7 Common Video Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

Recently I posted a poll asking business owners what areas of their business they most procrastinate in and 50% of you answered that  videos was the area you most avoided. Now, we know that videos are a really powerful way to connect with your audience.  It takes a bit of time and practice to master video marketing, but it’s not hard to do at all. Along the way, you’ll make mistakes that serve as learning experiences but these mistakes can also slow you down. Here are some common mistakes people often make when they get started with video marketing.  Learn from these so that you can avoid them and speed up your learning curve.

Lack of Purpose

Don’t make videos just to make videos or because it’s the thing to do. It is the thing to do, but you still need a purpose and clearly defined goals. Identify these goals and keep them in mind at every stage of the process because they’ll guide the decisions you need to make.

Not Knowing Your Audience

In order to do video marketing successfully, you need to know your audience well. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to start creating videos without a good grasp on their audience’s interests and tastes. Gather as much information about your audience as possible and try to discover what kinds of videos they enjoy most.

Video Overwhelm

Making videos shouldn’t be horribly difficult or totally overwhelming. Don’t make it tougher for yourself than it actually is. Consider that there are many different types of videos you can make, many of which are extremely simple and quick to produce. Consider making presentations, cartoons, slideshows, vlogs and other simple videos at first.

Long Videos

The best digital video is short and to the point. Ideally, your videos should be under five minutes. Ten minutes is stretching it. If you find yourself going longer than that, cut your video into parts one and two.

Lack of Focus

Videos need to be tightly focused. Don’t try to tackle too much in one video. Each video should focus on one topic, question, task, process, and so on. Just as above, if your videos lack focus, break them up into separate videos, each of which handles just one thing.

No Call to Action

You want your videos to encourage your viewers to take action. That’s the whole point. Somewhere in the video, you need to tell them what action to take and how they will benefit from that action. A video without a call to action is a wasted opportunity.

Failure to Track

In order to know whether you’re doing your video marketing right or not, you need to track your analytics. Analytics give you solid, objective data that you can use to improve your videos.

Keep trying

Remember that practice makes perfect. Your first videos won’t be your best, but you’ll get better at producing high quality videos that your audience will love as you keep putting them out.

I look forward to seeing your videos and this week, I will share some tips to help you with the other areas of your business where you are procrastinating.

 Stay Tuned!