Video is the future, but the problem for many businesses is that the future is already here…

Trying to create a marketing video for your business without a plan can make the whole process overwhelming, stressful, and in the end will produce bad marketing video that nobody watches.

I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Because making a marketing video is a fun, creative, and eye-opening experience for everyone involved in the project. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard work and challenging, but nothing great happens too easily, except for pop-tarts, they are easy to prepare and almost better every time you eat the next one.

When done right, your marketing videos will result in helping you increase your brand’s awareness online and drive more sales.

And there’s this (this is my fav reason why I love video)

Today, every business regardless of their size has access to all of the same tools, technology, and distribution platforms that used to only be available for the “big guys”, you know, companies like, Toy ‘r Us, Sears, Blockbuster Video, Borders Book Stores, and most newspaper companies.

With their unlimited marketing and advertising budgets they are nearly impossible to compete with, OH WAIT, technology and the internet completely decimated the leverage companies like this once had.

Technology and the Internet have democratized the world of marketing and advertising and leveled the playing field for everyone.

Today, every business with a product or service to sell has an equal shot of getting their brand’s message directly in front of the consumer.

And video marketing can play a big role for helping you get your message across.

The 5 Steps to Create a Great Marketing Video

I have produced over 2,500 marketing videos in the real estate industry, and that taught me a lot about videography. As I made more videos I quickly found out how important it was to create a simple system to help me consistently produce better marketing videos.

And that’s how I created: The 5 Steps to Create a Great Marketing Video.

It’s a simple system that anyone can use regardless of your technical capabilities.

And if you follow these steps in the system, then you will also be able to produce better quality marketing videos for your own business.

Step 1: Pre-Planning your Video Shoot. 

Here are the 5 Steps to Create a Great Marketing Video….

Step 1: Pre-Planning your Video  

Step 2: Shoot the Video. 

Step 3: Edit your Video.

Step 4: Distribute your Video.

Step 5: Repeat the Process. 

This is a simple system for a really good reason.

Things can get complicated really fast when you are creating videos and executing digital marketing campaigns.

Making things more complex than they have to be is not going to help you produce a better marketing video.

So keep it simple and have fun.

And remember that creating a marketing video is a Creative Process, which means, it’s a constant learning experience.

The more you do it the better you will become at it. And the better you become at it, the better your marketing videos will be.

Step 1: Pre-Planning your Video Shoot

Before you power on your camera and press the record button you need to Pre-Plan your video.

Not doing any sort of pre-planning before your video shoot is like just filming some content and hoping for the best, which is a really poor strategy.

Pre-planning is simple and will help you produce a better marketing video when you do it, and here is what we pre-plan for.

Pre-Planning 0: Figure Out What Type of Video to Create

So what kind of a video do you need?

This is going to be a little different for everyone and you don’t need a perfect answer in the beginning.

Your first step is to determine WHO are the PEOPLE that you are trying to attract to your business to buy your products and services.

These people are called your Audience.

And all of your marketing should be targeted at “attracting” them towards your brand and company.

Once you know who your audience is, then you’re at a starting point to figuring out what type of video content you should be producing because you’re making it for THEM and not for YOU.

Let me explain.

Your videos have to deliver some type of value for the people who are going to watching them. This value can come in the form of information or entertainment. However, if you can mix good information with entertainment, then you have what is called: INFOTAINMENT, and infotainment is the most powerful, impactful, and effective video content that you can make as a business.

Don’t worry at first about getting it right, just create. Because it’s only by creating that you get your starting point.

Pre-Planning 1: Script/Message Creation

You have to put together what you are going to say in your video, this is called creating your message. The most important thing I can tell you here is to find your own way to deliver value to whomever will be watching the video. If you make the video only about you, then you have a TV commercial and that is exactly what you don’t want.

