Video-marketing is one of the many prolific tools in a company’s arsenal. If broadening your audience is your main objective, video-marketing should be numero uno on your list of priorities! In fact, video-marketing is arguably the most efficient medium to advertise your products or services to the wider public.

Take a few scrolls through your Instagram feed, and you’re bound to come across brief, video-adverts peddling the trendiest wares. As digital platforms clamour for our precious attention, our average attention-span has declined to 8 seconds. Eye-catching, and enticing advertising is necessary to engage with our targeted audience, directing their fleeting attention towards us!

Video-marketing’s visceral approach to telling a story operates as a wonderful introduction to your brand, and portfolio of products/services. The generation of positive impressions can significantly increase lead-generation, resulting in increased sales down the line! However, the process of video-marketing can appear daunting to the layman; where does one even start? Today, we’ll be outlining the step-by-step process towards creating your very first video-advertisement!

1.      Find your “Why”

The first step is identifying the primary motivation of creating a video-advert: what are you trying to achieve? Some of the common motivations include showcasing a new product or service, or to expose new viewers to the core values of your brand! The world is your oyster, but be conservative! Don’t bite off more than you can chew, attempting to achieve too much in too little time, let alone one video! Narrow your aims, and focus on quality over quantity.

2.      Duration:

The length of your video is contingent on your “Why”. If the video involves a “behind-the-scenes” glimpse into the inner-workings of your company, a longer duration is perfectly reasonable. Conversely, a shorter duration would be more fitting for concise, video-adverts formulated to inform the public on the existence of a new product/service. Here’s a healthy rule of thumb to follow: the narrower its purpose, the shorter the duration! Nevertheless, a video’s duration is highly context-specific; always read between the lines, and thoroughly access the context in which the video is being produced!

3.      Target Audience, and Digital Platforms:

Your intended viewership, and the digital platforms in which the video should be shared across are inextricably intertwined, who you’re sharing it to, determines where you’re sharing it across!

If your business specialises in B2B sales, platforms such as LinkedIn are especially tailored to business-to-business interactions, and professional networking. Making your company known to other working professionals and organisations via video-marketing is an excellent way to establish rapport with potential clients.

On the other hand, if your brand manufactures bespoke goods, Instagram is an incredible platform to showcase products through paid advertisements embedded in the tailored feeds of your intended audience; being a platform centred on the visual representations of modern trends, quirky or eccentric brands would flourish with the appropriate styles of video-advertising.

4.      Your Workstation

The accessibility of the internet affords us with an over-abundance of video-editing workstations for download, ranging from free to paid options! Differentiating, and weighing the pros and cons of each one allows you to pick the best one that accommodates your workstyle.

If you’re unwilling to pay for the premium options available, Lightworks is an exceptional workstation that offers multi-track and multi-cam editing, alongside a fully customizable user-interface. All that, with no barrier to entry! It is worth noting that the paid version comes with additional export formats, alongside direct social media sharing functions.  

The popular, industry standard is Adobe Premiere Pro. Across the board, it is the most comprehensive program that encourages full-control over the editing process, and open-collaboration with other artisans like yourself! However, Adobe Lightroom is only available on a subscription-based model at $29.99 AUD/month.

After settling for one, it is crucial that you follow relevant video tutorials or its accompanying manuals, developing an understanding of your chosen workstation. Youtuber “Bai” offers a 10 minute beginner’s guide to Lightworks, while “Kriscoart” has a 20-minute getting-started video for Adobe Premiere Pro. At the end of the day, practice makes perfect! Freely explore the controls on your platform of choice, and you’ll slowly develop a tacit and intuitive grasp on how to operate it fluently!

While this is not a definitive list of all available video-editing software, this should serve as a healthy launchpad for deeper exploration; the onus in on you to pursue in-depth research!

Still too Intimidating?

Naturally, video-marketing is a highly sought-out skill by virtue of its steep learning curve. Simply put, it is not second nature for most people! In all of Hippo’s written features, the limited availability of our time is a recurrent theme. As a business-owner, you are the captain of your ship; you oversee the operations on the deck of your ship, and delegate the appropriate tasks accordingly. Video-editing is a task that should be delegated to the sailors on deck. Use that precious time to lead, instead of trying to tinker with a video-editing software that you’ve barely been exposed to! Focus on the profit-producing opportunities that breathe life into your business. Do not let mundane operations such as video-editing crowd out precious real-estate in your mind!

The solution is lying right in front of your very eyes, and that involves hiring a VA. With Hippo’s novel S.O.S process, our hardworking team at Hippo will screen through a list of VAs proficient in video-editing and production to meet your chosen standards. From administrative duties to video-editing, repetitious, backend operations can be effortlessly systemised with the employment of a VA!

Our team at Hippo Business Services firmly believes that a VA would help you realize your company’s video-marketing grandiose vision. From systemising complex, heavy-handed editing workflows to the creation of original visual content, all these burdens would no longer fall solely on your shoulders. 

Contact us at HIPPO today, and we’ll find the finest video-editing VA for you!