The easiest way to get started with video marketing

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Jun 16, 2017 / by
The easiest way to get started with video marketing

More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every single day. We’re living in an era where visual content is crucial for engagement, and the most powerful form of visual content is undoubtedly video.

If you’ve been thinking about integrating more video content into your campaigns, but are unsure where to start – don’t worry. You don’t need to spend thousands of pounds on an animated explainer video. A great place to start can just be a simple narrated screencast of a Powerpoint presentation.

Create a killer script

If you’re struggling for ideas for the topic of your video, consider repurposing one of your most popular blog posts. You already know that the topic resonates with your audience, so by turning it into a video post. Publishing on video-specific platforms, such as YouTube, can generate even more engagement for existing content.

The key to a great script is clarity. Aim to get your point across in a friendly tone and in as few words as possible. Remember that speech patterns are different to writing patterns, so always ensure that you sound conversational when writing a video script. Thinking visually, aim to use one paragraph per slide in your presentation.

Presentation design

Presentation designGenerally speaking, the content is the most important thing about the presentation. It’s crucial that you provide value to your audience and leave them with practical tips that they can implement immediately. However, visuals matter too.

You can make a great presentation using visual aids included in Powerpoint, as well as images from free libraries such as Pixabay. For additional custom visuals, consider using Canva (it’s free and easy to use).

Ensure that your colour palette and typefaces are consistent throughout. You can use the colour scheme of your branding if you wish, but choosing a scheme that is consistent with the topic of the presentation is probably wiser. Never use low quality, pixelated images, or watermarked images – they always look extremely unprofessional!

Screencasting and narration

Once your presentation is complete, open a screencasting package (such as Cam Studio), hit record and scroll through the powerpoint presentation while you provide the narration. Some screencasting packages will let you upload the finished video straight to YouTube or Vimeo where you can promote it using social media.

The most important part of the narration is clarity. Ensure you pronounce your words clearly and take the time to speak in a normal, conversational tone. If you go too slowly, people will get bored; too fast and your presentation will appear rushed. When narrating, imagine you’re having a conversation with a single individual (this can be weird if you’re in front of a computer screen, but it definitely helps to make your narration sound more natural).

Voice actor, Peter Dickson, states:

As a beginner you can simply use your computer or laptop. Today’s technology makes it easy to record audio onto a computer where you can then play it back. Once you record your practice sessions you can also easily edit and manipulate your recordings to filter out noise and improve the sound. For now the most important thing is to listen to your voice.

To start practicing with narrations, you can download Audacity for free. You can play your audio back time and time again until you think you’re ready to record. You may also want to memorise your script for a more authentic sounding narration.

Video content doesn’t need to be complicated. So long as you can deliver value to your fans, they will appreciate your efforts. Not everyone is interested in reading blog posts – video content helps to get you message heard by an entirely new audience.

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