Would you be upset if you wrote one of the greatest novels of all time but couldn't get anybody to read it? You better believe it!
This is a prominent issue that exists with video marketers today. Production specialists are creating great video content but nobody is seeing it unless a stellar marketing strategy is in place to promote it.
What if I were to tell you that you could generate thousands of views on your video to your target demographic for just $20? I’m going to explain how you can accomplish this and add more value to your production skillset.
My Story
Two years ago, I landed one of the greatest video gigs imaginable! I was able to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina to get behind the scenes footage of a NASCAR driver for a company that was sponsoring him.
The driver ended up being one of the coolest guys imaginable and this translated perfectly into the video.
Isn’t it the greatest feeling when you obtain such good footage that you can’t wait to start editing? I honestly had no desire to experience the city of Charlotte after filming because I was so darn excited to piece the footage together.
Let’s just say it was a very romantic evening at my hotel editing footage
Approval
I showed the behind-the-scenes video to the corporate marketing manager that was working with me on the project. After he saw the completed version, he couldn’t have been happier. He knew that this was the exact message they were trying to relay to their target audience.
I sent him the edited and completed version of the video and felt like celebrating. My job was done and the client was happy. It was time to celebrate!
**The Follow-Up **
After seeing the initial footage, the marketing manager that I was working with expressed interest in doing additional videos with the driver. It had been about two-weeks since I heard from my point of contact so I decided to follow-up.
The response I received from him made my heart drop.
*“Jason, the footage was great, but we spent all of this money on the production and nobody is talking about it.” *
Like most businesses, I knew that they had to justify their return on investment. Luckily, I was able to make the following suggestions to the client:
- Upload the video onto YouTube in addition to their website
- Invest the same amount of money into advertising that they put into the production
- Target the online video to people interested in NASCAR or who have watched NASCAR related videos
- Add a call-to-action to the video that would send people to their microsite dedicated to their sponsored driver
The Result
The marketing manager allowed me to implement all of my video advertising recommendations. This resulted in over 40,000 views on the video and a massive amount of traffic to their website from people clicking on the video. It also increased brand awareness within the racing community.
Within a week of making these recommendations, I was informed that I’d be traveling to Bristol, Tennessee for round two of the behind-the-scenes series!
The aforementioned story proves just how valuable exposure can be for your video. Your job is not completed once you finish editing your project.
**Get Started! **
Below are interesting tidbits about advertising on YouTube and other online ad portals that will give you an idea of just how much exposure you can receive online:
• Investing $100 into video advertising on YouTube can generate over 5,000 views!
• Online video advertising is relatively inexpensive and you can bid as low as $0.02 per view on your rich media to receive massive exposure!
• You have the option on YouTube to target people of a certain age, gender, parental status and topics
• YouTube allows you to create a “call-to-action” on your video so people can click on the video to be directed to your website
• Once you become familiar with video advertising portals, you can set-up an advertisement in under 15-minutes
• YouTube and other video advertising websites will provide you with extremely valuable analytic information, such as “when people were most engaged with your video” and “when the most people stopped watching your video”
Make sure people read your great novel. Set-up advertising for your video and you will add more value to your services while impressing your client!
*Jason Parks, the contributor of this article, is the owner of The Media Captain, a video production and web design company *
