​In a world of shorter-than-even-before attention spans, and a sheer overload of content, video is fast replacing verbal as the preferred medium for consumption of content.

As per the State of Video Marketing in 2018 report by Hubspot, 81% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and 97% of marketers say that video has helped increase understanding of their product or service.

Why? Because it is low-involvement, more engaging and when used correctly, more impactful than even the best of words. It may sound simple: just shoot a video and post it, right? Wrong. It is anything but simple. As you start to include video content in your marketing arsenal (and you simply must in this day and age), here are some things to keep in mind, to ensure that your content is as compelling as you envisaged it to be.

Tailor the length to the medium

There are a host of different mediums for publishing video content, with YouTube and Instagram being the most popular thus far – but new mediums are emerging every day, such as the recent launch of Instagram TV.

With this myriad of options to choose from, it can be tempting to shoot one video and plaster it onto every single platform you are present on – but this copy and paste strategy won’t work for long.

The trick is to edit your content for each platform. If you’re doing an informative video on YouTube, you can get away with a slightly longer video – which should be between 5 to 10 minutes, and no more than 15 if you must. Whereas on Instagram, anything longer than about 45 seconds is going to bore the viewer, unless the video is something really, really special. And this brings me to the next point.

Find your unique lens (literally and metaphorically)

The truth is this: the message you are trying to put across has probably already been conveyed by another brand, or another person, at some point in time.

As Mark Twain once said, “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.”

What will make your video stand out from other similar ones is the spin that you put on it.

What is important is the story you want to tell to deliver your message (even if it’s a sales message – it starts with a story), and the little details, such as set design, music, cinematography, lighting, animations and more, to bring it to life.

You don’t even need to have a ridiculously high budget to do this – sometimes, operating under constraints is the best way to fuel your creativity.

Synchronise your video content with other activities

A good marketer knows that a single platform cannot carry your entire brand. Similarly, over-reliance on video content, without investing in other mediums, may not get you very far.

It’s important to have a good mix of verbal, visual and video content spread across mediums – and it’s totally fine to put extra emphasis on the ones that work best for you, as long as the others are not entirely neglected. In this vein, ensure that there is consistency in your messaging, campaigns and the way your brand is delivered across various platforms.

Nothing will confuse customers more than logging into Facebook to find that your brand page looks and sounds totally different from your Instagram feed! At the same time, every platform should not have identical content either. It’s a tough balance to strike, but you will figure it out, eventually.

Above all, make sure that you push the boundaries of creativity when you’re creating video content. It’s a great medium that allows you to tell stories better than any other style of content, so don’t be afraid to have some fun with it! Your viewers will thank you for it.

Look at some of the videos we have done here at Aspire: