In the last few years, video marketing has completely transformed. So, if your job involves commissioning videos, it’s important that you get up to speed with how video marketing is working today.
In the old days, it was pretty standard to make a video, and then either put it on DVD to send to prospects or hand it out as marketing material. We then moved onto online video, such as on YouTube, or on your website. But there is so much more you can do. Video can be used strategically to achieve different aims, depending on where your audience is at.
Video Marketing Summary
In this 3 part series I’m going to explain to you the three most important stages of video marketing:
1. Lead Capture
2. Lead Nurture
3. Lead Conversion
By the time you’ve watched this series you’ll have the tools to do so much more with your video marketing than what you’re currently doing. It’ll become clear to you that web video marketing is no longer about a one-off video.
Rather, it’s about communicating and connecting with your audience with a series of videos that, over time, help to build trust, position you as the expert and, finally, drive your audience to take an action.
Lead Capture with Video
So let’s start with Lead Capture. The Lead Capture phase is all about starting a relationship with a client, and about receiving their permission to do this.
The most effective way to do this at the moment is through asking for a prospect to give you their email address, and getting their permission to send them useful and relevant information. And the best way to do this is to offer your audience access to something valuable, such as a special report, pdf, or series of videos like this one.
As an example, on our Dream Engine video production website, we offer a video production consumer guide, containing my best tips on how to choose the right video production company, and some pitfalls to avoid. By entering their email address in the sign up box, prospects can access the free report.
Capturing Leads with Video
We can also collect email addresses within the video itself, by using a software plugin called Leadplayer, that plugs into Youtube videos embedded on our site, we can actually invite prospects to enter their email address directly into the video. A tool like this will increase the sign-ups you get, because it’s right within the video, with an appropriate message such as, “to receive more videos just like this one, simply enter your email address.”
To take things a step further, you can even set things up so that it’s a requirement for people to enter their email address in order to watch the video. And you can do this at the start, or even interrupt the video at a particular point.
To soften the blow, you can set it up so that viewers are INVITED to enter the email address, but can skip that step and keep watching the video if they prefer.
It’s up to you to choose the set-up that works best for you. Just remember, the idea with this approach is that it’s about seeking permission to start building a relationship. And video is a powerful way to do this.
In the next episode of this series you’ll learn about the next phase: Lead Nurture. This where you really cement your relationship with the viewer by demonstrating your expertise, and showing them the process you’ve used to solve challenges of people just like them.
And if you’d like any more information on capturing leads, you can contact me today to find out more.
Ryan Spanger is one of Melbourne’s most respected and sought-after video production professionals. Ryan founded Dream Engine in 2002, and specialises in helping medium to large corporates, government departments, and the non-profit sector to connect with their audience more effectively by using video.
