common fears about hiring a video marketer
You already know that video is KING in today’s marketing landscape. Choosing to take advantage of that medium would be a SMART move for you or your marketing team. Still, hiring a video marketer can be a big decision for your business, and you probably have a few reservations about it. Here are the most common fears held by business owners as they decide whether or not to move ahead with video marketing.
High Costs. This fear makes sense because video marketing has the potential to be an expensive process, from planning to production to distribution. Video marketing is best thought of as an “investment,” rather than simply an “expense.” It is also more cost-effective than you may think. High-quality videos can be repurposed across multiple platforms (social media, websites, ads, etc.), and this increases their value. Plus, video has one of the highest engagement and conversion rates compared to other content types. This means that you’ll receive a much higher ROI on a video that highlights your product or service, than you will on a blog, an article, a trade-show, direct mail, or other traditional forms of marketing.
Unclear ROI (Too hard to measure success). Measuring video marketing success isn’t always straightforward, especially if you’re not familiar with video analytics. If you don’t have a clear way to track video marketing success, it makes sense for you to see it as a risky investment. Unlike traditional marketing, video marketing ROI can be measured through views, watch duration, shares, click-throughs, conversion rates, and direct sales tracking. The analytic tools on each platform provide clear data of what is working (and not working) within your campaign. A good video marketer will help you, or your marketing team, track these metrics in order to refine and improve your strategy.
Low Engagement. This is the fear that your videos won’t perform well, wasting the time and the money that you put into them. Engagement comes from the strategy that you’re employing, not just the video itself. A skilled video marketing professional knows how to target the right audience, and how to optimize your videos for each platform. Don’t forget that with digital marketing, the video marketer has the ability to target your customers by their age, their gender, where they live, what they do for a living, etc. A high quality video will, 1) catch your customer’s attention, 2) hold that attention by addressing their problem or their desire, 3) make it crystal clear how your product or service will solve their problem or get them what they want; and 4) will have a compelling call-to-action that gets the customer to commit and to buy.
Uncomfortable In Front of The Camera. Understandably, many people aren’t thrilled about getting in front of a camera and “performing.” Luckily, you don’t have to be an “Oscar-worthy” actor or actress in order to talk about your product or service. Since you already have deep knowledge and passion for your business, your product, and/or your service, you can treat the experience like a conversation with a prospective customer. Also, your video marketer will most likely have various ways of making your more comfortable during the filming process. If being in front of the camera REALLY bothers you, there are other options your video marketer can use, such as recording your “voice-over” clips and using them along with b-roll of your product/service, or hiring an actor to talk about your company or your offer.
Quality Concerns. You may be wondering if the video marketer that you’re hiring has the skill or experience to create impactful and effective videos. Whether they are freelancers, or they have a team behind them, most video marketing professionals will have a body of work (their portfolio) that you can review to make sure that you’ll be working with someone that knows what they are doing. There are also key questions (that I will include in another blog) that you can ask a video marketer to make sure that they will be a good fit for your business and/or marketing team. A skilled video marketer will not only have anticipated those questions, they will direct you to a current or previous customer that can tell you, a) what it’s like to work with them, b) their overall impression of the video production process, and c) the results that the video process garnered for them. If you hire an experienced video marketer, they should have no issue delivering polished, engaging videos that will outperform content created by amateurs.
Understanding Your Brand. This is the concern that the video marketer might not fully understand or represent your company’s brand, voice, and image. A skilled video marketer will take time to understand your brand’s voice, messaging, and values. They will also ask you specific questions about your ideal customer (where they live, how they think, their purchasing habits, etc.). You and your video marketer should produce a “brand guideline” that ensures consistency across all of your video content.
Long Production Timelines. You’ve probably heard that producing a video takes too long and it might not keep up with your fast-moving marketing needs. Not all video content requires months of production. For example, short-form social media videos, testimonial videos, or F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) videos can be created quickly while maintaining high quality.
Technology Barriers – If you aren’t familiar with video production, you may feel overwhelmed by the tools, the software, and the platforms involved in creating a video. You don’t need to worry about any of that! Your video marketer, and/or their team, will handle all aspects of planning, production, editing, and optimization. They will guide you through the process and make it simple for you.
Do I have to write a script? I don’t know how to plan for any of this. As mentioned above, your video marketer, and/or their team, will take charge of the planning process, which includes writing the scripts for your various videos. The reason you are hiring the Video Marketer is to streamline the process and get a lot of videos out frequently.
Dependence on an External Freelancer/Video Agency. Since you’ll be hiring your video marketer externally, you may worry about control over the project, the future availability of the freelancer/firm, and the potential for long-term collaboration with them. If you hire an external marketer, you’re not locked in forever. You can start with a small project, assess their performance, and decide if a long-term partnership makes sense. Also, a reputable freelancer or video marketing agency will enter into a contractual agreement with you, which means that they are legally obligated to produce your video assets on time and to the exact specifications that were agreed upon beforehand.
To conclude … the decision to hire a video marketer, is a BIG decision for you and your company, but it’s also a “no-brainer” in this day and age. When you find a skilled and experienced video marketing professional, you should not only enjoy the content creation process, you should definitely get a return on your marketing dollars! The relationship between you and your video marketer should be a collaborative one, where the two of you come together as partners to 1) grow your brand’s presence and reach, and 2) increase your revenue by converting more prospects (that visit your website or social sites) into paying customers.
