You’ve got a killer video. But, where do you distribute it? There’s going to be a lot of different places to distribute your video, but keep in mind that each platform is unique. It’s very likely that you will need to produce different cuts of your video for each platform, and that’s not a bad thing.
Running on multiple platforms is the best way to increase your brand’s exposure. The more platforms you run on, the more brand awareness you will build. It often takes interacting with a single person multiple times to actually get their interest. If they see you on the television, on YouTube, and on Pinterest, they’re going to start paying attention.
Your marketing strategy is going to need a platform. Here are the ways that you can distribute your video today:
Television Advertising
This is the most traditional method of broadcasting a video. Television advertising can reach out to many people at once, and that’s why it’s such an exceptional method of advertising. By choosing the right times and channels, you can usually narrow down to a fairly niche audience. There are, however, two major issues with television advertising.
There are usually some strict requirements regarding the video that can be played on television, and you’re going to need to conform to those requirements. Further, television advertising is usually fairly expensive, especially in comparison to other types of advertising. Television advertising is still a really great choice, but it’s something that you need to reserve for fairly late in your marketing campaigns.
Over-the-Top Advertising
Following the mention of television advertising, it’s important to mention over-the-top advertising. OTT advertising is advertising on streaming services. Streaming services are known as “OTT” services because they go straight to the consumer. Netflix, Hulu, and even Twitch are all examples of OTT advertising.
Today, OTT advertising conveys many of the benefits of traditional commercials and few of the drawbacks. It’s more economically priced, and you can target specific types of user, rather than having to rely upon the channel’s demographics.
Few things will ever be as effective as a traditional commercial was years ago, because there was no way to block commercials years ago. But OTT advertising can come close, especially on platforms where they can’t be skipped.
At the same time, you may actually generate some customer animosity if you have an ad that’s not interesting! And there is some complexity to running OTT ads today: namely, you need to choose a platform. There are a dozen OTT platforms today, and they’re constantly being added.
Paid Online Ads
Online ads can show a full video on desktop or a mobile phone. Many of these ads can’t be skipped or can only be skipped after a specific amount of time has been allotted, such as 20 seconds. This is what enables videos to have such a far reach and a substantial effect on viewers.
Online ads can be purchased on a budgeted basis, so you can say whether you want to spend $50 on online ads or $500. This also makes online advertisements more effective, and it makes it possible to test out a number of different types of ad. You can do split testing for different ads and call-to-actions, and send your ads out to a number of different demographics. You can then see what is statistically most successful.
Website
When trying to distribute your video, don’t forget about your own company’s website. A company’s own website is one of the best places to put an ad, but if a company is just starting out, it may not have a lot of traction. There are also other videos that are great to have on your website, such as troubleshooting and customer service videos, or explainer videos. Behind-the-scenes content can build trust and authority.
Here’s a behind the scenes video we did showcasing what it’s like to work with us:
Building out the content on your website is important, and evergreen content can support your company for some time in the future. People will share your company page when sharing your video, and the additional traffic can be used to funnel people to your sales and services. Over time, this will build up your SEO, and get your domain more authority.
DVD / Portable Media
Sometimes you just want to hand out videos. You can do this through DVDs, thumb drives, and other portable media. This is often done at trade shows and seminars, or other places where you may be able to grab someone’s attention for a few seconds but not any longer. Pass out explainer videos or behind the scenes videos, which people can look at later.
The most important thing is ensuring that they actually look at it. That means they need to be genuinely interested in your product. Have an elevator pitch to go along with it, as well as some kind of “giveaway.” For instance, tell them that there’s a code or a discount inside of the video. That will encourage them to take a look, after which you can rely on your content to sell itself.
Video in Print
Video in print is a unique distribution system that can be used to make video cards, brochures, and other similar items. While a little expensive, it can be used to increase the exposure of a business, in very small clips. If you just have tiny little video clips that you want to distribute, or you want to distribute small portions of a reel, video in print is a really unique, classy way to do it.
Of course, it’s also fairly niche; there aren’t a lot of videos that will transfer well to this platform. For those who focus on their video media, such as those who have large YouTube channels, Video in Print can be an eye-catching and unique way to deliver (part of) an interesting story.
Many video marketers don’t leverage email. But email is actually very effective, especially when you’re emailing people who have a relationship with your business. Send email newsletters that include video, and encourage readers to watch the video. You’re already interfacing with leads that are interested in your product, or who have purchased your product in the past.
People find email very personal and are likely to respond to emails well. If they’ve already signed up to your newsletter, they’re going to be interested in opening your video. And your video can then lead them to other avenues, such as products that you want them to consider, or services that you want to educate them about.
When using email, make sure to cull those who are no longer active, and remove anyone from your mailing list who doesn’t want to be on your mailing list. In so doing, you increase the quality of your mailing list, and ensure that no one is getting any emails from you that are unwanted. Otherwise, you could get blacklisted or spam blocked.
Social Media
All videos should be posted to your social media. Social media makes it possible to connect with a large, ever-growing audience of individuals who could be interested in your product. Once you’ve posted your video to social media, you can pay to make your post promoted or boosted. This will further improve the amount of people who are seeing your video.
Many social media platforms are specifically designed for video, such as YouTube and now TikTok. You may want to go to a platform such as YouTube first because it will give you the exposure that you need to make your video successful. Social media tends to build momentum. People who like your videos will follow you, and the more followers you have, the more your videos will be shared. As your videos are shared, they are going to get you more followers, and so forth.
Building your social media is, consequently, an investment. The more time you put into it, the more time you’ll likely get back. It also has the advantage of being completely free; if you aren’t promoting or boosting your posts, you can build a following with no money at all. Just keep in mind that most people are looking at social media on their phone. Thus, they usually have the found off. If your video doesn’t have captions, they may not even know what it’s about!
Photo Galleries
Finally, once your video has been fully distributed, don’t forget to pull out some stills. Many videos have very dramatic still shots, which can be uploaded to sites such as Pinterest, Instagram, and more. The still shots are another way to get value out of your video, especially if you can use some shots for blogs, articles on third-party sites, and other media. The more you can utilize your media, the greater your returns will be.
In short, there’s really no shortage of places to post a video once you’ve developed it. Take the raw content from your video and modify it to suit a number of different platforms, such as niche social media accounts, or large email newsletters. The more you can reuse each piece of content you have, the greater the ROI of that content will be. You can cross-pollinate multiple venues, and get followers in each venue.
