Our view at Stack - ClickFunnels was founded by an online marketing legend Russell Brunson and it offers several benefits for online businesses and marketers:
- Time and Cost Savings: Efficiently create sales funnels without extensive development efforts.
- Maximized Conversions: Test offers, copy, and images to enhance conversions.
- Specific Landing Pages: Generate highly targeted landing pages.
- Predictable Pipeline: Create consistent, predictable sales paths.
- Increased Sales: On average, it boosts sales of lesser products by 15%
The post Smart Strategies To Boost Startup Marketing With Video appeared first on ClickFunnels.
Video is becoming the dominant medium of digital content consumption.
Not only are YouTube and TikTok continuing to grow, but other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are increasingly prioritizing video content as well.
Entrepreneurs need to adapt to this trend because it’s unlikely to stop anytime soon. But how can you incorporate video content into your marketing strategy?
That’s exactly what we are going to discuss today!
- What Equipment do You Need for Video Marketing?
- Follow These Video Marketing Best Practices
- Best Ways to Market Your Startup With Videos
- Use Sales Funnels to Convert Viewers Into Leads and Customers
- Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?
What Equipment do You Need for Video Marketing?
Video Camera
Video quality doesn’t matter as much as you might think. Your smartphone camera is probably good enough to get started with video marketing. You can always get a better camera later!
Good Microphone
This might sound counterintuitive but audio quality is much more important than video quality when it comes to video marketing. Why?
Because it’s the content that matters: if your video quality is meh but the audio is crisp, the viewers can still get value out of it. However, if they have to struggle to make out what you are saying, they will probably just leave after a few seconds.
Also, consider that the default mode of consuming long-form video content is playing it in the background. If people can’t put your video on while doing chores because its audio quality is too low, they probably won’t bother watching it at all.
Unlike your smartphone camera, your smartphone mic probably isn’t good enough for video marketing, which is why we recommend investing in a professional-grade microphone!
Set Lighting
If you intend to shoot “talking head” style videos where you just talk into the camera, having a basic lighting setup can really elevate the production quality. It doesn’t have to be fancy – even a simple ring light can make a big difference!
Follow These Video Marketing Best Practices
Target Your Dream Customers
Your videos should be designed to attract your dream customers so that you can then drive traffic from that platform to your sales funnel.
However, that is easier said than done because video marketing vanity metrics such as views can easily lead you astray. How so?
By definition, the broader the content, the more people it will appeal to and the easier it will be to get views, so it might be tempting to go as broad as possible.
However, from the business perspective, it doesn’t really matter how many people watch your video, what matters is how many viewers convert into leads and eventually into paying customers.
Check out the video below in which our friend Alex Hormozi shares a story of someone who only had around 5,800 Instagram followers and was making nearly $1M per year by creating niche content for her dream customers and then selling them her products:
Focus On the Content Quality
Once again, it’s the content that matters: viewers probably won’t mind low production quality as long as the content quality is high.
A great example of this is Tina Huang’s video on how to choose between software engineering and data science.
It’s just her talking into a camera with some random Amazon boxes in the background but the comment section is full of people thanking her for helping them decide which path to take.
What’s most important is giving the viewer what they want, whatever that might mean for that particular video.
That’s what’s going to make people watch it in its entirety, subscribe to your channel and come back for more!
Use the “Hook, Story, Offer” Copywriting Framework
We recommend using the “Hook, Story, Offer” copywriting framework for your video scripts:
- Hook the viewer in the first few seconds of your video – You need to pique their curiosity so that they would feel inclined to continue watching.
- Tell the viewer a compelling story related to the main subject of the video – Ideally, you want to share how you struggled with the same problem that they are struggling with and incorporate the solution into the narrative, but if that’s not possible, at least preface the information with a relevant story.
- End the video by pitching your free offer to the viewer. We’ll talk about lead magnets later in the article.
How exactly implementing this framework is going to look will depend on the video in question. However, your YouTube videos, TikTok shorts and video ads should all follow the same “Hook, Story, Offer” structure!
Best Ways to Market Your Startup With Videos
#1: Build a YouTube Channel
YouTube is the largest video platform in the world. At the time of writing, it has over 2.7 billion monthly active users.
We believe that a YouTube channel is the best foundation for a startup video marketing strategy. Why?
Because YouTube still revolves primarily around long-form videos unlike other platforms that are completely dominated by short-form content that is much more ephemeral.
Comprehensive videos that target specific keywords are more likely to attract people who are looking for a solution to a problem that your product addresses.
We recommend watching this video by Vanessa Lau if you want to learn how to build a successful YouTube channel:
#2: Build a TikTok Channel
You also want to repurpose your long-form videos into short-form videos and publish them both as YouTube shorts and TikTok shorts. Why?
Shorts are more likely to go viral and therefore can help you expand your reach, increase your brand recognition, and build trust with potential customers.
It’s probably safe to say that most people watch shorts for entertainment as opposed to seeking a solution to a specific problem.
However, if one of your shorts pops up in their feed and they like it, they might check out your channel, subscribe to it and start watching your long-form stuff.
Fortunately, AI tools like Descript make it super easy to repurpose content. Check out this video where Vanessa Lau explains how she edits her YouTube videos and repurposes them into shorts:
#3: Regularly do Q&A Livestreams
We believe that livestreams are an underutilized video marketing tactic.
