I’m about to point out one of two things depending on who you are:  Either what mistakes to avoid like the plague when it comes to creating video content for your business OR what mistakes you’re currently making that you need to drop like a bad habit ASAP.  Either way, don’t miss a beat here, these 3 mistakes can cost you a lot of time, new customers and even worse your marketing budget.  

I’m Julian Tillotson Founder & CEO here at INDIRAP.  We’re a top-tier video production and content marketing agency that delivers eyeball-hungry, unforgettable branded video content along with performance-driven monetization & distribution solutions, right to your doorstep.

Now let’s talk facts.  EVERY company on this planet can benefit from video content.  EVERY company on this planet can grow exponentially by integrating video content into their sales, marketing, training and recruitment goals and initiatives.

However, the majority of them fail to deliver content that actually engages, educates and entertains their audience.  And for the most part it’s because they’re making one of these 3 mistakes when they’re creating it.

Alright let’s get right to it.

First up, creating absolutely no video content at all.

Now most of the time when I see this, it’s usually one of these –

1. Companies that have been around for over 10-15 years and have that old school if it ain’t broke don’t fix it mentality when it comes to their marketing.  “Oh what do we need video for, we get our customers from word of mouth”
2. Companies that are in manufacturing, government, supply chain or commercial real estate.  For some reason, historically these guys have always been late to the marketing party.  It is what it is
3. People that are afraid or too lazy to be on camera.

Listen, you’re playing yourselves. Here’s a few hard facts about using video content for business.

81% of marketers say their primary company has a budget specifically for video marketing, and 52% of marketers said their video marketing budget remained the same for 2022.  This means that your competition is heavily investing in video content and don’t plan on chillin out on it anytime soon.  

Why does that matter?  Simply put, they’re able to scale 80% faster than you can because you’re limiting your customer interactions to in person, on the phone and via email.  You’re not able to deliver a pitch-perfect sales and marketing message to 10,000 people with the click of a button.  You’re not able to build trust and transparency on-demand the way they can. You can’t scale your brand the way pro-video businesses can.

You see it all comes down to speed and efficiency.  If you have a sales team of 5 sales people that spend 8 hours a day doing cold outreach, think about how many more customers you could impact with a 60 second video about your brand that lives on Google, YouTube, Instagram, Yahoo, the list goes on and on.  

When it comes to customers searching for a new product or service, 73% of people are more likely to make a buying decision after watching a video.  68% of YouTube users watched a YouTube video to help them make a purchase decision.

Simply put, if you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs as a business and not at the party connecting with new prospects… How do you expect to keep up and sustain in the future?  

And your competition that has incorporated video content into their ongoing marketing efforts, is actually building a massive SEO fortress around their business.  Yes, Google ranks companies that create relevant video content around their brands higher than companies that don’t create content at all.

You’re basically slowly starving yourself out of the market by not creating content.  Slowly disappearing into the abyss of Google search rankings.  Say goodbye to page one,  page 2, page 3, page 4, only to eventually never get new customers on Google search again.

That would suck.

Look, I pride myself on not bullshitting my audience or my clients.  Yes this may be a harsh wake up call for your business but it’s also the absolute truth.  The world is rapidly changing and the way you marketed your business in 2017 isn’t gonna work moving forward.  You have to adapt.  Video content will play a massive role in whether companies that are here in 2022 will be around in the next 5 years.  

So if you’re in business to crush it, let’s put some video content together for ya.  It’s easier than you think and once you see the benefits of using it, you’re gonna lose your mind.  In a good way 🙂

Before I give you #2 and #3, if you’re digging this content and you’re learning some new tips and tricks on how to grow your brand online, don’t forget to click the subscribe button and turn on the notification bell.  And if you wanna get vocal, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section.  Aiight let’s get back to it.

