Mastering Video Content Marketing: Preparation, Positioning, and Punch

Video content marketing is about story. The videos you create — live or recorded — must be in service of this story.

Your video content marketing (in support of your digital content strategy) includes how you show up on video meetings, the video shorts you post, even the production value of your video e-learning modules. It addresses the question of whether you need to be on TikTok and why this genre of video may not be effective on LinkedIn.

Expert advice alone is not enough.

Whether your video is a talking head (which most are) or a montage, one trap to avoid is shiny technology syndrome. The issue is not about what camera you use but how human you are on camera.

Preparation

Today, video is how you do business. It’s a video-first market, which means you need to command the screen. You want to show up on video with power, presence and credibility.

It’s likely your video meetings with prospects and customers remain an untapped and under-resourced marketing opportunity. Both 2020 and 2021 proved to be the waiting years — everyone waiting for the pandemic and waiting for video meetings to go away.

The actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman used to prepare for the smallest roles with intensity and rigor. His friend, Ethan Hawke, recounted how Hoffman would dig into the minutest detail of the character: “Who was that guy? What does he have in his pocket? How did he get the job? Why does he do this dumb thing?”

The path to power, presence and credibility means knowing your story. Just as it was important for Phillip Seymour Hoffman to create a three-dimensional person out of a two-dimensional character, the same is true for you.

How you show up on video speaks volumes about you and your brand.

Positioning

The market is loud, crowded and noisy. To be seen and heard takes work. Because your job is to create a customer, getting their attention is step one. This means you want to know your audience and what makes you unique.

It doesn’t get any simpler. What’s difficult is becoming comfortable with discomfort. You know you’re doing things right when your positioning feels uncomfortably narrow.

This will make producing video content easier, though, because it leads to the genuine expression of your positioning. When you have in mind who you want to reach and the story you want to tell them, the production process (from inception to final approval) becomes more doable, even enjoyable.

Attention is the result of creating a video that stands out. As a result, you rise above the masses. As film director Steve Stockman said about video, “If it’s not good, it’s off.”

Positioning drives the creation of videos people want to watch. This gives you a competitive edge.

Punch

Your camera equipment is there to elevate and amplify your story. It punches up your preparation and positioning. There are no hacks.

Now, you may not need any new equipment. A smartphone might be the right choice. What camera you use should support the story you want to tell.

When you look better on camera, you feel better. And when you feel better, you do better. It’s what scientists call enrobed cognition. Or what the rest of us might call dressing for success. The right camera is the new power suit.

Amplify your power, presence and credibility with the right camera once you’ve prepared yourself and positioned your personal brand.

Conclusion

You are already creating video content. Many, though, continue to define video content marketing by what gets recorded. In our video-first market, this is shortsighted.

All video — live and recorded — is video content marketing. It’s also how we do business, which means it needs to be visually on brand and on message. You can be just as influential on camera as you are in person — but it takes preparation, positioning and punch.

It is hard to get people’s attention. This is why integrating all video into your digital content marketing strategy makes sense. You have one opportunity to make a memorable impression — and on video, it’s instantaneous.

Everything you do on video is in service of the story. Make sure it’s the right one.

Patrick McGowan, MBA, consults, trains and coaches business executives and teams to have more power, presence and credibility on-camera in a video-first market. He pulls together three decades in marketing, innovation and leadership. McGowan started Punchn to address the challenges and insecurities we all face when on camera. He is the author of Across the Lens: How Your Zoom Presence Will Make or Break Your Success.