Video marketing is a key component to most digital marketing strategies. As consumer attention increasingly shifts towards engaging and digestible content, video has emerged as a powerful medium for connection and conversion.
It makes sense that many brands would choose to employ a video-first content marketing strategy. This approach prioritizes video content across all marketing efforts, from social media campaigns to website experiences and email outreach.
Want to learn more? Keep reading for insights into what a video-first strategy entails, the diverse benefits and some tips for getting the most out of this tactic.
What is a video-first marketing strategy?
A video-first content strategy will take video marketing to the next level. It’s not just that your brand incorporates video (which it should already be doing and is an important component of overall digital strategy), but it makes video the primary source of content.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean abandoning other digital marketing strategies such as blogs, SEO, PPC, paid social and the like. Those are still important! It simply means that the most effort and largest portion of the budget will go to video.
Need more clarification? As an example, instead of turning your blog into a short video, you might first create a video series explaining a product or service and then turn those videos into a blog with links out to the original video content.
Video-first marketing strategy will lean heavily into video content, while using other digital marketing strategies to support and distribute the videos made.
What are the benefits of employing a video-first content strategy?
Good question! There are many video-first marketing benefits. Here are a handful of the diverse benefits your brand could capitalize on if choosing this marketing strategy.
Engagement – Video is incredibly popular with audiences, and therefore often gets more engagement than other types of marketing. As an influential piece of overall digital marketing, having a video-first strategy will only lift engagement.
Boost SEO – Video can help increase SEO performance as search engines often favor video content. Be sure to include keywords and phrases in video titles, descriptions and tags to earn higher search results placements.
Promote conversions – Video is an exceptional way to explain products and services to the target audience and can significantly impact purchase decision. (More on this in the stats below.)
Branding – The highly visual medium of video allows brands to emphasize branding, image and voice, while connecting with the target audience. When done properly, video can be incredibly memorable and boost brand recognition with the audience.
Hit KPIs – When it comes to engagement, conversions and more, video-first marketing is a strong strategy to meet KPIs. Not only can it accomplish a wide range of marketing goals, but it is easily trackable with a variety of metrics to choose from.
Stat snapshot: The importance of video content
Obviously video is an important piece of digital marketing. But, how important exactly? Does video deserve to be first when it comes to strategy?
We think it’s a good approach. Here are some statistics from HubSpot to back up how truly vital video content is to a digital marketing strategy.
- 73% of consumers prefer to watch a short-form video to learn about a product or service.
- YouTube (76%) has the highest mobile audience reach of all leading smartphone apps in the U.S.
- 96% of people say they watch explainer videos to learn more about a product, and 89% report having been swayed to purchase.
- More than half of U.S. viewers agree that YouTube ads are more relevant than ads on traditional TV or other streaming apps.
- 93% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI.
9 Tips for leveraging a video-first marketing strategy
- Create videos for every stage of the buyer’s journey. Brainstorm different content pillars as well as videos that can fall within those topics.
- Plan your videos out in advance and take stock of assets before getting started.
- Personalize videos for different audience segments.
- Use other digital marketing efforts to distribute and promote your video content.
- Engage with the audience through comments and likes.
- Develop a video content calendar in addition to your regular marketing calendar for a deeper dive into your video-first strategy.
- Stay consistent with brand voice and image, but consider incorporating different video elements including on-camera talent, animation, b-roll footage, background music and more.
- Create channel-specific videos that make the most of each platform’s capabilities.
- Track metrics and adjust when appropriate.
Embracing a video-first marketing strategy
While video marketing is not a new concept, the idea of putting video first when developing your digital marketing strategy can be truly beneficial. By prioritizing video, you’re not just keeping up with trends—you’re strategically positioning your brand to capture attention, build stronger connections and drive measurable results in an increasingly visual world.
Beyond Fifteen’s content strategy experts can help you get the most mileage out of a video-first marketing strategy. Connect with our team at Beyond Fifteen to learn more.