletter content
- part of a proposal
- supporting content for a blog
Planing this before filming often makes the whole process much more useful.
A quick checklist before filming your video
Before filming your next marketing video, it can help to ask a few simple questions.
Before filming, ask:
- What do we want this video to achieve?
- Where will it be used first?
- How will we share it afterwards?
- Can we create shorter clips from it?
- How will it help someone decide to work with us?
Answering these questions first makes it much easier to turn a video into something the supports your wider marketing.
If your marketing feels busy busy enquiries are slow
Sometimes the challenge isn’t creating content.
It’s making sure the different pieces of marketing are working together.
I talked about this in another recent blog: You’re doing the marketing…so why aren’t the enquiries coming.
Practical marketing tips
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