Did you know that 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2023? This comes as no surprise since video content is a highly engaging and effective way to communicate with your audience. But, what if you’re investing in video marketing and not seeing the results you hoped for? You might be making some common video content marketing mistakes! 

In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the top 7 mistakes to avoid making the most out of your video marketing efforts.

1. Not Having a Clear Strategy

One of the biggest video content marketing mistakes is jumping in without a clear strategy. Your video marketing strategy should have clearly defined goals and objectives, as well as a plan for how to achieve them. A solid strategy will ensure that your video content is purposeful, targeted, and tailored to your audience’s needs and preferences.

Actionable Tips:

• Identify your target audience: Know who you’re creating content for so you can tailor your videos to their needs and preferences.
• Define your goals and objectives: What do you hope to accomplish with your video marketing efforts? This could be increasing brand awareness, driving website traffic, or generating leads.
• Create a content calendar: Plan out your video content in advance, ensuring you have a consistent posting schedule.

Monitor and Improvise: Consistently update and refine your strategy according to the results of your video marketing efforts.

2. Ignoring Video Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

91% of marketers say video marketing has helped them increase traffic. SEO is paramount in content marketing including videos to ensure your content is discoverable and can rank in search results. After all, what good is your video content if nobody can find it?

Actionable Tips:

• Perform keyword research: Conduct local and global keyword research to target relevant keywords that your audience is searching for.
• Optimize your video title: Incorporate your target keyword and make it engaging so users want to click on your video.
• Write a compelling video description: Include your target keyword and provide a clear overview of the content in your video. This is also an opportunity to include relevant links to your website or other content.
• Add tags: Use relevant keywords and tags to help YouTube’s algorithm understand what your video is about and how it relates to other content on the platform.
• Create an eye-catching thumbnail: A high-quality and engaging thumbnail will entice users to click on your video.

3. Producing Low-Quality Videos

When it comes to video content marketing, quality matters. Low-quality videos can harm your brand image and lead to poor user engagement. High-quality videos, on the other hand, can captivate your audience and encourage them to take action.

Actionable Tips:

• Invest in good equipment: While you don’t need a Hollywood-level production budget, investing in a quality camera, microphone, and lighting can make a noticeable difference in your video’s quality.
• Plan your shots: Take the time to storyboard your video, plan camera angles, and create a shot list to ensure your visuals are engaging and impactful.
• Pay attention to audio: Clear audio is just as important as visuals in your video. Make sure to record in a quiet space and edit your audio for clarity.
• Edit your videos carefully: Good editing can make the difference between a boring video and an engaging one. Cut out unnecessary footage, add text and graphics where necessary, and use transitions effectively.

4. Focusing Solely on Promotion

While promotion is an essential aspect of video marketing, focusing solely on promotion is a big mistake. You should aim to create content that provides value, entertains, and engages your audience – not just pushes sales. The more valuable and engaging your content is, the more likely viewers are to share it, increasing your video’s reach and ultimately driving results.

Actionable Tips:

• Brainstorm content ideas based on your audience’s interests, pain points, and questions.
• Create content that provides value. Share how-to videos, educational content, and engaging stories that resonate with your audience’s emotions and needs.
• Incorporate a mix of promotional and non-promotional content. Video series, Q&As, and interviews can engage audiences without explicitly selling to them.

Whether your goal is for viewers to visit your website, subscribe to your channel, or download an ebook, always include a clear and easy to follow CTA.

5. Not Adding Subtitles

Another important aspect of video content marketing is the inclusion of subtitles. Subtitles improve accessibility for individuals with hearing impairments, allowing them to engage with your content and make your videos more inclusive for viewers who prefer to watch videos without sound or in noisy environments. Additionally, subtitles can enhance the overall user experience by providing clarity and ensuring that your message is effectively conveyed.

A study by Verizon found that 80% of viewers are more likely to finish a video that has subtitles.

Actionable Tips:

• Use a reliable transcription service or online subtitle tools to generate accurate subtitles for your videos.
• Ensure that the font size, style, and color of the subtitles are legible and easy to read.
• Pay attention to timing and synchronization to ensure that the subtitles match the audio and visual content correctly.
• Consider adding closed captions for social media platforms that support this feature, as it allows viewers to enable or disable the subtitles as needed.
• Provide transcripts alongside your videos, either on your website or as downloadable files, to give viewers an alternative way to consume the content.

6. Not Localizing Videos

Publishing in your primary language can bar you from connecting with audiences from other regions with similar interests. By localizing your videos, which involves translating and adapting the content to suit different languages and cultural contexts, you can connect with regional audiences who may be your potential customers but don’t speak your language. By adding multiple language options to your videos, you can tap into new markets, engage with diverse audiences, and improve the overall user experience.

Actionable Tips:

• Identify target regions or countries where you want to expand your video marketing efforts.
• Conduct thorough research on the target audience, their preferences, and cultural nuances to ensure the localization is accurate and resonates with them.
• Work with professional translators or localization experts who can accurately translate and adapt your video content while maintaining its original intent and tone. Or use AI-powered tools for dubbing and subtitling to accelerate the process.
• Optimize your localized videos for search engines in each target language, following the same video SEO tips mentioned earlier but tailored to the specific language and region.

7. Not Measuring and Analyzing Your Results

Lastly, a key video content marketing mistake is neglecting to measure and analyze your efforts. 22% of marketers who used video as a marketing tool for the first time in 2022, said they were able to do so because they had become clearer on the ROI of video. Tracking your video performance will help you understand what content resonates with your audience, where improvements can be made and ultimately, ensure your video marketing is successful.

Actionable Tips:

• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) tied to your video marketing goals to measure your success.
• Monitor video analytics. Look at metrics like view count, watch time, audience retention, and engagement (likes, comments, shares).
• Analyze results to identify trends, areas for improvement, and successes.
• Regularly update and refine your video content strategy based on your findings.

Upgrade Your Video Marketing Game!

Which mistakes have you been making?

Identify and improve to ensure that your video marketing efforts are effective and impactful. Remember it’s better late than never. Have a well-defined strategy, optimize for search, produce high-quality videos, create valuable content, and consistently measure and analyze your results. Lastly, enjoy the creation process.

Now, you’re well on your way to video marketing success!