Video is one of the best tools marketers and business owners can use to build brand awareness, attract customers, and convert leads to sales.
It has an unparalleled power to connect with audiences, influence their emotional decisions, and move them along their buying journey.
Unfortunately, many companies make the mistake of focusing on trendy, of-the-moment content that loses relevance within a matter of weeks. But if you’re taking the time and money to invest in video, you want to make sure that it lasts for months – or even years – to come.
How do you do that? The answer is evergreen video content. Here’s everything you need to know to take full advantage of video, including seven evergreen video ideas that you’ll want to try out for yourself.
An evergreen video is content that remains relevant, delivers value to viewers, and is relevant long after it’s created. They are evergreen because they don't cover particular events, which is why viewers enjoy watching them regardless of when they were published.
Effective evergreen video content will:
Evergreen video can come in all different forms, but it should be focused on aspects of your business, products, or services that don’t change often. While content centered on trends and current events certainly have their place in marketing, their short shelf life can be a major limitation, especially for businesses who want every marketing dollar to count.
Since it’s lasting and sustainable, investing in evergreen video content is a smart marketing strategy that can pay for itself time and time again.
Evergreen video content will represent your organization across platforms for a while, so you want the quality to reflect your brand. But even if you don’t have an in-house video production team, you can create visually appealing content with just a little planning and some know-how.
Before you get down to the nitty-gritty of organizing your video production, it’s important to consider your overall strategy. If your organization already has a marketing strategy in place, determine where the videos will fit in. Take time to ask yourself some of these questions:
Answering these basic questions will give you direction for your content and allow you to use it in ways that serve a purpose and deliver the desired results.
Once you have a general idea of where your videos will fit into your overall strategy, think about what and who you’ll need before you hit record.
What, exactly, you need for your video will all hinge on what type of video you are producing. The needs for a scripted production can be a lot different than an off-the-cuff testimonial interview. Regardless, you should be aware of your video’s story and what it will convey.
If you’re producing scripted content, nail down the script early and be sure to clear it with the necessary stakeholders before moving on to other stages of production. For videos with more informal dialogue, outline what main points should be covered by the person on camera. And if you’re conducting an interview, determine what message you are hoping to get from the interviewee and what questions you can ask to get the desired answers.
After you know what your video will be about, think about who needs to be in front of the camera. Do you need to find satisfied customers for a testimonial? Will you use employees to tell the story of your organization? Do you need actors or models to perform for a scripted piece?
Coordinate with these people and find a shoot date that works for everyone. Be sure to give them ample time if they need to rehearse or memorize lines. If you will be conducting an interview, send potential questions to the interviewee early so they know what to expect and can mentally prepare answers.
It’s also important to think about who will be behind the camera. Even the smallest shoots benefit from having several hands helping out. At a minimum, there should be one person who can monitor the image and audio while the other directs the person or people in front of the camera.
Also take stock of what equipment you have access to and what you might need to buy, rent, or source from others. A camera, microphones, backdrop, and tripod are some of the basics to consider.
Finally, you’ll want to secure a filming location – even if it’s just booking a conference room in the office. When finding a location, consider:
If any of the answers present problems for your video production, find a solution before you shoot or find a new location.
After you’ve gone through the pre-production process, you’re ready for production! Photo and video technology have come a long way in the past decade, which means you can create a good quality video with consumer-grade equipment.
There are three big things to think about when recording that can make or break your final product:
Perhaps the most important thing to remember on the day of your video production is that you should expect the unexpected. No matter how much planning you do, there’s always the possibility of technical difficulties, scheduling problems, and more. In the world of video production, you always have to be ready to think on your feet and come up with innovative solutions to get the final product you want.
Your video content will all come together in the editing process. At this stage, you’ll focus on picking the best footage, editing it together to tell a story, and adding impactful touches.
We’ll talk more about exactly what you’ll need a little later, but at this phase, editing software will be necessary. This tool will allow you to edit together the best clips seamlessly, fix audio and image issues, and add things like special effects, titles, and music.
If all of this sounds like a major headache or out of your wheelhouse, you can still take advantage of video content. There are video marketing agencies and production companies around the world that specialize in helping businesses of all shapes and sizes get their content made.
Hiring a video marketing company doesn’t have to mean losing creative say in the product. There are many companies that take a collaborative approach and integrate the client every step of the way. Even if you wanted to handle some aspects of it – like planning and shooting the video – you can find teams out there that have the bandwidth to do what you don’t want to.
Though it may be more expensive than taking the DIY route, a dedicated video team will have the expertise and capabilities to bring your vision to life.
There is no one-size-fits-all format for evergreen videos. Opportunity is endless, but the key is to create videos that serve a purpose and are useful for your unique audience. Not sure where to even start? Here are seven that you can adapt for your business marketing needs.
