5 Steps for Effective Video Marketing – A Review

I recently came across this site that summarizes a few steps for making effective marketing videos.

The author makes some good points and I'll comment on those here.

The first point the author brings up is to "think ahead".  This is in regards to knowing which are going to say before you actually say it.  Which is a good idea any case.  They actually advise against writing a script, and instead use an outline, but I tend to go more towards the script.  Using a script allows me to know more precisely how long the video will be.  Whenever I just an outline my videos tend to run long and I can ramble a bit.

The next point is to "make it easy".  This addresses the fact that when we are knowledgeable about publicly condemned overcomplicated in the explanation.  This can especially be a problem if you are doing full motion video (FMV) and you are just going by an outline.  When you're an expert in your topic things that are simple to you may be complicated for other people.

A common mantra and article marketing is "content is king".  This is still true video marketing.  Even though you can go pretty flashy and high-tech with your video creation, you still need to talk story keep your audience engaged.  More importantly, if you're giving good high-quality information you'll keep your audience coming back and anticipating your next video production.

A corollary to "content is king" is addressing "what's in it for me?"  for your audience.  Just because you can create cool video doesn't mean people watching are going to care unless you explicitly tell them what they're getting out of it.  A good structure to follow is "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them."  This will make it clear what your audience is getting out of your video.

The last point they bring up is "lighting and sound".  If you're not doing any FMV than lighting is less of a concern for you, but good quality sound is always important.  The easiest way to get good sound is to get a decent USB microphone.  Or, of course, you could always just hire professional talent.  If you're actually going to shoot video and do some research on how to properly light your subject.

So that's it for my quick review on Forest Marie's post on the five steps to effective video marketing.  He was a well-written article, and I hope my commentary shed additional light on the subject.