October 16, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Ellie Marchiori, Creative Strategist at Pushing the Envelope.
The episode delves into the growing importance of short-form videos in marketing strategies. Tips on developing a solid strategy, consistency, equipment needs, and engaging with the community are shared, along with the significance of understanding platform demographics. Short form video is here to stay, offering valuable, and the two provide actionable advice for businesses looking to leverage this medium!
Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.
#marketing #business #communication #strategy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Samantha (00:05):
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to another edition of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast by Pushingthe Envelope.
Today, I'm joined by EllieMarchiori.
Ellie (00:15):
Hi, thank you for having me.
I am the Creative Strategist atPushing the Envelope and I'm so
happy to be here.
Samantha (00:20):
Awesome.
And who better to talk aboutthis?
So today we're talking aboutshort form video, why this is so
important, how it's taking themarketing world by storm.
It's not going anywhere.
Definitely as we head into 2025,we're going to see more and more
of this short form video.
I'm so excited to talk about itwith you.
Ellie (00:36):
Yeah, and you know one of the main draws of the short form
video is that it gives brands achance to be more authentic and
show a little bit more of theirpersonality, versus these
longer, more polished videos.
Samantha (00:48):
I agree.
I liken it to kind of more realstyle videos and not playing off
the double entendre of real andReel, R E A L.
It just feels more genuine, likeyou said.
You know, it's not meant to beoverly commercial, overly
perfect.
I think people kind of shy awayfrom that even now as consumers,
where it's like, okay, I knowwhat this is, I understand this
is a commercial, I understandyou're trying to sell me
(01:08):
something, versus a behind thescenes, a genuine kind of short
format, less polished typevideo.
Ellie (01:15):
Yeah.
And it really does offer a lotmore creative freedom for a
brand, which is becoming moreand more important.
Samantha (01:21):
Absolutely.
So let's talk about how thisimpacts marketing strategies.
I mean, speed and timing havereally become crucial.
Time to market.
And that could be, this justhappened and within five minutes
it's gotta be on the internet.
But also speed in terms of howit's produced and the length of
these, because we're talkingshort form videos, we're talking
(01:42):
about less than 60 seconds.
Ellie (01:44):
Yeah, and one key point that I wanted to bring up right
away, too, is it's so importantto target to the right audience.
And I think Target, for example,does a really great job at this
with some of the videos andReels that they put out there,
the short form Reels like onFacebook.
You'll see in their Reels, like,they're not using supermodels.
They'll use normal, everydaylooking people to show their
(02:06):
clothes or the products theyhave, and that's really who
their target audience is.
So I think they're one brandthat does that really well.
Samantha (02:14):
And they also use user generated content.
So it's not just them creatingthe content, but they're sharing
content that their fans, theircustomers, are creating on their
behalf.
So that's definitely a way thatthese short form videos are
changing marketing strategy.
Right.
So in addition to Target andtheir user generated content,
another thing we keep in mind isthe timing of when we're
publishing this content.
(02:35):
So keeping in mind the time ofyear, what your audience is
interested in, how they're goingto see this content, what it's
going to motivate them to do,and how that aligns with your
marketing strategy overall.
And another impact that I wouldsay, and you might agree with
this, we're both budget ladies,is keeping in mind budget
because we can produce a ton ofthese short format videos
really, really inexpensively,both in terms of the cost of
(02:57):
time, but also in the cost ofactual production versus these
longer format videos.
I'm not saying we should just doaway with all long format
videos.
There's a place for those, butthis route of these shorter
format, 15 second, 20 secondlittle clips really can be
budget-friendly and impactfulfor businesses, especially small
businesses.
Ellie (03:16):
Yeah, and especially too, if you have your strategy set
beforehand, you know, you cancreate a calendar as part of
your strategy and have, youknow, even like a series.
Plan them out and then shootthem all at one time.
You can even bring a change ofclothes, you know, so they look
different.
The things like that aredefinitely gonna help if you are
on a budget or your business isjust starting out.
(03:36):
There's definitely ways that youcan create video content that
doesn't have to be overlyproduced.
Samantha (03:41):
Absolutely, and, you know, we talk a lot about
strategy in this podcast, I doin our TrendTalks Marketing
videos, but it's just really,really important.
I would say this has to be builtinto your strategy.
So have a strategy for shortform video, but make sure that
falls in line with your overallbrand and what you're trying to
accomplish as a marketingstrategy for your business
overall.
What do you want to accomplish?
(04:02):
You just want people watchingyour video so you feel popular?
Or do you actually want them todo something, take an action, go
to your website, make apurchase, go to an event?
Think about those end results.
What do you want this to create?
What action do you want youraudience to take while you're
building out your strategy?
Ellie (04:16):
Yeah, and I have a couple tips for businesses for video if
you're just getting started.
Start small and experiment.
You don't have to have theoverly produced videos.
And that's going to help you alot in the beginning so you're
not spending all your time andall your money on these long
videos that aren't going to bebeneficial for you.
So definitely start small.
Some of the videos that I reallylike on Facebook are the recipe
(04:39):
ones.
So you'll see a lot of timesit's just one person.
You can actually get a tool thatyou can put on your head and put
your phone on it.
And so then when they're doing,you know, making the recipe,
it's from like their point ofview.
And those are really simple.
It's one person doing it.
There's texts on screen, youknow, like 30 seconds and they
capture your attention and doingsomething like that sometimes is
going to be more beneficial thandoing a highly produced, longer
(05:01):
video.
Samantha (05:02):
I would add to that point, because you talk about
equipment.
You don't need fancy equipmentto do this.
The smartphones nowadays haveincredible cameras.
I mean, it's amazing the waythat that's continuing to
develop.
So if you've got a decentsmartphone, maybe a gimbal, if
you want to get really fancy, aring light, I mean, but this
stuff is super inexpensive.
I mean, aside from the phone,you could probably get all of
(05:23):
that for less than 200 bucks.
And I think with starting small,I'd also say start with the
basics, you know, be mindful ofsound and lighting and location,
so that things aren'tdistracting.
You know, you've got a simplebackground, but also what you're
wearing and just in general,keep all those kind of basics in
mind as you're getting started.
Ellie (05:39):
Yeah, and I would say the next point that I have is
consistency.
And so that kind of goes back tothe strategy part, and just
making sure that you have aplan, so that when it comes time
to film your videos, you're notjust stuck wondering what you're
going to talk about.
So come up with a plan, astrategy, whether you're going
to do a bi-weekly video, aweekly video, a monthly video.
If you can plan out your topicsand strategize it, it's going to
(06:00):
be a lot easier to talk aboutyour points and just being
consistent and making sure, youknow, even if you have five
people watching your video,making sure that you're still
being consistent because that isgoing to grow your brand.
Samantha (06:11):
I would say consistency in the scheduling,
the production of that when yourelease those videos, but also
consistency in the look andstyle the length.
You know, if you're gonna do onethat's a minute long, and the
next is only 15 seconds, it cankind of feel a little bit
clunky.
Or the branding of it.
And there's plenty of tools youcan use from Canva to other
tools for video editing tocreate something that's really
(06:32):
pretty and well-branded that youcan have at the beginning and
just make sure it's consistenthow you're producing those
videos, too.
Ellie (06:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then the last one would justbe to engage with your
community.
You know, even, again, if youhave five people that are
following you, the same peoplethat are commenting on your
videos, it still is important tocomment back, thank them for
watching.
Even if you get negativefeedback, I think it's important
to address that, without beingdefensive, and that just shows,
again, that you can be authenticto your audience.
Samantha (07:01):
Those are really great tips and I've got two other
ones.
One would be benchmark.
Look for people, you'vementioned, you know, you really
appreciate Target.
Find others that you mightappreciate.
You like their style, you canconnect with them, you
appreciate their videos, youlike the way that they're
produced, the content, etc.
And try to use this asbenchmarks and inspiration.
Oh, I could approach it this wayversus the way I thought I was
(07:21):
going to do it.
So keep that in mind too.
And those could be in industryor out, right?
Like, we don't work for Target,and we don't always work for
retailers, but we can still usethat concept in our plans.
And my other point would be getto the point and do it fast.
And that might take practice.
I know, I'm a little chatty.
So think about that too.
Do a dry run.
Can I really get this out in 20seconds, effectively, or 30
(07:44):
seconds, or a minute?
And do some dry runs so you canreally get to the point and
capture people's attentionbecause your audience will tell
you everything that you need toknow if you know where to look.
We can see how long they'rewatching your videos.
Are they dropping out?
Are they, you know, notinterested in the intro?
So maybe switch that up.
But look at the data, themetrics for your videos.
It's really going to help youproduce better content, short
(08:04):
form and otherwise.
Ellie (08:05):
Yeah.
And just adding onto that, Iwould say it's important to
understand your audience andwhat platforms they're on,
because the audience is going todiffer Facebook from Instagram
to YouTube to TikTok.
They're kind of all over theplace.
So really honing in on who youraudience is and then focusing
more on those channels.
You don't have to do videos onevery single one.
Maybe get more information onyour audience and see what the
(08:28):
age demographic is or wheretheir interests are and then
choose a couple channels toreally go after.
Samantha (08:33):
Yes.
I will now get on my soapbox ofdata and targeting just briefly,
but so important what you justtalked about because I don't
think people understand that youcan actually look at, and maybe
I'm underestimating folks, and Iapologize if you already know
this, but you can actually go inplatforms and see where their
audiences are.
So, the majority of people usingInstagram are not in the United
(08:55):
States, for example.
So if you're trying to useInstagram to drive traffic to
your business and you're in theUnited States and you don't sell
things online, that might not bethe best place for you to invest
your time.
So, so important.
So look at where people arecoming from, not just to you so
you can see your own data, butlook at the platform information
as well.
So you can Google like, whereare people that are on Facebook?
(09:16):
Where are they from if they'rewatching YouTube?
And think about that.
And you know, I laughed when yousaid TikTok because I'm thinking
like, not every business needsto be on TikTok.
What value are you providingthere?
And what is it going to do foryou if you're on there making
silly videos?
But I digress.
Off my soapbox now.
Awesome.
Well, I think this has been areally great discussion, really
surface.
We could go on for hours aboutshort form video.
(09:37):
But I think the bottom line isit's not going anywhere.
And if you're strategic with it,you can still have fun and you
can make it really, reallyvaluable for your business.
Ellie (09:44):
Agreed.
Samantha (09:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for your time,Ellie.
Thank you all for listening.
This is our final episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business season two.
If you haven't listened to ourothers, check them out.
And we'll be back for seasonthree.
Hi, I'm Samantha Scott, APR.
Welcome to another edition of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast by Pushingthe Envelope.
Today, I'm joined by EllieMarchiori.
Ellie (00:15):
Hi, thank you for having me.
I am the Creative Strategist atPushing the Envelope and I'm so
happy to be here.
Samantha (00:20):
Awesome.
And who better to talk aboutthis?
So today we're talking aboutshort form video, why this is so
important, how it's taking themarketing world by storm.
It's not going anywhere.
Definitely as we head into 2025,we're going to see more and more
of this short form video.
I'm so excited to talk about itwith you.
Ellie (00:36):
Yeah, and you know one of the main draws of the short form
video is that it gives brands achance to be more authentic and
show a little bit more of theirpersonality, versus these
longer, more polished videos.
Samantha (00:48):
I agree.
I liken it to kind of more realstyle videos and not playing off
the double entendre of real andReel, R E A L.
It just feels more genuine, likeyou said.
You know, it's not meant to beoverly commercial, overly
perfect.
I think people kind of shy awayfrom that even now as consumers,
where it's like, okay, I knowwhat this is, I understand this
is a commercial, I understandyou're trying to sell me
(01:08):
something, versus a behind thescenes, a genuine kind of short
format, less polished typevideo.
Ellie (01:15):
Yeah.
And it really does offer a lotmore creative freedom for a
brand, which is becoming moreand more important.
Samantha (01:21):
Absolutely.
So let's talk about how thisimpacts marketing strategies.
I mean, speed and timing havereally become crucial.
Time to market.
And that could be, this justhappened and within five minutes
it's gotta be on the internet.
But also speed in terms of howit's produced and the length of
these, because we're talkingshort form videos, we're talking
(01:42):
about less than 60 seconds.
Ellie (01:44):
Yeah, and one key point that I wanted to bring up right
away, too, is it's so importantto target to the right audience.
And I think Target, for example,does a really great job at this
with some of the videos andReels that they put out there,
the short form Reels like onFacebook.
