The most important aspects of your video marketing are:

#1 That the content is relevant.

#2 That the content is consistent.

#3 That the content gets in front of the people who want to see it.

Most video campaigns do not start with these essentials. Most campaigns start with the content creator seeing something else and wanting to imitate it. It is an unfortunate truth, but often the content you want to create is not the content you need to create.

I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that nobody wants to see my episode by episode rankings of Frasier episodes.

The best way to start is backwards from the viewer.

Step 1. Who are your viewers and potential viewers?

There might be multiple types. If you’re a local veterinarian you may have viewers looking for a specific health tip “How to brush a dog’s teeth.”

You may also have prospective future veterinarians searching “The top 5 reasons to become a vet” Write each one of these viewer groups down:

1. Enthusiasts

2. Health Tip Seekers

Bonus Tip: It may not make sense to make content for all your potential viewer types – if you determine content for “Enthusiasts” is not likely to grow your customer base there’s nothing wrong with focusing on “Health Tip Seekers”

Step 2. What information do each one of these viewers want from you?

The “from you” part is important here. Neither of these viewer groups is likely looking for “Best local veterinarian salsa recipes.” They are looking for your exclusive expertise.

Under each one of these viewer types, make a quick list of the different topics you can cover.

1. Enthusiasts

2. Health Tip Seekers

   1. How to brush a dog’s teeth

   2. How to get mats out of your dog’s fur

   3. How to teach your parrot to swear

   4. How to get a hamster out from under the fridge

   5. Can dogs eat grapes?

      1. (be specific here and think how you search Google. Do you search “what things can dogs eat? Or do you search “can dogs eat grapes” in a panic after your dog eats a grape?)

      2. Make a video for can dogs eat X,Y,Z individually for example

Go for quantity over quality – that’s what the editing process is for. You can always remove the bad ideas later.

Bonus Tip: How long should your videos be? Our rule – “a video should be as long as the viewer would expect it takes to deliver that information” For example If the video is titled “Bill says his name” a viewer expects that video to be as long as it takes to say the name “Bill.” If the video is titled “Bill explains quantum physics” a viewer expects that video to be hours long and multi-part. For “how to brush a dog’s teeth” Think to yourself how long you would expect it to explain that information in a satisfactory manner. Viewers will scroll until they find the video that looks the right length. 5 seconds? That’s not thorough enough for me – 8 minutes? I don’t need that much detail. 45 seconds? Just right.

Step 3.

Make a production plan. This is where consistency comes in. When making your plan factor in what is sustainable for you independently, or if working with a production company, what is sustainable within your budget and time.

Be honest with yourself.

I shouldn’t say this as someone who runs a production company, but production quality is not as important as information quality and consistency. Make a plan to produce 4-8 (or more) videos at a time so this can be a quarterly endeavor rather than a weekly one.

Remove as many complications as possible.

Start small and then grow – but definitely start. The simpler these videos are to produce the more likely you will do them.

Forgive yourself if you miss a week.

Remember that the editing process takes a while – this is where most people might want to look for help. Countless video marketers have shot dozens of videos that now sit dormant, unedited on a hard drive.

Bonus Tip: Consistency means more than turning out videos on a regular schedule. Whether you are shooting on an iPhone or RED try to frame things the same way, deliver information in the same order and have the same look and feel to your title card. This is how your viewers will find your video that they’ve come to trust.

Step 4.

Get people to see your videos. Think about where your viewers are (probably YouTube & Facebook) and get your videos out there. Send them to people. Sponsor them. A little bit goes a long way on YouTube.

This is the next area it may make sense to get professional help. If you have the know how you can be hyper-targeted online and ensure that every ad dollar you spend is going toward making sure every person who wants your information is seeing it, and exactly those people. If you don’t have the know-how this is an area worth learning, or paying for an expert.

So let’s go through and check the three things that matter:

#1 That the content is relevant – We’re giving health curious pet owners the information they are searching for

#2 That the content is consistent – We made a plan we can stick to, and a video style viewers will recognize as the info they trust

#3 That the content gets in front of the people who want to see it. – We’ve done the research ourselves or are working with a pro to target our content

Check, Check, Check.

Don’t let overthinking it prevent you from making great content. Go through this process, get started, and learn as you go along. You can’t learn if you don’t start – and if you’d rather skip some of that learning process there are many pros out there who would love to help.