Marketing doesn’t offer very many “silver bullets.”
If you want to generate massive ROI from promoting your business, then you’d better be ready to put in work.
Patient, strategic, non-flashy work.
And video marketing is no exception. A lot of it is simply about showing up consistently and delivering value to your target audience — as entertainment, education, or a delightful mix of both.
But even as you’re working hard, video marketing allows for many opportunities to work smarter, too!
And this week, I want to show you some of those opportunities, so you can squeeze more ROI out of each marketing video you create.
So instead of deep-diving into laborious strategies, today I’m going tactical. I’m going crunchy. And I’m going INSTANTLY actionable.
You know, I’m not usually a fan of surface level tactics and “hacks,” but: over the years, I’ve tested hundreds, if not thousands of them — discarding the duds, keeping and refining the tips that actually deliver. And now I’m going to share some of them with you!
Read on, and you will learn 11 of my best video marketing hacks. They take barely any time to implement, they are super easy to do even if you aren’t a professional marketer slash video guy or gal…
Most importantly though, they WORK.
And considering how little effort you need to invest in each of these hacks, they can generate pretty staggering ROI!
By the way, I’ve also collected all 11 of these hacks, PLUS 3 bonus tips, into a free one pager for you to download. Keep reading and you’ll see the download prompt in the bottom right corner of this page. Click it, fill in your deets, and it will give you instant access to the cheat sheet — that way, you will always have a handy list of hacks on hand whenever you’re creating a new video!
We have quite a few tips to blast through, so I organized them by stage:
- Scripting, a.k.a. when you’re writing your marketing video
- Production, when you’re filming and editing it
- And distribution, when you’re launching it to an audience
Okay, let’s dive right in!
Stage One: Scripting
For the scripting stage of your video marketing process, my number one hack is…
1. Read your video marketing copy out loud
Do you want your marketing videos to convert better and be more memorable and engaging? Then pay attention to how your copy sounds and flows when spoken. If something sounds “off” to you… then chances are it will sound iffy to your audience as well, increasing the chances that they will bounce or the message will fall flat.
You need ZERO copywriting or marketing training to implement this hack, and it will make an immediate difference in the quality of your videos. Seriously, this is a game changer.
Well, that was easy, right? Like I said — these tips are all about speed and power!
My next valuable copywriting and scripting hack for video marketing is all about earning attention and engagement from the get-go…
2. Make the first 5-10 seconds of your video count
Most people leave before the first minute — that’s why your opening is what makes or breaks the video. If you want people to stick around and pay attention, your opening must grab them by the SOUL, instantly.
Don’t have the time to rewrite 20-30 words in your video script? Then here comes hack #3:
3. Rewrite the first sentence of your video
If you’re pressed for time, just doing this will make a difference in your video’s performance.
Ideally, your first sentence should be the “hook” that grabs viewers’ attention immediately. So the more powerful and intriguing you can make it, the better.
Don’t know how to do that? No worries! Here’s a short guide that will teach you how to write juicy, scroll-stopping openers for your video content.
Now, let’s move on to Stage Two — production, because I have a few tricks up my sleeve for that as well.
Stage Two: Production
I have 4 hacks to share with you that work super well during the production stage. The first one is very helpful for those of you who have to be on camera, do voiceover for marketing videos, or even record a podcast.
4. When recording, turn up your energy and voice by about 50%
That’s right:
Even though video can perfectly capture picture and sound, it often comes across “flatter” than in real life. To counteract this effect, you want to be a little more… well, YOU, while the cameras are rolling. Newscasters and pundits know this very well — that’s why they often act deliberately more intense on screen.
The same hack applies to podcasting too, by the way. If anything, it’s even more important when you only have audio to work with!
Another incredibly easy way to improve your videos is to…
5. Add subtitles or closed captions to your marketing videos
Many marketers still think of them as optional — but at this point, in 2023? I would say they are a must have.
Subtitles and closed captions make your videos more discoverable by algorithms, they help people understand the message better (improving engagement and conversions as a result) and they open up your content to more buyers.
