Marketers say that it’s getting easier to reach target audiences. And that audiences are happy to get good content. But, big challenges remain. The biggest challenges, according to a recent Content Marketing Institute Survey, are
- Creating content that appeals to multi-level roles
- Differentiating solutions
- Communicating complex concepts
64% of the marketers surveyed say they are using more video than in the previous year, so it’s clear that one way to address the top content challenges marketers face is to treat them as video content challenges.
Creating video content that appeals to multi-level roles
We’ve been doing this for a while with packages like persona-based videos. This approach is cost-effective because writing and producing several videos with overlapping content allows the re-use of a substantial amounts of creative effort and assets. Another approach for targeting several roles or industries is to “bookend” an unchanging central section (e.g. how the solution works) with an opening setup and closing summary of benefits that are specific to the audience you’re addressing.
One differentiator at a time
According to Gartner analyst Hank Barnes, the biggest problem with differentiation is the lists that most marketers and salespeople compile to prove their solution is different. Prospects simply don’t have the time to absorb what’s on your list, he argues. The result is that buyers won’t be able to among different solutions. Hank’s advice is
- Find the one thing that matters.
- Compare yourself to one alternative.
- Give people one thing to remember. Just one.
A big advantage to sticking to one subject in a video is that you can give it a specific title (and poster frame) that tells prospects exactly what they can learn from it.
The challenge of complexity
Video can do a good job of communicating complex concepts with animation and step-by-step explanations of processes. In longer videos intended to put across a lot of information, clickable chapter headings make the information easer to find, to repeat, and to think about.
In short videos, the most important goal is to communicate just enough information to make the viewer want more information. A good way to increase the quantity and circulation of short videos is to organize them in chapters from the start, with “one thing to remember” in each chapter. The even-shorter (~30 sec) chapters can be spun off and re-used in social media to reach new audiences.
