How to Get Started With Video Marketing (Better Late Than Never)

A whopping 91% of businesses are already using video content as a marketing tool in 2024, which is a new all-time high. So if your company hasn’t experimented with video marketing quite yet, I’ll be honest with you, you’re a little late to the party. 

I know that video marketing can be a bit intimidating if you’ve never used it. 

But fortunately for you, it’s never too late to start—and landing yourself on this page is the first step in the right direction.

Decide How You’re Going to Produce Your Marketing Videos

The very first thing you need to do is decide if you’re going to produce your content in-house or outsource to a video marketing agency.

There are pros and cons to each approach, but I think it’s important to get this step out of the way immediately, as it will help you lay the foundation for everything else. 

Data suggests that smaller companies are more likely to use internal resources for video production. 

But I honestly find that smaller marketing teams just aren’t equipped to produce videos in-house. They either lack the talent, time, equipment, or a combination of the three.

So don’t be afraid to outsource at least some of your video marketing tasks. For example, maybe you’ll handle the general concepts and script writing before passing that info over to an agency that will actually film and edit everything for you. Then your team can share those clips on various channels. 

Pros of Outsourcing Video Marketing

• You can let the experts handle what they’re good at.
• No need to purchase or rent equipment. 
• No need to hire more employees or pull your staff away from other tasks.

Cons of Outsourcing Video Marketing

• You’ll lose some control over the creative process.
• The agency needs time to understand your brand and goals.
• You’re depending on others to deliver on schedule.

Pros of Handling Video Marketing In-House

• You already have a deep understanding of your brand, products, services, and goals.
• You have complete control over everything. 
• Ability to set your own schedule and timelines.

Cons of Handling Video Marketing In-House

• Initial investment to purchase equipment can be expensive.
• Lack of experience.
• Team members can get stretched too thin.

Make an SOP With Your Brand-Specific Creative Guidelines

Regardless of whether you’re planning to hire an agency or handle your video production in-house, you should take the time to create an SOP with specific guidelines.

Some could argue that this is only necessary if you’re outsourcing tasks. But I think it’s equally important if you’re handling the video creation internally. Here’s why.

An SOP with creative standards and brand guidelines can be handed to anyone, and they’ll have a clear understanding of the do’s and don’ts of your video content. 

You may put your most experienced marketer in charge of new video content. They’ve been with your company for a decade, and you just think or assume they’ll know what you want.

But you don’t have a crystal ball, and you have no way of knowing if this person will quit, do something to get fired, or get sick for a month. I’ve seen this stuff happen firsthand, so I know that you can’t make these types of assumptions.

Put your standards in writing from day one, and make this information available to everyone and anyone working on your marketing videos. 

Determine Your Budget For Marketing Videos

Next, figure out what you can comfortably spend to produce your video content. Make sure this number includes everything—staff, equipment, software, and other miscellaneous one-offs. 

I don’t think you need to allocate additional funds for this, but rather just carve out some of your existing marketing budget for videos.

HubSpot recently surveyed over 500+ video marketers to see how much they’re all spending on content. Here are the results: 

As you can see, the answers were all over the board. So don’t think that you have to spend a fortune.

26% of marketers spend less than $20,000 per quarter on video content. 

The survey also found that, on average, production costs account for 24% of a video marketing budget. 

For accurate budgeting, don’t include post-production costs that would be better categorized elsewhere. For example, if you’re going to run ads on social media with your videos, those expenses should be in your advertising budget—not your video marketing budget. 

Come Up With a Realistic Timeline

There are two different aspects of this step that you need to sort out.

First, give yourself a realistic timeline for rolling out your video marketing strategy. This is more of the bird-eye’s view, and planning out how many videos you want to create over the next quarter or up to a year.

The second part is that you need to create a timeline for each individual video that you produce.

It’s helpful to do both of these at the same time, as one has a direct impact on the other. 

If you’re just getting started, I wouldn’t plan out longer than three months at the absolute most. But starting with one month is much easier. 

Set Specific Marketing Goals For Your Video Strategy

This is another massive mistake that I see companies make all of the time. You shouldn’t be creating video content just for the sake of doing it. 

If you feel like you’re late to the game, you might rush into this without taking the time to set your goals. But you’ll end up wasting time, money, and your videos won’t have any real impact.

Defining clear goals gives you a sense of direction for everything to follow. You should have big-picture video marketing goals and then separate objectives for each specific video.

For example, these are the four primary goals of most video marketers:

I imagine that most of you will have similar goals when you’re creating content.

But each unique video could have its own unique objective (but always working toward your north star). Examples include:

• Educate prospects about a specific product or feature.
• Share customer success stories to build credibility.
• Showcase your industry expertise with thought leadership videos.
• Highlight user-generated content.

All of these examples could have a place in your video content strategy. But only if they’re working toward your primary goals.

Figure Out Where You’re Going to Share and Publish These Videos

Not all videos are created equally. So you can’t just create one generic video and decide what to do with it later.

You should know prior to production whether the video is designed for YouTube, social media, email, TikTok, for your website, or whatever else.

Obviously, you can re-purpose clips and share your videos on multiple platforms. But certain videos just perform better on specific channels.

For example, if you’re creating a 20-minute product tutorial, it’s probably not going to be great for Facebook and Instagram. Alternatively, two-minute explainer videos about who your brand is and what you do is perfect for your homepage. 

Once you understand how and where people will be consuming your video content, it will be so much easier to produce. Plus, you’ll have the right file sizes and aspect ratios sorted out ahead of time so they’re optimized for those channels.

Create a Repeatable and Standardized Process For Your Production Workflow

This is going to look a bit different for everyone. It depends on what types of videos you’re creating and whether you’re outsourcing them, doing things internally, or a mix of both.

But the key is to create steps or checklists of what needs to be done each time you create a new video. It might look something like this:

Pre-Production

• Identify the video’s goal.
• Outline the idea and determine how long the video will be.
• Write the script.

Production

• Send an email reminder to everyone the day before the shoot.
• Set up all video, lighting, and audio equipment.
• Immediately upload the raw footage to your cloud storage system.

Post-Production

• Create a thumbnail and video description.
• Publish the video to YouTube.
• Clip the best part to share on social media.

You get the idea. Realistically, each of these three phases could have dozens of different steps. 

But doing this now will save you a ton of time down the road, as you can just follow the same process for every video.

Make Sure Your Videos Are Optimized For Maximum Results

The initial planning and production process is only half the battle. The real work starts after your videos have been published and shared with your audience.

This is where you need to let your true marketing colors shine bright, and it can require a little bit of trial and error to see what works.

You’ll need to track key metrics on each video like:

• Views
• Engagement (likes, comments, etc.)
• Average watch time
• Subscriber growth
• New leads

Based on this information, you can start to identify patterns based on which videos perform the best.

For example, you might find that your most-watched and most-liked videos are product tutorials, whereas behind-the-scenes footage of your team isn’t generating any buzz. 

Armed with this information, you can make adjustments and plan out more of the content that’s working.

You can also implement channel-specific strategies, like applying YouTube optimization vs. videos for SEO.

Final Thoughts

You’re already behind if you’re not doing any video marketing yet. So it’s in your best interest to just start ASAP.

You need to start somewhere, and this guide gives you the blueprint of what you need in place to ensure success.

If you’re still stuck and just can’t seem to get the ball rolling, contact our team here at McDougall Interactive for assistance. Our video marketing services are designed to drive results for any business. We’re happy to handle what you can’t so you can continue focusing on what you do best.