The second biggest mistake

is sitting on old and outdated video content.  Yes, it’s great that you might have video content already but if you ask a modern day audience if they’d be engaged and entertained by it and they start laughing out loud, then you might have some pretty dusty content on your hands.  Now listen up, your content might be outdated if:

It’s more than 5 years old

Your branding has changed

Your product or service offerings have changed

You’ve had a change in leadership

OR you’ve grown as a company

You gotta stay fresh when it comes to branded video content and having one video that you created 3 years ago is in no way, shape or form a good enough content strategy if you want to hang with the big dogs.  

With that being said, you have 2 types of content you need to keep in mind – Foundational video content and high frequency video content. Foundational content is content like your Brand Overview, Case Study or Explainer videos.  These usually last a good 3-5 years and can be repurposed infinitely.  This is your cornerstone brand messaging that answers basic FAQ’s and gives your audience a good general overview of your brand as a whole.

Next, you have high-frequency video content.  This is consistently fresh content that keeps you in front of your audience and keeps you relevant.  When I say fresh, I mean always being updated.  This could be daily, weekly or monthly.  It all depends on your brand and how hungry your audience is for information.  

In any case, no matter what industry you’re in, you need to be producing this content to stay relevant and to continue to grow brand awareness online. This can come in the form of curated social media content or even a podcast.  That content can be chopped up and sprinkled across multiple social platforms and any other digital real estate you occupy.  You gotta feed the wolves aka your audience.  Especially if you want to stay top of mind when they’re ready to buy.  Better you than your competition right?!

And the number 3 biggest mistake is…  drumroll please

Being boring as f**k.

I mean, if you think creating content looks like 1 hour long talking head videos about your product or service you’re insane.  If you think just talking that 20 page presentation and turning it into a slideshow video and blasting out to your email list, you ‘re in for a rude awakening. I mean think about it, would YOU watch it?  Would you take time out of your day to sit through something that dry and monotone?  

Maybe YOU would but 99% of people need a more compelling reason to watch video content from your brand.  Especially when you take into consideration the amount of engaging and interesting content brands are putting out these days.  I mean there is some REALLY good content out there from every type of business under the sun.  The days of boring ass corporate content are a distant memory, at best.

Modern day audiences don’t just want to be educated.  In order to engage them, you must also entertain them.  Remember these 3 words – Engage, Educate, Entertain.  Those are 3 ingredients every good piece of content should have.  And when I say entertain, I’m not saying you need to drop it like it’s hot on TikTok or be anything outside of your wonderful, natural self.  BUT your brands video content needs those cherries on top like graphics, camera movement, good music, good b-roll to keep viewers engaged from start to finish.

Remember, attention spans barely exist these days.  And what’s the point of spending the time to put out all this content we’re talking about if nobody’s going to watch it let alone become a paying customer.  I mean getting paid is why most of us are in business right?

Instead of creating a 15 minute video about one of your products or services, why don’t you break it into 3-5 easily digestible videos that focus on one feature or benefit?  Your chances of getting a new customer to watch all of them goes up dramatically because they don’t have to make an immediate 15 minute time commitment to learning something new about your brand.  They can watch bite-sized pieces of content at their leisure.  You know convenience is everything these days… Grubhub, Uber, your favorite dispensary’s delivery service.  So why not adapt those same principles to your video content?  

Make it exciting and engaging.  It doesn’t matter if you’re an accountant or you sell hoses.  Yes you heard that right, hoses.  We  created a whole content library for a 3rd generation hose company that does millions in revenue around the world.  And it turned out sick.  Anyways, make sure you take the time to think about the creative aspect to your videos, not just the informational portion.  You gotta have both if you want your audience to be excited every time you drop new content.

And there you have it.  3 super basic but extremely important no-no’s when it comes to curating fire ass content around your business.  If you’re still wondering what you can do to improve audience engagement with your video content click the link below to book a free 30-minute content strategy session with an INDIRAP content expert.  We’ll do a deep dive into your brand’s content strategy and you’ll walk away with a blueprint detailing the top 3 most hyper-effective pieces of content you can create today to grow your brand online.

I appreciate you all, thanks for watching.  And just like that, I’m out.