How to Plan a Successful Inbound Video Marketing Strategy

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It is no secret that video does a great job of standing out on the internet. The same is true with inbound marketing. It doesn’t matter how long your company has worked with video marketing or if you are completely new to the concept of inbound marketing. What matters is that you are interested in starting (or perfecting your existing) inbound video marketing efforts, and there are ways to plan for better success.

A formal inbound video marketing strategy doesn’t have to be an arduous in-depth project, however, some campaigns do require more hands-on planning in pre-production than others. It is important to understand the framework of a successful inbound video strategy in order to better your campaign performance and your video marketing efforts overall.

First, you should define who you are trying to reach. This is where your inbound marketing best practices should come into play. If you have well-developed buyer personas, you are well on your way to determining what your viewers will want, what their pain points are, and how you can best address them. The next step in planning a video campaign strategy is knowing when and how you can best reach your target audience. Questions you should be asking include:

What stage of the buyer's journey is the video aimed to reach?
How long has this viewer been aware of your product, service, or brand?
How did you originally acquire the viewer, or is this their first brand experience?
How will they most likely consume your video—from a mobile or a desktop setting?
What information are they looking for?
How will video impact their purchasing decision?
How much time will they have to watch your video?
When will they find your video?

Establish a length of content that works with how many videos your campaign will require. Short forms of video are trending right now, but may not be what your audience needs. This loops back around to knowing and understanding the target audience with well-developed buyer personas. Along with the details of the actual video, you will need to plan out specific calls-to-action to increase the effectiveness of your video campaign. Calls-to-action include ways to subscribe to upcoming blogs, content releases, and promotions.

Once you know what type of calls-to-action your video will require, you can begin doing the automation legwork to implement lead nurturing campaigns ahead of the game. Remember, marketing automation is meant to be your friend, don’t over complicate the process. Each content initiative should help move the bottom line on business goals—not content goals.

Having a scheduled distribution plan - just like social media - will help with tone and consistency in your marketing strategy, and will also provide a layer of trust. If you are creating a video series and need to have a number of videos distributed in a timely and scheduled manner, you will want to plan ahead in your production process to make that happen.

Planning for a successful inbound video marketing campaign should be an exploration of the business goals you are trying to reach and the data you have already collected for other content marketing initiatives. It is similar to piecing a puzzle together. All of the information you need for success is within the best practices you have covered with inbound marketing. If you find yourself at a road block, remember these steps and best practices for inbound video marketing.

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