Such as: hard of hearing people; people who speak English as a second language; and folks who have to watch with the sound off — because they happen to be in public… and their dog just had their headphones for breakfast.
…No, that’s just me? Oh well.
And my final hack for producing high-converting marketing videos is:
6. Make your call to action specific and impossible to miss
Your conversions quite literally depend on it.
That means, you want to…
- Leverage both visuals AND voiceover to nudge viewers towards action. Make sure they reinforce one another and deliver the same CTA.
- Plus, make your desired action as small and concrete as you can, so it becomes incredibly obvious what the next step is.
For example, don’t just tell people to book a call or subscribe to your email list — direct them to click the booking link, or enter their name and email. Keep everything tangible and bite-sized.
Stage Three: Distribution
Distributing and promoting your finished video is perhaps the most critical task in video marketing. After all, it doesn’t matter if you’ve made the most brilliant piece of content in the multiverse if nobody’s going to watch it, does it?
First, a lil’ tip for every business owner driving traffic to video landing pages…
7. Use autoplay strategically to your advantage
Yes, it is annoying to your prospects in most cases, but: if they specifically clicked through to watch a video, like on your landing page, then autoplay can actually benefit your conversion rates.
(Just maybe set it to start with the sound off.)
Next, let’s look at specific distribution channels you’re going to use. I’ll make a wild guess and say that your top 2 channels are going to be email and social media. Let’s see what actionable hacks you could implement there!
8. Add the word “video” to your email subject line
That way, your audience will know RIGHT AWAY that they have a video to look forward to, and not just the same old email.
This is proven to boost open rates for marketing emails. How big of a boost are we talking about? In my research, I’ve seen numbers of anywhere from 6% to 19% and higher — so nothing to sneeze at!
(You can find sources for both numbers in this study by Wistia and this report by SuperOffice.)
Here’s another handy hack for promoting your video via email:
9. Showcase screenshots / GIFs from the video in emails
Screenshots and animated GIFs are extremely clickable, and you should absolutely use them when sharing videos via email. But, and this is important: make them look like proper video snippets, with a play button and everything. And of course, don’t forget to link them to your video. Your CTR will go way up, sometimes by as much as 65%!
Okay, but you aren’t just emailing your video out to subscribers, are you? You’re probably using social media to share it as well. In that case, I have a couple MORE hacks for you.
The first one is…
10. When sharing on socials, stoke curiosity first
Here’s what this means:
Don’t simply link to your video on socials and expect people to dash over there and watch it! You need to spark their interest first.
How? Well, you could share a few insights from the video just to tease the value they will get, and then link to the whole thing. Twitter threads work particularly well for this, but you can pull it off on any social media site.
You can also post a short 30-60 second outtake from the video and invite your audience to check out the rest. This method does require a bit of editing, but it’s SO worth the effort. (Hot tip: my friend and recent guest Kate Chernis Bradley has created an AI tool that makes this entire process a cakewalk.)
And now, the simplest and yet most underrated hack for promoting your videos on socials:
11. Reshare your content regularly!
I’m adding an exclamation mark so you know how much I want you to do it. Because here’s the thing:
The life of a post on socials is absurdly short, like a soap bubble. Most of your audience WILL NOT SEE your video if you only post it once and move on. So make sure you get it in front of them multiple times — over days, weeks, and even months and years.
In the words of a brilliant content marketer Ross Simmonds, “Create once, distribute forever.”
Want more video marketing hacks? Grab the free bonus checklist
Oookay — I just absolutely showered you with video hacks; that was 11 by my count! I hope you were taking notes, dear listener.
But don’t worry if you weren’t… because I put all these hacks, PLUS three bonus ones, into a handy checklist for you to use! Right about now, you should see the download form hanging out in the bottom right corner of this page. Click it, fill in your details, and you’ll get instant access.
I hope you enjoyed this rapid-fire, crunchy and tactical blog post. Use these video marketing hacks wisely, and stay tuned for more strategies and tactics on The Draw Shop blog!
