10 Video Marketing Mistakes a Good Marketer Should Avoid

Koushik Marka

January 3, 2019

With 87% of online marketers using video content to improve their marketing technology strategy, 51% of them have claimed videos to be the best content to give you ROI. Also, viewers retain 95% of the information you give in the form of a video as compared to 10% when reading it in a text. But the fact is, that kind of success is not very easy. Your video marketing should also be bang on! With video being the superhero of marketing, you will always get back what you put forth in your video marketing strategy. Avoid any mistakes and you will be on your way in producing a video that surely captivates the world.

Let’s face it! Video marketing costs money. And when you are willing to lay a budget on this marketing strategy, a mistake is something you cannot afford. Below are the most common video marketing mistakes that even experts can sometimes make.

1. Choosing the Wrong Partner

Today, anyone can make a video easily with just a smartphone in hand. But, is that what you want? The customers of your business might equate the quality of your video to the quality of your business. Thus, you need to consult the experts. In order to save the budget, you might either try and cut a few corners of the video, or opt for the cheapest company. But, that’s like marrying the wrong person. Embarking any of this will be a huge mistake on your side.

When your customers see your video, they should feel comfortable spending their money on your business. For that, it is important to choose the right video production partner and create a high-quality video for your business. Taking the right professional help is your first step in video marketing. If you make a mistake here, it’s a mistake that can’t be taken back!

2. Creating Extra-Long Videos

Well, today people are either busy, or they don’t have enough patience. Probably, it is both of these. However, the shorter the video, the better it is. That is the new thumb rule in video marketing. And keeping it too long is an easy mistake for you to make. So stay away from it. Too much of anything is always boring. It is best to keep your video short, sweet and to the point. A video that lasts between 60 – 90 seconds does the best magic work in your video marketing strategy.

The longer your video, the less likely are your viewers to finish watching it. Also, ensure to put the meat first. That is, mention your key points in the beginning and cut out any irrelevant content that extends your video length. Remember, your video is not a manual, but a hook to entice your target customers in video marketing.

3. Jamming Your Video With Messages

What would happen if you stuffed your suitcase with too many things that it can’t hold? It would burst! Now, that is a mistake you can also make in your marketing video. Don’t pack all the messages you need to convey into a single video, but instead make multiple videos for different messages in your video marketing strategy. Cramming too many messages into one video will mean that none of them was conveyed properly. This will dilute and confuse the message, making your audience unable to follow up.

Hence, stick to one video-one message format. At the end of the video, your viewers should know what you have conveyed easily. Overload of too much information in a single video might result in them losing interest in your video, or even worse, trust itself. So pace yourself, and avoid the mistake of overloading your videos.

4. Poorly Branding Your Business

Many times, chances are that you remember a great video, but forget who produced it. A similar mistake can happen in your video marketing strategy as well. It is important to effectively brand your business in the marketing video you make. Placing your company logo, mentioning the tagline, URL etc. are essential to convey your brand identity successfully. Sometimes you might get completely wrapped up in making the video that you forget about branding aspects. Don’t make this mistake. Involve in successful branding because that is what sets you apart.

Ideal location to include your business’s branding is at the beginning of your marketing video. By doing so, the viewers will remember your video as well as your business’s name and identity. Now, brand recall is something you might not want to miss out on due to poor branding right?

5. Overdoing your Sales Pitch

How many customer support calls have you hung up on? How many promotional emails have gone into your spam? Well, quite a few numbers? The reason could have been that they were too sales-pitchy. The truth is, nobody likes the feeling of being sold to. So ensure to not make such a mistake in your video marketing.

Don’t force feed your customers about purchasing because they might not like it. Customers wander in looking for things that are beneficial to them. So, that’s what your video should be about. Empathize with their need more than pushing your product into their viewership. Sales will automatically happen then. Build a relationship with them, understand them and make them feel that you understand them. Only then dive into your sales aspect. It’s a huge mistake if otherwise!

6. Avoiding a Strong CTA

“Get in touch with us”, “Click here to download our app”, “Visit our website”. Have you used anything like this at the end of your video? If you haven’t, it is more of a sin than a mistake! Without a proper closing statement or a call-to-action, you are leaving your viewers in a dilemma about what’s next. Your video might just fade into the black like that. Also, this might mean that you just lost a valuable lead, a click or a sale. You do not want that happening for sure.

So, ensure to include a strong call-to-action at the end of your video, guiding your viewers about what to do next. This closing statement is as important as the quality of the video you make. After all the hard work you did to get your target customers on your website, you do not want them going in vain just because a strong CTA didn’t exist.

7. Disregarding the Usage of SEO

Now that you have made your marketing video, next big thing is to get your target customers to see your video. Earlier, video meant Youtube. But today, that is not enough. There are several video optimization tactics and techniques you need to follow if your video needs to be seen by the masses. In order to see your video rank #1 on the internet, you need to optimize it with the right keywords, right metadata, and good thumbnail image. Disregarding such factors of the video SEO will be a huge mistake because those who use them will go up.

Today, video SEO is a major part of every marketer’s life. If you wish to see your video popularize and become number 1, do not ignore SEO based marketing for even a minute. The results they can bring in are remarkable.

8. Under Using Available Platforms

Notice anybody using a device, and you are likely to find them watching a video. Video lovers are so many now. But, it is not true that the video each of them watches is on the same video hosting platform. With every other platform hosting a video to increase their business, it is important that you make use of the right platforms for your video marketing.

Earlier it was either Youtube or Facebook. But, not anymore. There are so many social media platforms and business-oriented platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, etc. where you can upload your business video to make it go viral. Also, uploading videos on homepage or landing pages are also in trend. Taking into consideration factors such as your target audience, type of video, objective etc., you need to make your hosting platform choices.

9. Expecting Instant Results

It is said that great things always take time. The same applies to your video marketing strategy as well. If you are looking forward to some amazing marketing results overnight, you are more likely to be a little disappointed. Not everybody is lucky enough to get a million views for their video within hours of being uploaded.

The work does not finish once you make a video and upload it. Rather, it is after that the work actually starts for the marketing team. As a marketing individual, you need to understand that a good video marketing strategy requires time, patience and dedication to outperform the competition.

10. Not Using Video Analytics

Once you have a well-planned video marketing strategy, begin executing it. But, how do you know if it is working for your business? That’s when you need to get an analytics check done for your video marketing strategy. You can obtain information about who watches your video, what do they watch, how long do they watch, which part of the video did they watch more etc. This will give you an idea about your target customers interests which later become your leads.

Stats don’t lie. Hence, revamping your marketing strategy after a regular analytics check is always best. Not doing so will only result in you regretting about the mistake you did later on.

Final Verdict

Mistakes can happen to anybody. But, once you know that it is a mistake, you can always refrain from not committing them again. After reading this article, you know what not to do to get your video marketing strategy right. Also, keep yourself updated about the video marketing trends. Things that don’t seem like mistakes today can become catastrophic errors tomorrow. Definitely, you would not want to be a part of that. Avoid these errors and your video marketing is all set to fly high.

Koushik Marka

Kaushik is the founder and CEO of an explainer video production company, Studiotale. With expertise in Vector Illustration, 2D Animation, Motion Graphics, and Digital Marketing, he loves what he does. Apart from being a work enthusiast, his off-work preferences are playing video games and traveling.