Any company can tell you how great their product is and go on about all the problems that it solves. But having an unbiased customer tell you about how great the product is and how it helped them carries a lot more weight. Study after study shows the important role that testimonials and reviews play in the consumer buying cycle. The facts are simple – people trust online reviews and experiences of other customers more than they trust the brands themselves.
And nothing builds social proof quite like video testimonials.
Interview satisfied customers, employees, and volunteers, to craft a story about how your company or organization solves problems for the people you serve. These videos can help assure potential customers that your brand is credible, trustworthy, and an expert in the field.
All too often, a company’s online presence feels impersonal and robotic. Today’s customer wants to feel connected to the brands they buy from and the organizations that they support.
An “about us” story is a great opportunity to make a human connection and put faces to your brand’s name. Customers wanting to know more about your brand may have questions like:
A video that answers these questions can reside on your website and be shared across social media to establish your company’s story and raise brand awareness. The goal is to come across as authentic, trustworthy, and someone your customers should be excited to support.
Have you ever seen a quick, 30-second clip shared by a brand that immediately made you want to learn more or buy their product? Promo videos are snappy, engaging bits that capture people’s attention and draw them in further.
Don’t worry about getting in the weeds with this – a promo is meant to serve as a starting point for your customer’s journey. They should come away with a desire to learn more and a general idea about who you are. There’s no need to explain your portfolio of offerings or provide an in-depth of your company history. Keep it short and exciting!
These short clips can live on landing pages, be shared on social media, be used in email campaigns, or anywhere else you’re hoping to snag someone’s attention.
Your products and services aren’t the only things that can provide value to your customers. Educational content can be a tremendous resource for your audiences that provides long-term benefits for your company.
Whether you produce a how-to series, product tutorials, or industry-relevant learning videos, there are numerous benefits to creating educational content.
Like the other video ideas in this article, educational content works well across every platform. On your website, these videos can live under a “Resources” or “Help” tab. They can be shared across social media platforms, integrated into blog posts that expand on the topic, or compiled in a playlist on a video hosting site.
You might be wondering how brands with constantly evolving product lines can create videos that showcase who they are.
The answer? Customer experience videos. Instead of focusing on specific products or services, create content that focuses on the experiences you create for your customers. The key is to think in broad terms. At its core, what does your company do or facilitate?
For example, if you’re an outdoor apparel brand, you could create a video that focuses on the memories made when you’re outside. Rather than looking at the specific lines of clothing that you offer – which may change season to season – highlight the experiences that your customers have in your clothes.
In every business, some aspects don’t change. Use video to hone in on these and show audiences what they have to gain – aside from the products themselves – when they join your brand’s community.
Case studies are an excellent tool to help your potential customers assess whether or not you are the right solution to their problem. Like testimonials, they serve as social proof that your company does what it says it can do and brings credibility to your name.
However, case studies also tell a story. They detail how your customer started with a problem, talk about the steps taken, and ultimately show how your product or service helped them overcome their challenges.
And what better way to tell a story than with video? Instead of sharing written case studies, opt for video versions that serve as mini-documentaries about a specific time where your product served its purpose.
You might think that live streams are the most fleeting form of video content. However, recorded live streams can be repurposed and exist on other platforms as evergreen content. There are dozens of ways to use live streams ranging from large conference events to weekly shows with industry thought leaders.
Live streams give people the opportunity to attend live events that otherwise would not have been able to make it; reusing your recorded live streams lets you extend that opportunity even further to include those who couldn’t join the initial stream.
To get started, you’ll need a few video software tools to help you create these evergreen videos.
Video editing software allows you to bring your footage together to create a seamless and visually engaging final product. These programs give you the ability to remove portions of your footage, splice clips together, and add images, titles, logos, and more into your video. Many systems also let you control what the image looks like, allowing you to adjust colors, brightness, and more.
Software choices range from basic systems to professional-grade tools that editors of feature-length films use. Generally speaking, the more an editing software can do, the larger the learning curve will be. Luckily, there are plenty of beginner-friendly tools out there that allow you to make basic edits, create simple effects and titles, and add music.
Your video content won’t do much good if you don’t have a place to put it! Video hosting platforms give videos a place to live. Once your content is made, you will ideally upload it to a hosting service that allows you to embed it on social platforms and integrate it into your website.
The most common name in web hosting is YouTube, but there are dozens of hosting platforms that all come with their unique advantages.
If you plan on live streaming, you’ll also need to explore your live stream software options. This software will enable you to share your stream with live audiences and record it for later use as evergreen content. Depending on what software you choose, you can do things like add in graphics, photos, other videos, remote feeds, and more.
It’s a fast-paced and ever-changing world, but sometimes, not covering the latest news and hottest topics pays off. By focusing on elements of your business or industry that don’t change, you can create quality evergreen videos that spark interest, drive traffic, and inform audiences for years to come.
With a little planning, know-how, and the right tools, any business can produce effective content that can live on any platform. Use the seven video ideas outlined in this guide to jumpstart your evergreen content strategy and make video a marketing tactic that keeps giving.
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