The old saying the “content is king” is true, but there’s no reason your content needs to be 100% text. By producing video content, you can reach a large audience with a fraction as much search competition as you’d face by optimizing for Google.
Many marketers shy away from creating video content for one simple reason: it has a reputation for being expensive to produce. The reality is that producing great video content can be surprisingly cheap! In fact, once you add in the cost of ranking the content and reaching an audience, creating video content can often be cheaper than producing and ranking text-based content, like an article or blog post.
Don’t overcomplicate it
The barriers to entry for video production have come down significantly in the last few years. In fact, it’s likely that you already have a 1080p high-quality recording device in your pocket! Whether you start with a go-pro, a webcam, your tablet, or even your smartphone, you can create something with a professional look without investing in a pricey in-house studio.
Know your variables/resources
When concepting your videos, always go in with an understanding of what you can and can’t realistically use as a resource. While this is technically a limitation, remember it’s also a chance to get creative. Remember, it doesn’t have to be polished, it just has to feel authentic, mesh with your brand’s voice, and appeal to your target audience.
Create repeatable content segments
Part of building your subscriber base involves creating content on a regular publishing schedule and fostering the “promise of new” with your target audience. As a fun example, Jimmy Fallon has had major success with the Tonight Show in part because his audience can look forward to repeatable content segments.
You can employ this same segmenting tactic when planning out new videos by making up a few themed video concepts that are recognizable and repeatable. If your concept stays constant, like Jimmy’s Thank You Notes, you only need to swap out the people who are featured each week, or what they talk about. This type of signature sketch is memorable, doesn’t have to correlate directly with your products or services, and is budget friendly.
With repeatable content blocks, you can use the same studio location every time and follow a templated script. Because the format stays the same, you’ll perfect your process and create enough content to feed the content beast week after week.
MVP
Megan Van Petten
CEO & President
Van Petten Group, Inc.