You'll see in their Reels, like,they're not using supermodels.
They'll use normal, everydaylooking people to show their
(02:06):
clothes or the products theyhave, and that's really who
their target audience is.
So I think they're one brandthat does that really well.
Samantha (02:14):
And they also use user generated content.
So it's not just them creatingthe content, but they're sharing
content that their fans, theircustomers, are creating on their
behalf.
So that's definitely a way thatthese short form videos are
changing marketing strategy.
Right.
So in addition to Target andtheir user generated content,
another thing we keep in mind isthe timing of when we're
publishing this content.
(02:35):
So keeping in mind the time ofyear, what your audience is
interested in, how they're goingto see this content, what it's
going to motivate them to do,and how that aligns with your
marketing strategy overall.
And another impact that I wouldsay, and you might agree with
this, we're both budget ladies,is keeping in mind budget
because we can produce a ton ofthese short format videos
really, really inexpensively,both in terms of the cost of
(02:57):
time, but also in the cost ofactual production versus these
longer format videos.
I'm not saying we should just doaway with all long format
videos.
There's a place for those, butthis route of these shorter
format, 15 second, 20 secondlittle clips really can be
budget-friendly and impactfulfor businesses, especially small
businesses.
Ellie (03:16):
Yeah, and especially too, if you have your strategy set
beforehand, you know, you cancreate a calendar as part of
your strategy and have, youknow, even like a series.
Plan them out and then shootthem all at one time.
You can even bring a change ofclothes, you know, so they look
different.
The things like that aredefinitely gonna help if you are
on a budget or your business isjust starting out.
(03:36):
There's definitely ways that youcan create video content that
doesn't have to be overlyproduced.
Samantha (03:41):
Absolutely, and, you know, we talk a lot about
strategy in this podcast, I doin our TrendTalks Marketing
videos, but it's just really,really important.
I would say this has to be builtinto your strategy.
So have a strategy for shortform video, but make sure that
falls in line with your overallbrand and what you're trying to
accomplish as a marketingstrategy for your business
overall.
What do you want to accomplish?
(04:02):
You just want people watchingyour video so you feel popular?
Or do you actually want them todo something, take an action, go
to your website, make apurchase, go to an event?
Think about those end results.
What do you want this to create?
What action do you want youraudience to take while you're
building out your strategy?
Ellie (04:16):
Yeah, and I have a couple tips for businesses for video if
you're just getting started.
Start small and experiment.
You don't have to have theoverly produced videos.
And that's going to help you alot in the beginning so you're
not spending all your time andall your money on these long
videos that aren't going to bebeneficial for you.
So definitely start small.
Some of the videos that I reallylike on Facebook are the recipe
(04:39):
ones.
So you'll see a lot of timesit's just one person.
You can actually get a tool thatyou can put on your head and put
your phone on it.
And so then when they're doing,you know, making the recipe,
it's from like their point ofview.
And those are really simple.
It's one person doing it.
There's texts on screen, youknow, like 30 seconds and they
capture your attention and doingsomething like that sometimes is
going to be more beneficial thandoing a highly produced, longer
(05:01):
video.
Samantha (05:02):
I would add to that point, because you talk about
equipment.
You don't need fancy equipmentto do this.
The smartphones nowadays haveincredible cameras.
I mean, it's amazing the waythat that's continuing to
develop.
So if you've got a decentsmartphone, maybe a gimbal, if
you want to get really fancy, aring light, I mean, but this
stuff is super inexpensive.
I mean, aside from the phone,you could probably get all of
(05:23):
that for less than 200 bucks.
And I think with starting small,I'd also say start with the
basics, you know, be mindful ofsound and lighting and location,
so that things aren'tdistracting.
You know, you've got a simplebackground, but also what you're
wearing and just in general,keep all those kind of basics in
mind as you're getting started.
Ellie (05:39):
Yeah, and I would say the next point that I have is
consistency.
And so that kind of goes back tothe strategy part, and just
making sure that you have aplan, so that when it comes time
to film your videos, you're notjust stuck wondering what you're
going to talk about.
So come up with a plan, astrategy, whether you're going
to do a bi-weekly video, aweekly video, a monthly video.
