1. The document provides tips for creating a successful first video marketing attempt, breaking the process down into four steps: plan, shoot, review, and follow-up. 2. It recommends taking time to plan the video's aims, audience, message, look, keywords, script, and length before shooting. 3. For the shooting step, it emphasizes choosing a good location with natural light and doing practice runs to refine the message. 4. The review step involves editing, adding on-screen information, and getting feedback to ensure all key points are covered clearly. 5. Follow-up is described as the most important step, marketing the video widely on social media and via emails to

1. So from the top let's be straight. If you're on the video
marketing highway, you could be writing this article. I was
a virgin until recently and this article is written for those
about to take their first plunge. These are basic pointers
but they are lessons learnt from mistakes experienced on
our first stab at video marketing.

2. Some quick context for you. We love our website. We have
built content, strong SERPS, etc, etc. Video is something
we see as having potential for our business in many ways.
So we have taken the plunge and are ready for new
frontiers!

3. So what next? Well we had to make our first video. You
learn so much from experience so we decided to
simply, just do it, as Nike would say. To up the interest
factor, trending keywords would be the basis of the test.
Essentially wait for something newsworthy to break that
we could make some sort of comment on, mash up a
video, get it onto You Tube, sprinkle in some social media
shouts and watch.

4. At the time of writing over 2,500 views in 4 days. Not
amazing but for first attempt pretty pleasing. We had the
fortune of the news piece being quite divisive in reaction.
If you're smart enough you can find the video and see
what we did. Anyway the number of views is not what this
is about. It's the insights into process that's being shared
here. These will help you deliver a better first attempt
when you give it a go. [It was a lot of fun by the way, so go
do it sooner rather than later!]

5. Plan

6. We had the idea after reading the news at noon. The video
was shot, edited and ready to upload by 8pm. As a
result, we missed a few things. Before you shoot any
video, no matter how reactionary, sit down and think it
through, preferably with others. Key points to think
through are:• your aims behind the video• the
audience• the message• the look and the best
location• keywords you need to use on camera and in
descriptions/titles• a script [even if loose] that
captures key phrases/messages• the length• on-
screen information (job titles, logos, URLs, etc)

7. A lack of planning could mean you miss some of the
essential structure a video needs. We've now put this into
place as a formal process for all future reactionary type
videos.

8. Shoot

9. Location, location, location. Avoid the white office wall
background if you can. Try and tie in the background with
the context of the video. If you can't do that, then at least
get outside in some natural light.

10. We jumped straight into shooting; completely off-the-cuff
which wasn't great. As a result we have now introduced a
rehearsal shoot followed by the real thing.

11. Whichever one produces the best shot, we use it. Having
the practice run really helps you hone in on the keywords
and message.

12. Key points for shooting are:• the location(s) and
background• a rehearsal or practice run to fine tune
your message• to take your time• don't be
afraid to stop and start again (it can always be edited out!)

13. Review

14. Once we had our footage, it was edit time. We had to
quickly think through the video, the aston, on screen
messages, etc. all of which we had not taken into
consideration. Within the review is your chance to also
assess key messages and areas planned at initial stages.
Use a tick sheet to make sure you've completed
everything you should have. Once edited make sure you
get others' opinions as they will be looking with fresh eyes
and will spot mistakes much more easily.

15. Key points for review stage are:• Have you captured
all the points you wanted to make?• How long is the
video? Remember people get bored easy.• Make sure
you leave web address, email, Twitter names, etc.•
Get others to give critical feedback and make sure you
take it.• A clear CTA

16. A Call to Action (CTA) is 100% crucial. Why are you putting
out a video? For the love of it? No! You want
reactions, comments, debate, website
visitors, conversions, etc. You won't do this though
without a CTA of some sort. We missed this but luckily our
video naturally got people talking. A CTA could be as
simple as a question or a link; think through what you
would ideally want that viewer to do once they have
finished watching. It may be as simple as encouraging
them to "like" the video.

17. Follow-up

18. Once your video is out, don't just sit back and relax. Now
the hard part starts - marketing it! Use whatever channels
you can. Got clients' emails? Then send them a nice
personalised email explaining why they will find it useful.
Got your social media platforms? Rinse them for what
they have. Check out people and tweets who are
connected with your topic. Send them a message. A cool
trick I worked out was to jump onto the Facebook pages of
large newspapers and join in with conversations dropping
a link to the video. Push it to the max anywhere you can.

19. Key points at follow-up stage are:• Market the video
online inc. a short press release• Email clients or
contacts who would be interested• Follow-up on any
tweets, emails, Facebook comments, etc• Make sure
you check You Tube comments regularly (people like to
swear a lot for some reason on You Tube) • Track
your success; hits, views, comments, re-
tweets, mentions, etc.

20. So you now have 4 virgin steps for success -
Plan, Shoot, Review, CT and Follow-up. Put these into
practice and your first time will be as good as you hope.

21. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Internet-Marketing-
Zone/127959873936862/