Video content on mobile devices and computers is growing in popularity among consumers. As the content evolves, so are their expectations for live video. There is a 47% increase in live streaming viewers worldwide compared to a year ago, and those numbers continue to grow in specific segments.

More than 7.7 million Americans watched the Iceland vs. Argentina live stream in the 2018 FIFA World Cup - over 20 times Iceland's population. In the BBC's early World Cup group matches, 31.2 million fans (61% of the U.K. population) watched matches on live streaming services. When asked whether they would purchase more live streaming going forward, 28% said yes. Brands and publishers have many ways to satisfy this need, including:

• Getting fans and audiences in behind-the-scenes videos
• Customers and social audiences taking part in Q&As and direct conversations
• Announcing or launching a particular product
• Speaker series or influencer partnerships

Find out how you can improve these avenues for higher conversions.

1. Begin with Your Video Goals

Setting goals for your video is the first step toward improving your strategy. It's ideal to create videos for each stage of the marketing funnel. The first thing you'll have to decide is what stage should be your priority.

• Awareness: Here, you make the viewer aware of a challenge or opportunity they face. Video content at this stage should grab viewers' attention and introduce your brand to a new audience.
• Consideration: The viewer is now thinking about how to resolve the problem. They're searching for solutions, asking for recommendations, reading reviews, and checking prices.
• Decision: There is almost a solution, and you wish to remain top of mind. Prove that your product or service is better than the competition by providing customer satisfaction.

Create an awareness stage video to reach out to new customers. Your consideration stage video is crucial if you wish to engage your audience. You should create a decision stage video if you are close to a sale and need to nurture the prospect. Also, consider making an internal video to motivate your team, recruit new employees, or delight existing customers.

2. Identify Your Target Market

After you've identified the marketing funnel stage to target, identify your target audience before creating a video; if you launch a video without a clear audience in mind, it has a higher chance of flopping. Those who should watch it won't, and those who do will not convert. How can you determine who your customer is?

The key is to develop a buyer's persona. As a company develops its product or service offerings, it usually creates a buyer's persona (or several). You want your video to reach people who you hope will purchase your product. By identifying your target audience's persona, you'll know who you're addressing.

4. Use Your Videos to Tell Stories

For video marketing to be successful, storytelling is essential. It's often the funny or inspirational anecdote that connects with viewers emotionally rather than the stats and numbers you share.

Throughout history, people have used stories to help them understand their world. The best way to communicate a complex situation or idea is to tell a story.

To make your videos more effective, follow these five tips:

• Modest Show off - You can share customer success stories or create videos to illustrate your expertise and success in helping people with similar challenges.
• Tell a story that inspires or makes people dream, which captures viewers' attention and evokes positive emotions, which they will, ideally, associate with your brand.
• Make it personal by introducing the people behind your brand to viewers to make them feel more connected to it.
• Join the Conversation - Share your knowledge or unique insight on hot or new topics in your industry.
• Provide a behind-the-scenes look at your processes, or offer a video that explains a step-by-step approach to solving a problem.

5. Make it Clear What the Video is About

Videos are now a massive part of the content that competes for your ideal clients' attention.

With your title, you must grab their attention quickly and explain the video clearly in your description. Your video title alone will often determine whether viewers watch - and you should remember many people will decide whether to watch your video based on the title only.

You must provide viewers with an accurate and informative overview if you want them to watch a five-minute video. Make sure you highlight two or three benefits viewers will receive from watching your video, or if it's a narrative, present the main points. Transcribing your videos can also be helpful. Besides allowing viewers to skim your video content, search engines index your content for relevant searches.

6. Provide a Call-To-Action

After viewers view your video, give them specific actions to prompt them to take.

If you do not include a call to action (CTA), you find that most viewers leave your video taking no further action, even if your video has high viewership.

You can encourage meaningful engagement with your videos by adding a compelling and straightforward call to action. The viewer who watches your video all the way through has shown clear interest, so it's important to prompt them with your call to action.

There are many types of CTAs, each with its purpose. With different call-to-actions, you can inspire users to act, including:

• Pose a question they can answer in the comments
• Link them to another content on your site: — related video, landing page, blog
• Please encourage them to subscribe to your YouTube channel or newsletter
• Invite them to connect on social media
• Allow them to take a free trial to see what the product is all about

Get Started Now!

It's all about the money! Let's face it: creative planning and strategy are essential, and budgeting properly will allow you to get precisely what you want. Consider your budget and resources. Decide what you will shoot in-house and what you will outsource. Identify what you can afford to splurge on and what you should be saving.

As video marketing grows, brands like yours have a unique chance to stand out. Because consumers prefer video over other forms of content, brands of all sizes and industries need to use video to communicate with them.

Even new devices, like phones and tablets, are more video-ready than ever before; and it helps that social media platforms are beginning to prioritize video content. Thus, it would help to leverage this fantastic marketing tool to stay competitive entirely. Creating a short, beautiful video is now easier than ever. Begin your video marketing campaigns!