Video marketing is a wonderful thing. Over the last year or so, video has exploded as one of the top ways for brand to market their products or services online. In fact, more than 500 million hours of video are watched on YouTube every day, and 87% of marketers now heavily recommend using video marketing as part of a wider strategy. But just like any other form of marketing, it can go wrong. Whether that’s behind the scenes issues, unsuccessful campaigns or even heavy backlash, video marketing has the potential to damage, as well as help. Which is why it’s so important to get it right. At Swanwood, we spend a lot of time working with clients to make sure they avoid common video marketing mistakes across the board, and we’d like to share some of those tips with you today.
But First…
But before we get into it, we wanted to share a few examples of some video marketing campaigns from big brands that have backfired hugely, just to prove that no matter how much money you have, you can still get it wrong:
Dove – This might rank up there as one of the biggest video marketing faux pas of 2017 to be honest, so that’s where we’ll start. In October this year, Dove released this controversial advert, which featured a black woman removing her top and transforming into a white woman after using their soap. Can you spot the problem yet? While the advert did go on to feature many more transformations that spanned various races, this first 10 seconds (which is about as much as many people see of an advert) sparkled outrage and horror across the globe. Dove was called out for being racist, millions boycotted the brand, and Dove had to publicly admit they ‘missed the mark’ with the ad. And despite the actresses featured coming forward and claiming the video wasn’t racist in any way, the damage to the brand was already done.
Cartoon Network – An oldie but a goodie – even if it isn’t strictly about the content of the video. In 2007, Cartoon Network decided to launch a guerrilla marketing campaign, which involved them setting up LED video signs in various places throughout US cities to promote one of its new shows. Unfortunately, a resident in Boston thought that one of these devices was actually a bomb, and called the police. From there it snowballed into a terrorism scare, resulting in the shut down of a huge number of public transport lines bridges and roads while it was all sorted out. In the end, the head of Cartoon network himself lost his job over it, and the network was forced to pay out $2 million in compensation. This is a symptom of marketing in a silo – and just goes to show you need to think about all the outcomes before you do anything.
Missing The Message
Missing the message is one of the biggest issues you will find with video marketing, and it’s surprisingly easy to do. Just look at Dove. They didn’t intend to create a racist ad, but by not considering all of the connotations of the visual choices they made, they did. When creating the theme and content for your video, make sure you consider every possible angle there is. Show the concept to a wide variety of people for honest feedback, and do your research to make sure you aren’t actually saying something else. This could be something as simple as a common phrase you use meaning something else to a different culture, or an image not quite resonating the way you wanted it to. There is no such thing as being too attentive to detail here – and going over it multiple times with multiple test audiences is the only way to make sure your messaging is right.
Forgetting SEO
SEO is all about words and images and stuff – it doesn’t matter to video, right?
Wrong.
Video marketing plays a huge factor in SEO, and even more so since Google bought YouTube in 2006. So make sure you remember to optimise your video. No, that doesn’t mean stuffing keywords into your actual video script – search engines can’t digest what’s actually in the video like people can. l It means paying attention when you upload it. Optimising your video title, including a meta description and using long-tail keywords are all essential to good video SEO.
Going For The Hard Sell
Videos can be really effective and fruitful in creating relationships between your leads and your brand, in fact, 90% of users say video is helpful in their decision process. but not if you’re constantly pushing the viewer to buy. Think cheesy infomercial. You don’t want to be that guy. When you’re going for video marketing, 9 time out of 10 you’re trying to create videos people actually want to watch, and people don’t enjoy being sold to. So instead of going for the hard sell, opt for something valuable, entertaining and informative instead. Instead of focussing on the hard numbers, use your videos to tell a story, share some knowledge that will help your audience or pull at their heart strings. Overall, create something that people are going to connect to, rather than click away from.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. if you have zero experience in video it can feel daunting – but I assure you creating remarkable video content isn’t as scary as it may seem. You can and will be great at it, but it’s important to make sure you don’t fall into any of these video marketing mistakes. At Swanwood, we help our customers create stunning and impactful videos for marketing and publication in a wide variety of areas. So if you aren’t sure where to start, or just want someone to steer you in the right direction, just give us a call.