Create a video content strategy

1. Define your video strategy goals with target audiences and desired actions.

Example goals with different target audiences and desired actions: Build brand awareness across social media platforms with memorable video content. Promote a new product with a video ad campaign. Capture leads through educational top-of-the-funnel video content. Provide interesting videos to customers for them to share and promote on their social channels.

2. Create a list of video topic ideas by looking for gaps in information along your buyer's journey.

Concrete video ideas will help you map out the rest of your video content strategy and will provide a starting point when you are ready to create the first video. To source ideas: Brainstorm with your team at least ten video ideas.  Find ideas by looking through your existing content, feedback from customer surveys, competitive analysis, and keyword research.

3. Choose ways to produce your video content based on goals, audience, and limitations.

Some video content creation options: Hire a production company to shoot professional videos, the most expensive option. Use a smartphone or inhouse production equipment to record livestreams, interviews, behind the scenes content, virtual conferences, Q&As, and product demos. Use Loom to record basic how-to videos. Create presentation slide decks in Microsoft PowerPoint with voice-overs and graphics made on Canva. Different video formats and production methods fit better for certain audiences and goals. For example, if you are trying to turn new leads into customers by educating them on your product, how-to videos or product demos are appropriate options.

4. Determine where to host and distribute videos based on channel use cases, goals, and target audiences.

Some video hosting options and advantages: YouTube: Social media channel with 2.3 billion users worldwide, audience building through searches, playlists, and subscriptions, unlimited storage to build a content library, and free to use. Wistia: Video hosting tool for content marketers, built-in lead captures, CRM and tech stack integrations, and a customizable embed player. vooPlayer: Tool for content marketers, lead capture gates, advanced analytics and heatmaps, pay-per-view gates, and integrated audience builder. Facebook: Social media network with 2.8 billion users, the audience is likely already there, free video hosting, and easy to share. Videos can be trimmed into clips to share on social media channels or embedded into emails, website content, or blog posts. Prioritize communication channels your target audience or persona uses the most.

5. Create a video style guide for consistent branding across content.

For example, Zendesk’s video style guide includes guidelines for shooting b-roll, shooting interviews, editing, and music, to fit within their brand voice and philosophy. Zendesk includes video examples within their style guide for more clarity. Your style guide may expand with your video creation experience and experimentation.

6. Assign roles for video content production based on skill sets and limitations.

Your budget, resources, and skillsets will help determine the size and scope of your team, but most video content production teams need someone assigned to one or multiple of these roles: Video marketing manager. Video producers, including a writer, director, camera operator, sound and lighting, technicians, and editor. Promoter in charge of promotion and repurposing. Analyst in charge of reviewing metrics and KPIs.

7. Develop a conversion strategy with call to actions, optimized videos, and lead capture.

For each video: Include a specific call to action, like requesting a demo or subscribing to your YouTube channel, in the video, and as a linked button. Your call to action is the desired action that you want the audience to take after the video. Optimize to increase reach by including keywords in the title and description, making video viewable on mobile, and decreasing file size. Include the ability to capture leads through email collection, links, and call to action.

8. Outline a promotional strategy for videos based on target personas, location on buyer's journey, and goals.

For each video, decide where, how, and who to promote to. Consider what channels your audience spends the most time using. Example promotional strategies: Post a clip on your Instagram feed with a call to action in the caption to watch the full video on your YouTube channel. Use paid advertising on Facebook or YouTube.  Include a call to action in an email campaign to watch the video for more information.

9. Create a repurposing plan for video content that reuses the idea, video, or audio.

Example ways to repurpose video content: Turn your video into a podcast episode, like how Wistia turns uncut interviews into episodes of their podcast. Use Audacity to grab the video audio. Embed on landing pages or in blog posts to increase time on page. Trim into digestible clips to reach more audiences on social media. Add new value by including never-before-seen footage, framing it with a new perspective, or adding new information.

10. Track video metrics in the analytics panel of your video host and compare them to your goals to measure effectiveness for each video.