Here’s a bombshell.
Content marketing hinges on one two key things. The first… Is marketing. Have you guessed the second?
Yep. Content.
Using video in an effective content marketing plan is an incredibly powerful strategy for professionals, niche experts and thought leaders however often the hardest part is in developing great content consistently, effectively and with a compulsive regularity in order to have real impact.
And in many cases it is exactly the perceived difficulty of this commitment that halts most content marketing plans in their tracks, before it has really had the chance to get off the ground. You’ve probably experienced it yourself (I know I have), the desire to write more video blog scripts, an article for your blog, even a handful of witty and engaging social media status updates to schedule out, but you find the task just keeps getting pushed back in your to-do list, or other tasks just seem to be more important. It’s the crippling ‘writer’s block’ or perhaps a fear of ‘failure to deliver’ that leaves us simply not delivering at all.
We end up sabotaging our own content marketing, before we’ve even started.
So, how can we effectively deliver on a video content marketing strategy without losing our mojo to this ominous ‘fear of failure’? Well, here are my top 5 tips to delivering consistent awesome with video content marketing.
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Just do it.
Often the biggest fear we find we have stems from feelings of doubt or self criticism. When it comes to producing regular engaging video content as part of a marketing strategy many of us feel unsure about what to do, or how we may be perceived, or question the value of what we have to share. The truth is that the best way to start on the path to delivering an effective content marketing strategy is simply to just get started.
Why not set yourself a goal of writing just one 100 word script every week? Or even start a video journal using the camera on your smart phone every night? You could record your voice rambling ideas as you drive home from work, and transcribe later to develop a script. Perhaps just schedule a block of writing into your default calendar each week and ensure your deliver at least your minimum. Don’t let yourself relax on the weekend until you’ve delivered on what you’ve committed to. At the very least, do whatever it takes to just get started.
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Splurge and Filter
This is my favourite method for developing new ideas to vlog or write about. What you need to do is just open a new document or a blank sheet of paper and start brainstorming or splurging your content ideas onto the page. Don’t stop to edit or proofread, and don’t stress about grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. You can fine tune your content shortly. Trust yourself, you know your niche, I’m sure your head is full of stuff relevant to your audience – just splurge.
[bonus tip: why not splurge using a voice recorder rather than a keyboard]
Now… filter. Go back through what you have written and start to filter out the good content from the not-so-good. Tweak your writing style to suit the way you’ll say it on camera, correct your errors and seek opportunities to add in references to other content or include a call-to-action. This is where you’re crafting your valuable content.
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Systemise and diarise
One of the biggest barriers to consistent productivity when it comes to video content marketing, is carving out the time in a busy work week to write your content, record your content and manage the delivery of that content according to your schedule. You need to have a system in place to ensure consistent delivery and one of the best ways to do this, in my opinion, is to have use a content calendar. By planning out your intended content and topics in advance, identifying the target market for each, and having some goals set for deadlines and publication you can easily see, at a glance, what content you need to be working on next, and track how your content strategy is playing out over time.
But don’t just stop there. Why not add the deadlines into your diary, and block out set times per week in your calendar to ensure you prioritise your content creation.
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Outsource the management
You need to focus your time on the content creation, adding value to your audience through your specific expertise or niche knowledge. Face it… in most cases it does not need to be you who publishes the posts, writes the facebook copy, or creates the blog article. Find a suitable member of your team to handle this, or outsource to a social media manager or agency if appropriate. So long as you ensure that the person (or agency) responsible for managing your content understands your brand, your voice and your market (and publishes accordingly) then outsourcing is the way to go.
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Streamline production or hire a professional
Video content marketing is intensely powerful at engaging your audience, building a following and being seen as the expert in your field. In so many cases though, the best laid plans come crashing down due to lack of budget, lack of time or lack of skill and experience required to produce quality video effectively and, most importantly, regularly. Ultimately, you need to streamline your video production internally, or hire a professional at the right price. Remember though, the best video content strategies are often balancing a fine line between production quality and regularity. You want to ensure that your content is of suitable quality to reflect your brand, whilst ensuring that achieving this level of quality results in an ability to post new content with frequency.
Your video content, for the goal of content marketing and social engagement does not need to win any Oscars, or require a production team to rival a football team, but you do need to ensure you’re getting content out regularly. The equation is simple;
Quality Content + Frequent Content = Crazy Effective Video Content Marketing
The Stats Don’t Lie.
Seriously, what are you waiting for. If you haven’t worked out yet just how important video should be in your content marketing strategy then do yourself a favour and read this report from the Content Marketing Institute – B2B Content Marketing: 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends— North America
And get started today. Just do it!
Tell me in the comments… what’s your biggest struggle when it comes to Video Content Marketing for your business?
