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6 Tips for Making the Most of Your Business Videos
- You can get more for your marketing dollar by repurposing video content for other uses.
- Video content can be combined with blog posts, site pages, and other text-heavy marketing materials.
- Creating keyword-rich landing pages for online portals that display your video can help your company increase its search engine rankings.
- Social media posts, podcasts, and behind-the-scenes footage are other methods of distributing your video content.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.” In today’s technologically-advanced business world, there are more ways than ever to live by that mantra, especially when it comes to marketing.
But did you know that you can also embrace this sentiment when it comes to marketing videos?
You don’t have to produce a new video every time you want to augment your marketing strategy. There are plenty of ways to repurpose and recycle your video content to accomplish your marketing initiatives without shelling out more dough for a brand new video.
Use Case: Willy’s Widgets
Meet Willy. His company makes widgets. Hence the name.
To demonstrate this, let’s imagine a hypothetical company called Willy’s Widgets. The CEO (who is named Willy, of course) thinks that video is an excellent way to showcase his high-quality widgets, his company, and his employees. So he partners with a video production company to make a marketing video.
After a couple days of shooting and a couple weeks of editing, Willy’s Widgets receives its 14-minute marketing video. It touches on a wide variety of topics, including:
- The quality of Willy’s Widgets and how they are superior to the competition
- The widgets’ manufacturing process
- Applications and suggestions for using Willy’s Widgets
- Comments from Willy about the company and its products
- Testimonials from customers and industry experts
- The company’s history
- The friendly and talented employees
- The company’s community service and volunteer efforts
This comprehensive, expertly-produced marketing video is then placed on its own landing page on the Willy’s Widgets website.
Some good news for Willy: that single video can be the cornerstone of several different marketing tactics and initiatives. Here are six possible ways it can be used and/or repurposed:
1. The video can be transcribed.
It’s a simple way to add another facet to the visual imagery in the video. So many online videos now feature subtitles along with the audio so that people can choose to view the content without sound in loud conditions (like a commuter subway) or quiet spaces (like an office cube).
Also, the full transcription can be placed below the video itself on the Willy’s Widgets landing page or on other sites like YouTube. This gives computer users the option of reading the text instead of viewing the video.
2. The video can be broken up and/or re-edited into bite-sized videos.
It’s no surprise that many people don’t have the time or patience to sit through a 14-minute video. To appeal to these folks with shorter attention spans, the video can be chopped up into smaller versions which either summarize the original video or focus on a specific topic or aspect.
Some possible ideas include:
- A four-minute “summary” of the original video
- A “how-to” style video instructing people on the various applications and uses for widgets
- A “comparison” video which concentrates on the superior quality of Willy’s widgets over other similar products
- A video which details the manufacturing process of the widgets
- A video featuring all customer testimonials extolling the virtues of the widgets and/or the company
- A “from the experts” video which shows all of the experts discussing why Willy’s Widgets is the top company in the widgets industry
- A “Q&A” style video in which Willy’s soundbites are edited so that they “answer” common questions about the widgets and the company
- A “history of the company” video which details the inception and traces the roots of Willy’s Widgets up to the present day
- A “behind-the-scenes” video which highlights the employees who work at the company
- A “giving back” video featuring the company’s volunteer and community service efforts
These shorter videos can be placed elsewhere on the company website or utilized in email marketing campaigns.
This is a “how-to” video for a product called a Joker Box.
3. The video content can be released on social media.
While YouTube is the ideal portal for the 14-minute video, today’s popular social media platforms are better suited for shorter video clips. Incorporating them on the Willy’s Widgets Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram page, or LinkedIn account can provide marketing messages that are more succinct and better targeted for specific audiences.
4. The video can backstop blog posts or landing pages.
The person who oversees Willy’s Widgets blog can produce numerous blog posts around the 14-minute video as well as the shorter varieties. These individual posts can also be promoted or distributed via social media, text, or email to current or potential customers.
In addition, it’s wise to utilize the same keyword strategies for landing pages that are used on the company blog. Titles, descriptions, and tags can be created for the various websites on which the videos appear. These will help Willy’s Widgets to appear higher in search engine rankings.
This clip is formatted like a video news segment and uses an employee’s on-camera footage and voiceover.
5. The video can be converted into a podcast.
There is software that can pull out the audio from a video and reformat it so that it is podcast-friendly. This process allows the video to be digested by a completely different audience on sites likes SoundCloud or iTunes. Also, additional voiceover or audio can be combined with one or more of the shorter videos to create a different podcast piece, such as:
- 1. Combining the testimonials and industry expert soundbites
- 2. Highlighting the volunteerism of the company for use as an extended a public service announcement
- 3. Expanding the “how-to” video into an educational podcast
6. Certain elements of the video footage can be used in creative ways.
Some of the videos can be used to run on a loop at a trade show booth. Certain clips and shots can be combined with text and graphics for distribution as a digital e-book. Or if it’s consistent with Willy’s brand, a “blooper” reel can be compiled and sent out on social media. In short, the video content doesn’t have to be used only for conventional marketing initiatives.
When repurposing video content, be sure to do so according to the individual specifications of each platform or distribution channel. Customize each distinct use so that you’re not simply sending out the exact same message to different audiences. Be sure to include appropriate calls to action in each video, post, or social media message.
And most importantly, don’t try to produce a 14-minute video (and its bite-sized offspring) by yourself. Enlist the services of a professional video production company who can shoot, edit, and produce your video while also cataloging the unused footage so that it can be used for later projects.
With a little forethought, a single video project can spawn dozens of marketing opportunities for your company. So get out there and start making your marketing videos work smarter!
This short promotional video for Crews Control incorporates still shots and footage.
Need a video crew for a marketing video? Get a quote today.
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