Storytelling for Video Marketing

There are so many different ways to do video marketing. Our most successful online video marketing strategies for 2022 all relate to storytelling. Whether that’s the story of a brand, a product, a service, a location, a person, an epic quest. We use visual cues including light, movement, color, character action, etc. to drive the short video forward in telling a story.

We see 2022 being the “year of ‘story'” as it is proving to be so effective in growing businesses through increased sales, leads, and retention. From a video ad campaign side of things, it helps in attaining higher click-through rates and conversion than any other method of video.

Storytelling. Who knew?

Who are we? We are a video marketing agency that sells Youtube pre-roll commercials and brand videos to businesses and organizations looking to increase sales or online conversion. We sell the actual production (scriptwriting, casting, scheduling, tech and location scouting, on-site video crew or green screen studio, video editing, and finally delivery of web-friendly 4k marketing videos), and on to the distribution side with actual video placement of those videos.

How can I guarantee my content goes viral?

Pay to Play

You pay.

The way brands get a guaranteed audience for videos, or our clients’ videos, is by paying for it.

Example: TV commercials guarantee views, but you pay for it. Youtube video ads? You pay for it. LinkedIn/Facebook? Pay for it.

Web is typically cheaper to test and track, but on a large-scale campaign – a well-targed TV commercial ad buy can make sense.

While your video may be fabulous, unless it truly has a HIGH level of humor and entertainment, you will not get mass amounts of the general population interested in watching your commercial.

3 Types of Content: Entertain, educate, inspire.

Those are the top 3 types of content that people want.

Sure there are people who are interested in watching Superbowl commercials, it’s actually because the content is entertaining, it inspires them, and perhaps educational about a product.

So regardless of the content, you’re making – we find video marketing requires an advertising budget, luckily we can prove a very precise cause and effect with every dollar invested due to Google Analytics/Facebook showing and tracking conversion results.

How much ROI does video marketing get?

At first: marketing costs money at the beginning – and throughout testing – and then it changes.
After testing: marketing makes you money.

The challenge is whether you have the resources for your video marketing strategy to get through the testing phase if you have a strong enough offer and if you have the right content.

Is it better to be genuine or polished?

With few exceptions, the most effective online video marketing methods which work best are simply being genuine. Share that enthusiasm you have, the excitement and joy that made you get into the business you do now, and share the highs and lows.

People want to do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Be likable, but be real.

If you’re honest and transparent, rather than staged and fake, you’ll do better.

It can be difficult to tell on your own if you’re coming off as genuine. That’s where filmmaking and video marketing is a team sport. 

Know your audience

A make-or-break element in all content is to know your audience.

It’s not bad to produce polished work – but it is important to make sure it’s not overly polished for your viewers.

In 2022, we’re seeing lower performance on Facebook video ads that look like video ads – but higher performance on video ads that look like user-generated content (for the most part and with some exceptions).

The traditional corporate video content is getting increasingly better and better, but instead of trying to be perfectly smooth and glossed over marketing videos, we’re now trying to have professional videos that still have texture, grit, and depth.

For example: when sharing a customer testimonial, having a too-polished professional-looking testimonial for a consumer brand may or may not do better if it’s polished than not. Particularly when a brand is positioning itself as the “people’s brand” or the affordable option, having video marketing that screams “we spent a lot of money making this” can damage the brand’s reputation. Imagine a non-profit that has an over-the-top fundraising video.

If you’re familiar with photo editing and skin retouching, perhaps you’re familiar with the fact that some skin retouching makes skin look plastic, and professionals can edit your skin to still show texture. We want videos that still have texture – but still look professional and work.

Top video marketing platforms for your content in 2022

The most successful platforms for online video marketing are the standards: Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram.

LinkedIn is quite expensive but highly targeted.

TikTok is currently undervalued and underutilized depending on your audience but it has some oddities (time limits for example).

Ad Library

Have you ever wanted to see all the ad’s your competitor’s Facebook ads in one place?

A great tip to see video ads is through the Facebook Ad Libary

Type in the name of the business you want to see their ads.

Youtube Ads:

Many people don’t know that Youtube actually has a Youtube ads library. It’s an “unofficial” library but it has a lot of great content. 

Another way to get a good feeling for what Youtube ads your competitors are doing, if you use an ad-blocker turn it off when on youtube, and actually pay attention to ads you see.

Take screenshots

Save links to videos you think are amazing.

Create a swipe file of videos you may want to emulate and bring it to your video producer as inspiration for look and feel.

Does your company run online advertising right now? Interested in strategic ideas for your video campaigns?

Share with us some details about your project and we’ll see if it’s a good fit!