When Is The Right Time To Add Video Production To My Marketing Budget?

Of the many different ways that a company can market its brand, product, or service, video marketing is by far one of the most effective. More engaging and shareable than images or text, videos can increase your reach, boost SEO, and drive up conversion rates.

Whether you’re new to video marketing or have been at it a while, it can be difficult to figure out when to add video production to your outreach and budget. To determine your video content marketing strategy, you must take into account everything from your goals and your target audience to the type of video you’re looking to create.

Importance of Video Marketing

So why video? To put it simply, video is a fantastic marketing strategy because videos, especially on social media platforms, are incredibly popular. The average customer spends 17 hours every week watching digital videos. This means that a video marketing strategy can be a fantastic way to reach your target audience, whoever they are.

Videos enhance customer engagement. They’re more likely to generate an emotional response than images or text, and therefore they’re more likely to be shared on social channels. Audiences are often more responsive to videos, increasing the likelihood that they’ll remember your call to action and convert to paying customers. In fact, including a video on your landing page has the potential to increase your conversion rates by 80% and massively boost your SEO.

While increased click-through and engagement rates are excellent results of video marketing efforts, videos are also the best way to build trust with your target audience. A brand-appropriate video is a great way to form a connection with your audience, which, in turn, will lead to them feeling they can trust what you and your brand have to say.

Identifying Your Video Marketing Goals

When you start developing your video content marketing strategy, you’ll need to highlight the primary goal of your videos. This will help you make decisions on timing and determine your video content marketing budget per month.

Two of the most common video goals are to raise awareness of your brand and to generate leads for your product or service. Brand awareness videos introduce your brand to new audiences and showcase how your product or service benefits clients or customers.

Lead generation videos are what most people think of when they hear “video marketing.” These are your commercials, influencer collaborations, or standard ads designed to inspire viewers to take action—whether that means purchasing, subscribing, or visiting your website.

Once you’ve identified the goals for your content marketing strategy video, you’ll be able to create a video marketing strategy around that. You’ll start to develop ideas for content, which in turn will influence your budget and timing.

Understanding Your Target Audience

Understanding your target audience is pivotal for success in your video marketing efforts. Different audiences have different preferences for video content. For example, younger audiences typically prefer short-form content, while older audiences prefer longer-form videos.

You can learn more about your target audience by analyzing their demographics. Once you understand who your audience is, your marketing team can tailor their efforts based on factors like:

• The format your audience prefers
• The type of device they typically use
• Where they find their video content
• How complex the information is

If your audience is younger, you may opt to create shorter, more entertaining content that plays on current video marketing trends and can easily be viewed on a mobile device through social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram Reels. If you’re advertising to an older crowd, your content may need to be longer and posted to sites like Facebook. For B2B marketing, focus on informative content published on professional platforms such as LinkedIn.

Types of Video Content

There are many types of videos that marketing teams use to build brand awareness or promote products. Some of the most common include:

• Commercials: Used to sell products or generate leads but can also raise brand awareness. You can run these on television, radio, or social media sites like TikTok and YouTube.
• Explainer videos: These explain how a product or service works. They’re effective for both B2C and B2B video marketing and help showcase product features.
• Testimonials: Reviews from real customers that demonstrate how their lives improved through your product or service, helping build trust and emotional connection.
• Educational content: Designed to teach your audience something valuable about your company, product, or related topics.

By identifying your goals and target audience, you can determine which types of videos are best for your marketing strategy. This will also help you establish an appropriate budget and timeline.

Budget Considerations

When planning a budget for video production, there are many costs to consider, including:

• Cast and crew (actors, camerapeople, scriptwriters)
• Filming location
• Filming equipment
• Editing
• Promotion

The creative choices you make can significantly impact your budget. For example, choosing an animated video like this Cash Flow ad instead of a live-action one eliminates location and filming costs but adds studio and animation expenses.

While it’s tempting to minimize costs, this should never come at the expense of quality. Viewers notice low-quality production, and when you prioritize quality, your audience is more likely to engage with and share your marketing videos.

Exploring Cost-Effective Video Production Strategies

There are a few routes you can take when planning your video content budget: doing it yourself, outsourcing to freelancers, or partnering with a professional video production company.

The DIY route may seem cost-effective, but it has hidden costs, such as:

• Time and resources spent
• Learning how to produce a video
• Purchasing, insuring, and maintaining equipment

If your team has never produced a video before, the result may not be as polished as you’d like—and it may not actually save money. Hiring a freelancer can work but carries risk unless they come highly recommended. Working with a professional company typically costs more upfront but saves time and ensures a high-quality, effective final product.

Establishing a Timeline for Video Implementation

Video production is a multistep process. To ensure your team releases the video on schedule, create a timeline for each stage, including:

• Planning
• Storyboarding and scriptwriting
• Filming or animating and recording
• Editing
• Release

Work with your team to determine how your video content fits into your overall marketing strategy. Schedule releases for maximum impact based on your audience, goals, and video type.

Discover How Video Production Fits Into Your Marketing Strategy

Video can be a centerpiece of your marketing strategy, but you don’t have to go it alone. A video production company like Charter & Co can guide you every step of the way to create the perfect videos for your goals and target audience. Contact us today to get started!