Create a Video

youtubeVideo is becoming more and more popular because it is fast, entertaining and engages our eyes and ears.  However, a video on it’s own isn’t going to get you the results you want.  Your video needs to be an integrated part of your overall marketing strategy. Social media, email marketing, video marketing, articles…all of this integrated together in the right way will help you build your brand and our business.

Here are the basic steps to creating and marketing your video.

1.  Script it – figure out what you want to say, write it down, make sure you repeat key phrases so the viewer remembers them. Practice it.  Say it out loud.

2.  Record it – Now there are several ways to record a video. The easiest and cheapest way is to use a video camera that is built in to you computer.  OR to use a video camera you already have.  Test the lighting, background, and look for shadows.  Do a couple of tests – get comfortable with the camera and practice your script.  Practice until your delivery is smooth and comfortable.  

3.  Edit it – There is a ton of editing software available and much of it is free or comes with your computer. These are the key elements of a great video:
•    Visual look & feel – use your existing brand colors or theme to help integrate the video into your marketing activities.  You can certainly add other images, but don’t create something that is visually disconnected from other things on your website.
•    Timing – It must be under 2 minutes.  2 minutes of online video can seem like forever if the content is dull and the presentation is slow.  Keep it fast, change the graphics every 5-10 seconds.
•    Music – you need a soundtrack for your video. Don’t use popular music  or songs from well known artists as you can get in trouble.  But there are some resources for copyright free music that are really great.  Again, I’ll include this in my email.
•    Graphics – create graphics in your editing program that use key words and phrases. Time them to coincide with the script to reinforce the points you are making in the voice over.

4.  Promote it – The most obvious place to promote your video is on your web page or blog.  So clearly you want to do this.  The easiest way to get your video out to as many people as possible is to post it to YouTube.  YouTube is one of the most visited sites on the internet, worldwide.  So leverage it’s power. Create an account if you don’t have one. Upload your video and use their capabilities to post, share and promote your video.  Here are a few ideas:
•    Embed it on your webpage or blog – YouTube provides a simple embed link that you just paste into your webpage.
•    Email the “share” link to your opt-in email list and email them the link to the video OR direct them back to your webpage or blog to view it.
•    Post it to your social media accounts – LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter are obvious.  But you may also want to consider posting it to StumbleUpon or Digg or other sites.