Pre-Planning 2: Location Preparation

Where are you going to be shooting the video. You want to think about things like your backdrop, will it be an office environment, outside, or at a public location? Make sure that your backdrop matches up with your message. For example if you make a video about feeding the homeless you should be out at a home shelter and not in your office.

Pre-Planning 3: Gear Preparation

Make sure your gear ready. If all you have is a smartphone to film with, no problem, but make sure you are fully charged and have enough memory space to record your video. If you are going to be shooting outside you may need microphones and a wind screen for them if it’s windy. If you are going to shoot inside, you may need additional lighting or figure out the best location to optimize the lighting you have.

Pre-Planning 4: General Preparation

Finally, there is everything else. If you need actors, props, permissions, etc… Try and make sure you have all of the other things already taken care of so that when you get to your shooting day, you are 100% prepared and ready to shoot your video.

Step 2: Shooting your Video

Now it’s time to finally start shooting.

All of the preparations you made in Step 1 was to benefit you here in Step 2.

When you start shooting you do not want to worry about gear, location scouting, and making up a script in the last minute. These are all distractions which will get in the way of you getting the quality video footage that you will need in editing.

When you are shooting, you want to focus just on shooting so that you can let the creative process take charge.

When shooting, you may find that the script you prepared is not as good as a new idea that develops during the shoot. This is totally OK and in many cases will give you a better video.

So start shooting, take a lot of takes, and if you feel you need to change something in your original planning, change it and shoot, but let the creative process flow freely.

Step 3: Editing your Video

All of the work you did in pre-planning your video and then shooting it was for us to get to here to Step 3: Video Editing.

This is where we are going to put all of your clips together and create a video that actually communicates a marketing and/or sales message.

Video editing can be complex if you make it, so remember, Keep It Simple.

And there is good news here: It’s never been so easy for just about anyone to edit professional videos, even from your smartphone!

If you want to dive deeper into video editing and get a list of video editing software that I would recommend then CLICK HERE to see my article on video editing.

Step 4: Distributing your Marketing Videos

If no one actually watches your marketing videos, then all of the time, money, and other resources that you spent creating your video is going to be lost.

Here are the platforms that I recommend you distribute your videos on:

1. Google & YouTube
2. Facebook
3. Instagram
4. LinkedIn

Depending on the type of business that you own and what your overall marketing strategy is, you may, focus more on certain platforms than others listed here.

To determine this we have to identify where your Audience is online.

For example, if your business sells products/services to mostly women who are between the ages of 20 to 30 years old, then there is a higher probability that they will be mostly on Instagram than on Facebook.

In another example, let’s say that all of the video content that you are going to make is educational and how-to type of videos, then YouTube is most likely going to be your platform of choice.

Knowing who your audience is, which is what we talked about all the way in the beginning of the article, will help you determine where to focus your distribution efforts.

To find out more about distributing your video with Facebook & Instagram Ads, LinkedIn, or YouTube CLICK HERE to see additional resources I have written on the subject.

Step 5: Repeat the Process and Build your Video Marketing Strategy

Finally, the last step of the process is to repeat it all over again so that creating video just becomes a part of your overall marketing going forward.

Until virtual realty goes “mainstream”, video is here to stay for the foreseeable future and just making one video may not be enough.

Your customers and prospects want to connect with the brands and companies that they are purchasing from and video is one of the most powerful ways for you to accomplish this.

By repeating the process over and over again you will be discovering what people like or dislike about your video content and this is the foundation that will help you come up with more creative ideas to communicate your brand and sales message.

We call this: Giving your brand a Voice.

But you will never figure out what your brand voice will be if you don’t start creating video.

Don’t worry about your first videos being perfect.

Don’t worry about your first videos selling anything.

Don’t worry about what people will say about your videos.

Just create a video that truly delivers value to the people you are trying to connect with and be truthful with your video content.

Do that and people will begin watching your marketing videos and become interested in your brand and sales messages enough to take the next step and actually buy something from you.

Good luck, have fun, and I look forward to watching what you create.