Consider giving potential customers an opportunity to ask you questions by regularly hosting Q&A livestreams on YouTube.
You can start with a monthly Q&A livestream and then potentially increase the frequency to weekly as your audience grows.
Doing this can help you build trust with your audience, gain a better understanding of what’s important to your dream customers, and learn to communicate the value of your product more effectively.
Make sure to promote these livestreams to your email list, on your social media, and in your YouTube video descriptions!
#4: Post Videos On Social Media
Traditionally, the term “video marketing” has been associated with video hosting platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
However, we also recommend sharing your short-form videos on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as they are becoming increasingly dominated by video content.
Ideally, you want to start posting one short clip a day in addition to your regular social media content. Each video should be accompanied by text designed to give people a reason to stop scrolling, click on the video, and watch it.
Video content has the most viral potential so it can help you grow your social media following faster!
#5: Run Video Ads
Let’s be real:
Everyone hates ads.
Especially the ads that start playing before the video that you want to watch and the ads that interrupt the video that you are already watching!
That’s why if you want to use video ads to promote your product, you need to make sure that they hook the viewer immediately and are genuinely entertaining to watch.
Keep in mind that if your ad is boring, people will either skip it if they can or leave it to play while they go make themselves a cup of coffee. So how can you create something that your dream customers would want to watch?
The best way to learn how to do that is to study video ads that have gone viral in the past. Here are some examples:
Example #1: Tai Lopez’ “Here In My Garage (Official): Lamborghini, Knowledge, And Books With Tai Lopez”
This is probably the single most successful video ad in history. It has 71M views at the time of writing.
Example #2: “DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades Are F***ing Great”
This video ad, which has 28M views at the time of writing, was extremely successful and helped Dollar Shave Club founders get their company off the ground:
Example #3: “This Gold Digger Got Rich Painting Nude Squirrels 🐿 – ClickFunnels”
This is our most successful video ad which has 925k views at the time of writing:
Use Sales Funnels to Convert Viewers Into Leads and Customers
What is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is a system designed to convert visitors into leads, leads into customers, and customers into repeat customers.
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is a freebie that you give to the potential customer in exchange for their email address.
We recommend considering Eugene Schwartz’s five stages of customer awareness that he outlined in his classic book “Breakthrough Advertising”:
- Unaware
- Problem-aware
- Solution-aware
- Product-aware
- Most aware
Educational lead magnets such as free Ebooks, video classes, and online courses can work well if you are targeting people who are problem-aware.
For example, some entrepreneurs who know that they want to grow their businesses (problem) may not be aware of the fact that sales funnels are the best way to do it (solution).
In that case, we use educational lead magnets such as our co-founder Russell Brunson’s book “DotCom Secrets” to show them the value of sales funnels and then pitch them our funnel builder software.
Meanwhile, if you are targeting potential customers who are solution-aware, you can pitch them your product directly and use your free trial as a lead magnet.
For example, if someone already knows that they need a sales funnel to grow their business and is looking for a funnel builder, we pitch them our software and encourage them to check it out with our free trial.
Ideally, you want to have both educational lead magnets and a free trial in your arsenal!
How to Build a Lead Magnet Funnel for Your Startup
There are many different sales funnel templates that can work well for startups but we recommend starting with the lead magnet funnel because it’s the simplest one.
It consists of just two pages:
- Lead magnet landing page where you present your lead magnet and ask for the potential customer’s email address in exchange for it.
- Thank you page where you thank the potential customer, explain how they can get access to your lead magnet, and tell them what they should expect from you in the future.
Note that if your lead magnet is a free trial, you can use your homepage as your landing page. That’s what we do on our website.
Once you have your lead magnet funnel, you can start driving traffic to it by promoting your lead magnet at the end of your videos. In addition to that, you can also promote your it on social media as well as with paid ads!
How to Convert Leads Into Customers With Email Marketing
Once the potential customer gives you their email address, you want to send them this welcome sequence:
- Email #1: Introduce yourself to the new subscriber.
- Email #2: Share your origin story. How did your startup come about?
- Email #3: Explain what problem you are trying to solve with your product.
- Email #4: Explain what makes you qualified to solve that problem. Share relevant experience, credentials, and accomplishments.
- Email #5: Explain who are your dream customers and share a case study on how your product helped someone like that get the results that they wanted.
Then, if you used an educational lead magnet, send them a sixth email immediately after the case study, pitch your product, and invite them to start their free trial.
Meanwhile, if you used a free trial lead magnet, continue sending them case studies until it ends and then pitch them your product with a special, one-time discount.
In addition to that, you want to also send free trial users updates on how they are doing. Draw their attention to the results that your product has helped them achieve and celebrate their wins.
Finally, you should launch a weekly newsletter so that you would have an excuse to email your subscribers on a regular basis. This will help you stay top of mind with both potential and existing customers.
We recommend watching this video by Brian Dean, the founder of Exploding Topics, where he explains how he runs his startup newsletter:
Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?
Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.
He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?
His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.
This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.
But you can also get it directly from us for free…
All we ask is that you pay for shipping!
So what are you waiting for? 🧐
Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!
P.S. Here’s What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”…
What Readers Say About “DotCom Secrets”
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