Video is an important piece to the overall marketing strategy for any business. 72% of businesses say video has improved their conversion rate. There is a saying that video is the fastest way to build trust with your audience. Video lets them see you, your team, and your product or service, along with evaluating you as an expert. Video can educate, entertain, and inform in an easily digestible way.
Many small and medium-sized businesses may think they need to spend thousands of dollars on a production team, but that’s just not the case. On the flip side, videos are hard to make – and it shows. The internet is populated with far too many slideshows and photos set to music masquerading as videos.
The cost to produce videos is directly related to the production quality, which can vary from low-grade – i.e., smartphone to high-grade commercial, depending on the equipment used to capture the content. Yes, your smartphone can be your video content creator, but the trick is audio. Having good-quality audio can overcome the limitations of smartphone videos.
Content Marketing Strategy
Marketing your business takes content. By developing a content marketing strategy that includes Question and Answer Videos, you can add content to your website and YouTube channel and provide original social media content.
The first step is to make a list of questions your audience is interested in and that you can answer.
- Start with your sales team. What questions do they get over and over? What are the objections they hear consistently?
- In to Google because your audience already does. When you “google” something, Google displays a list of questions, which you can develop content around.
- Take existing content and turn it into a “snackable” video series. Do you have long-form content that can be repurposed into short Q&A videos?
What is a Talking Head Video?
A Talking Head video is where a person talks directly into the camera as if addressing the viewer personally.
There are many styles of videos to choose from once you have your list of questions. With a Talking Head video, people can see you, which builds trust and rapport.
Q&A Video Marketing
You will need a camera and a microphone to produce a video.
Commercial production quality can run the gambit from high quality to low grade, depending on your budget and objectives. The production quality should be high if you use these videos for TV or ads through Google Ads. However, if these are for YouTube, blogging, and social media, your laptop or smartphone can get the job done just as well.
Video Format
A structured format helps you quickly produce videos quickly and is easier on the person on screen since they only need to think of the answers.
The BIGGEST mistake to avoid.
You only have seconds to capture attention. Do not start out introducing yourself. The person who clicked through to watch your video really doesn’t care about you. They are there looking for answers to a question or problem.
Start with the question.
The entire Q&A Content Marketing Strategy revolves around the question. It’s what someone wants to know about, so start with the question. It will capture attention immediately and create enough tension for the viewer to remain through your introduction.
Briefly introduce yourself.
Your contact information will be on the last slide of the video, in the on-screen graphic, and in the video description on YouTube. Don’t take valuable time telling people who you are. Again, they don’t really care at this point. Just saying your name, title and company is enough.
Answer the question.
If a prospect was sitting across from you asking a question, what would you say? Be natural and don’t use a script or read. Even though you are providing an answer to their question, it’s still entertainment. Keep your response succinct. Rambling or repeating yourself too many times will cause someone to leave and not be interested in more of your videos.
If you make a mistake, simply pause.
Without prep work on each question, mistakes are easy to make. If you don’t like how you answered a question just pause – don’t move and BREATHE. It’s OK to keep the camera running while you think of a better way to say the answer. Once you’ve gathered your thoughts, take a deep breath and start talking. These pauses will give you easy cropping spots.
The critical ending.
End each video the same way with a call to action. What do you want the person to do? What is the “next step” in your sales process? Again, keep the ending short. You don’t need to re-introduce yourself or read off a phone # or website URL because that information will be added as a graphic during production.
Length of Videos.
Typically, these videos are very short, ranging from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. However, if the answer truly takes longer than 3 minutes, there is no reason to end too early. Just make sure you are not repeating yourself and rambling.
Video Marketing Content Strategy
Your video marketing content strategy can exponentially increase your ROI when used in multiple ways.
YouTube
Add your videos to YouTube and Playlists
The most important part of a video on YouTube is its title. YouTube videos are presented in search results if a keyword is in the title or someone types in the question. When you name the video, include the keyword within the question, this gives the video more opportunity to be served in search results.
Create a new playlist with your keyword if you have multiple videos around a category or topic. For example, a knee surgeon can have a playlist called “Knee Surgery [City Name],” and all the knee videos will be listed.
Transcribe the videos.
Transcribe the video into text and add it to the YouTube description. One caveat is when people talk in a camera, they don’t always talk in complete sentences. YouTube has a transcription feature; however, you should review and edit for accuracy.
Call to Action.
In the YouTube description, make sure to include your call to action. I like to add links to social media accounts, asking the viewer to connect.
Blogging
A good SEO practice is to blog monthly. If you have an editorial calendar to guide your writing, add the videos to your plan. As with YouTube, the title is the most important part of a blog. Again, you want to use the question as the title.
The video description has already been written and can be used as the blog copy. You may need to re-write the copy if the transcription was word-for-word. Remember, we don’t tend to talk in complete sentences, so make the blog grammatically correct.
Embed the YouTube video somewhere on the blog. You will have visitors who like to read and some who are visual. Embedding the video into the blog helps visitors consume your content in their preferred manner.
Website
The videos can be embedded on relevant website pages. For example, the knee surgeon developed an educational Q&A series around knee replacement surgery and has a website page about knee surgery. These videos are a complement to the page and help to add additional information about the procedure. Visitors can see the doctor, hear what he says, and decide whether to call for a consultation.
Social Media
Creating original content on social media is time-consuming and requires a certain skill level to be effective. Q&A videos are an easy way for businesses to publish “shareable” posts their audience will consume.
The evergreen quality of these videos and the scrolling nature of social media makes it easy to reuse videos over time.
Conclusion
Many years ago, I talked Dr. Albright into meeting with me to do this strategy. He was very hesitant, and finally, after almost a year, he said yes. We met four times for 2 hours each in two years and produced 37 videos with five playlists. Since then, he has had many people consult with him and comment on his videos, thus generating new surgical patients. We continue to meet and update old videos, along with producing additional videos. One of his knee surgeries videos has over 31,000 views.
I’ve used this same strategy for a Medical Spa, Home Builder, and New Home Development with the same results.
If you are curious about how this will help you increase your sales, let’s chat. If your business needs help with social media or any other aspects of digital marketing, call us at (888)4045850 or contact Edge Digital today. We’d love to help you.
Kim works with brands since 2011 to develop and manage their digital and social media strategies; meet company objectives, such as increasing leads, engagement, and website traffic, utilizing best practices, the latest tools and strategies; and develop quality content. She is a problem-solver who loves a challenge when it comes to increasing sales.