Have you thought about adding video to your marketing strategy? With more and more people watching online videos, they have become one of the most powerful and effective online marketing tools. Video grabs people's attention more quickly and effectively and delivers some of the best ROI of any advertising medium today. Videos can also help your search rankings. A video marketing strategy may sound expensive and/or difficult, but the process can be easier - and less expensive than you might think, provided you go about it the right way.

These tips can help you get started creating effective and affordable videos to get the most out of your online video marketing efforts, and maximize the return on your investment.

There are three phases of making an online video:

1. Creating the Concept

2. Planning & Production

3. Marketing Your Video

So, what makes a great online business that will actually convert prospects into customers?

To break through the noise in the marketplace, you need to differentiate yourself from your competition and make sure your business stands out from the crowd. With today's media savvy consumers and busy business professionals, you have less than ten seconds to capture the viewers imagination, or arouse their curiosity and encourage a further interaction. And you won't do this with a dull, boring video.

Another thing that turns people off immediately is a heavy sales pitch. Instead, try to entertain, enlighten or educate the viewer. Be subtle with your sales message, using down-to-earth language in a casual and non-pedantic manner.

Creating The Concept

1. Have a clear purpose & structure

The first thing you'll want to is determine what it is you want to say. Make sure you have something relevant to say.

Think about your business and ask yourself these three questions.

•  What information can your customer and potential customer not get from your current website or traditional marketing materials?
•  What questions do prospects and customers usually ask when they contact your busienss by phone or email?
•  What would motivate people, who are unfamiliar with your company, to go from not understanding your company or products, to actually hiring your company, or buying your products?

Write down the answers to these questions and make an outline of the content that you'd like to feature in your video.

2. What is your goal?

What are you trying to achieve with your video? What is it that you want customers to take away from your video?

Do you want them to:

•  Opt into your email newsletter?
•  Contact you for more information
•  Set up a appointment?
•  Purchase something?
•  Share the video on social networks?
•  Understand a process more clearly?

Whatever it is you want them to do, translate that message into a few sentences and that can be the basis of your script or voice-over narrative.

Make sure you do not try to accomplish too much in one video. It is better to make a series of shorter videos.

And be sure to end your video with a clear call to action - what it is you want your viewers to do next.

Production

Ideally, you would hire a professional to shoot, produce & edit your video. Professionals have better equipment, software and experience in writing, directing and editing.

It's easy to point a video camera at someone or something and press the record button. But your company's image and reputation are at stake. A slick professional video can help establish credibility & trust. Even if you have a decent camera and a little knowledge of photography, unless you have some familiarity with lighting, exposure, editing, post production, music, sound recording and titling, you may end up with a product that does not convey the quality and professionalism of your company.

And you would almost certainly need a professional or a video studio to do animated effects, or if your video requires multiple actors, sets or locations.

So, if you can, hire a professional. If you simply can't afford a pro, here are a few things you need to keep in mind.

• Keep it short. Less than three minutes is ideal for online videos.
• Always use a script or storyboards, even if they are very simple, to organize your shots and layout the structure of the video.
• Do not use a webcam, Flip camera or cell phone. At least get a decent camcorder and learn how to use it.
• Make sure your sound is high quality. Nothing ruins a video faster than horrible sound. If your viewers can't hear what's being said, why would they bother watching? If you can't record good sound, think about shooting the video then adding a voice-over narrative that you can record under better circumstances.
• Pay attention to lighting. Shoot outdoors on a cloudy day, or in the shade. Make sure you white balance or you'll end up with a ghastly blue cast. Try not to shoot in direct sunlight. The shadows are most unflattering.
• Spend some time editing the video to give it a more polished, professional look.
• Add music if it is does not distract from the video content. But never use copyrighted music, there's no better way to get your video removed from YouTube.

If all this sounds like more than you can handle, consider using a professional for only parts of the production. For example, shoot the video yourself but hire a professional editor.

Marketing Your Video

Of course, you'll want to post your video on your own website. But don't stop there, get extra mileage for your efforts and investment by posting it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and other social networking sites.

• Encourage sharing, it is a fantastic way to get more views for your video from people you wouldn't ordinarily connect with.
•  Put appropriate search terms in your title and description.
•  Use tags on the social sites to align yourself with specific keywords.
•  Be sure to select a good quality, representative thumbnail.
•  Link back to your own site.
•  Advertise your video with pay-per-click ads
•  Encourage comments on your video on sites that allow comments.
•  Track the results using Facebook's Page Insights or Google Analytics.
•  Add new content often to keep visitors coming back.

Using these tips you will be able to produce an effective business video that communicates your message and motivates viewers to action, while maximizing your online presence.