Vidyard’s Ultimate Video Marketing Guide

Video marketing is more than a trend — it’s a force that’s reshaping how brands connect, convert, and grow. With attention spans shrinking and competition rising, leveraging video strategically can make your brand unforgettable.

In this post, we'll cover:

• What video marketing really means
• Steps to build a powerful video strategy
• How storytelling elevates your videos
• Types of videos you should produce
• Hosting, distribution, and SEO tips
• Measuring performance and integrating video into broader marketing efforts

What’s Video Marketing?

Video marketing (aka video content marketing) is a digital strategy that uses video content to attract, engage, and convert an audience into customers. Videos allow you to showcase products, tell brand stories, and build relationships more dynamically than static media.

9 Steps to Build a Video Strategy

Having a plan is crucial. Here are the core steps to take:

• Define your video marketing goals: awareness, leads, conversions?
• Identify your target audience: what do they want to watch?
• Choose video types aligned with goals and audience
• Set your production budget and allocate resources intelligently
• Decide who will create and manage your video content
• Integrate video into your overall marketing campaigns
• Plan where to host and distribute your videos
• Define metrics and analytics to monitor performance
• Consider how other teams (sales, support) will use videos

Storytelling: Your Most Powerful Video Tool

Emotion drives action. To make memorable videos:

• Structure your video like a story — problem, solution, result
• Show, don’t tell — use visual examples instead of exposition
• Keep it focused — tell one story per video
• Plan in advance — don’t wing your concept at filming time

Types & Styles of Videos You Can Create

Videos differ both in style (how you produce) and type (what you deliver). Some examples:

• Live-action, animated, screen share, one-to-one, interactive
• Explainers, how-to videos, promo videos, thought leadership, webinars, case studies, demos, FAQ videos

Shorter videos tend to perform better. Data shows that viewers watch more of videos under 60 seconds — performance drops as they lengthen. Aim to keep videos under two minutes when possible.

Hosting & Distribution

Once your video is ready, you need to host and share it:

• Decide between self-hosting or using a video platform
• Use features like analytics, branding, CRM integration
• Distribute across social media, your website, emails, landing pages

Video SEO Tips

To help your videos get discovered:

• Use keyword-rich titles, descriptions, tags, and transcripts
• Include video chapters and metadata
• Ensure your thumbnail is compelling
• Embed videos smartly — balance traffic to your site with SEO benefits

Measuring Performance & ROI

Video marketing gives you deep insight. Track more than views:

• Click-through rate (CTR)
• Engagement / attention span
• CTA interactions within videos
• Contribution to lead generation and sales pipelines

When you connect video metrics to your CRM or automation tools, you can see which videos drive real business results.

Video in Your Broader Marketing Strategy

Videos don’t work in isolation. Use them to:

• Enhance landing pages, homepage, or product pages
• Add video elements to email marketing
• Personalize outreach for account-based marketing
• Enable sales teams with videos tailored to specific prospects

Quick Answer

To get started with video marketing, first define a specific goal (brand awareness, leads, conversions). Choose a video type that matches your audience, keep it short and focused, plan your story, and distribute across channels. Monitor engagement and iterate based on data.

Bringing It All Together

Video marketing is not a “nice-to-have” — in today’s digital environment, it’s essential. But success depends on more than just recording videos. You need clear objectives, a strategic plan, engaging storytelling, smart hosting and SEO, and rigorous measurement. Use the framework above to guide your efforts. Start simple, test what resonates, and build from there. Video done well can transform passive viewers into active customers and elevate your brand in a crowded space.