Because of the importance consumers and business decision makers are putting on content, many marketers and business owners are challenged with how to create the ongoing flow of quality business content that they need to drive their marketing objectives. So, if you’re looking to up your game and be more productive and efficient in your content marketing strategy, then you should look at a “Video 1st” content marketing approach.
Why a Video First content marketing strategy makes sense
The reason a Video 1st content marketing strategy makes a solid investment is because we have become a society of viewers and not readers. The chart below, presented by online video platform Brightcove back in Dec 2012, puts some perspective on the rise of online video content over the past 10+ years. 
Back in 2005, we mostly used the internet for browsing. Then, starting in 2005 (pretty much since YouTube made its mark on society), we started to watch videos at an ever increasing rate. Online video content has led the way in how we use the Internet, including mobile Internet, so much that Cisco reports that 79% of all internet traffic will be video content come 2019.
Now, this is not to say we will never stop to read, we will. But when it comes to the process of making business decisions, people would first invest a couple of short minutes watching an online business video, like a business profile video, a product marketing video, or an animated explainer video, before they invest more time reading… which usually occurs deeper into the buying cycle.
As our personal behavior is driving our business behavior, online videos for business are becoming a necessary business tactic to achieve core business objectives that sales directors and marketing directors have every day.
If you look at the marketing and sales funnel, from top to bottom, a sound business video content strategy fits into each and every part – from top of the funnel brand awareness and social engagement videos, to animated explainer videos and corporate overview videos that drive lead conversion, to sales videos like product videos, video FAQs and testimonial videos, that can also be used for lead nurturing, and finally training videos for post sale on-boarding and support. Business video communications can play a significant role to help you achieve your objectives.
How to execute a Video 1st content marketing strategy?
What is the first step in executing with video for your business video content strategy? Forget about video! Take an inventory of all the questions your customers have, all the knowledge and stories that are in your company – from sales teams to technical and operational teams – as well as listing out all the human skill sets at your company. Think of all the use cases: the story that you have in your organization that give buyers information that they need to hear and understand before they buy from you. Think of all the answers that your sales team needs to answer at the top of the funnel, and then those that your technical and/or operational teams need to answer deeper into the funnel. After you have that on paper, organize so it aligns with your business goals and other marketing investments you are making.
Then either hire a professional digital video production company or start shooting yourself to get the people at your company to create the business video content that you have identified. Your team of people should be well equipped to tell their stories, as they are the ones who lived it. Once you have that in a video file then you can start executing on your content marketing strategy by transcribing your corporate digital video production into text. This text can now be used for webpage content, blog content, email content, social media content, and more to support the ongoing flow of content marketing.
The video on this page is an example a Video 1st content marketing strategy in motion. If you watch the video and read this page, the content is very similar to what you’re seeing on video. It was much quicker to “say” this information than to write it. So saying it on camera gave us a head start in creating the contextual messaging that is still needed.
Another key benefit of Video 1st for your content marketing strategy is that all the keywords you use are connected and coordinated with one another. This way you have a cohesive approach to go after the target audience that you need to drive your marketing objectives.
Is this the first time you’ve heard of this approach? What might the challenges be to your organization? Use the comment box below to reach out and let us know what you think.