If you can plan out your topicsand strategize it, it's going to
(06:00):
be a lot easier to talk aboutyour points and just being
consistent and making sure, youknow, even if you have five
people watching your video,making sure that you're still
being consistent because that isgoing to grow your brand.
Samantha (06:11):
I would say consistency in the scheduling,
the production of that when yourelease those videos, but also
consistency in the look andstyle the length.
You know, if you're gonna do onethat's a minute long, and the
next is only 15 seconds, it cankind of feel a little bit
clunky.
Or the branding of it.
And there's plenty of tools youcan use from Canva to other
tools for video editing tocreate something that's really
(06:32):
pretty and well-branded that youcan have at the beginning and
just make sure it's consistenthow you're producing those
videos, too.
Ellie (06:38):
Yeah, absolutely.
And then the last one would justbe to engage with your
community.
You know, even, again, if youhave five people that are
following you, the same peoplethat are commenting on your
videos, it still is important tocomment back, thank them for
watching.
Even if you get negativefeedback, I think it's important
to address that, without beingdefensive, and that just shows,
again, that you can be authenticto your audience.
Samantha (07:01):
Those are really great tips and I've got two other
ones.
One would be benchmark.
Look for people, you'vementioned, you know, you really
appreciate Target.
Find others that you mightappreciate.
You like their style, you canconnect with them, you
appreciate their videos, youlike the way that they're
produced, the content, etc.
And try to use this asbenchmarks and inspiration.
Oh, I could approach it this wayversus the way I thought I was
(07:21):
going to do it.
So keep that in mind too.
And those could be in industryor out, right?
Like, we don't work for Target,and we don't always work for
retailers, but we can still usethat concept in our plans.
And my other point would be getto the point and do it fast.
And that might take practice.
I know, I'm a little chatty.
So think about that too.
Do a dry run.
Can I really get this out in 20seconds, effectively, or 30
(07:44):
seconds, or a minute?
And do some dry runs so you canreally get to the point and
capture people's attentionbecause your audience will tell
you everything that you need toknow if you know where to look.
We can see how long they'rewatching your videos.
Are they dropping out?
Are they, you know, notinterested in the intro?
So maybe switch that up.
But look at the data, themetrics for your videos.
It's really going to help youproduce better content, short
(08:04):
form and otherwise.
Ellie (08:05):
Yeah.
And just adding onto that, Iwould say it's important to
understand your audience andwhat platforms they're on,
because the audience is going todiffer Facebook from Instagram
to YouTube to TikTok.
They're kind of all over theplace.
So really honing in on who youraudience is and then focusing
more on those channels.
You don't have to do videos onevery single one.
Maybe get more information onyour audience and see what the
(08:28):
age demographic is or wheretheir interests are and then
choose a couple channels toreally go after.
Samantha (08:33):
Yes.
I will now get on my soapbox ofdata and targeting just briefly,
but so important what you justtalked about because I don't
think people understand that youcan actually look at, and maybe
I'm underestimating folks, and Iapologize if you already know
this, but you can actually go inplatforms and see where their
audiences are.
So, the majority of people usingInstagram are not in the United
(08:55):
States, for example.
So if you're trying to useInstagram to drive traffic to
your business and you're in theUnited States and you don't sell
things online, that might not bethe best place for you to invest
your time.
So, so important.
So look at where people arecoming from, not just to you so
you can see your own data, butlook at the platform information
as well.
So you can Google like, whereare people that are on Facebook?
(09:16):
Where are they from if they'rewatching YouTube?
And think about that.
And you know, I laughed when yousaid TikTok because I'm thinking
like, not every business needsto be on TikTok.
What value are you providingthere?
And what is it going to do foryou if you're on there making
silly videos?
But I digress.
Off my soapbox now.
Awesome.
Well, I think this has been areally great discussion, really
surface.
We could go on for hours aboutshort form video.
(09:37):
But I think the bottom line isit's not going anywhere.
And if you're strategic with it,you can still have fun and you
can make it really, reallyvaluable for your business.
Ellie (09:44):
Agreed.
Samantha (09:45):
Awesome.
Thank you so much for your time,Ellie.
Thank you all for listening.
This is our final episode of1000 Ways to Market Your
Business season two.
If you haven't listened to ourothers, check them out.
And we'll be back for seasonthree.
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