Video: The Lifeblood of a Modern Content Marketing Strategy

Clark Diemer owns and manages Left Hook Videos, an Associate of Strategic Choice Partners. He’s provided video production and creative marketing services within the direct sales industry for over ten years. His Dallas-based team provides video marketing services for several direct sales companies.

Clark Diemer
Video: The Lifeblood of a Modern Content Marketing Strategy

It’s no secret today that online video content is a key element to any good sales and marketing strategy, and the statistics for online videos prove this ten times over. I believe that online video content is even MORE critical for direct selling companies compared to traditional companies because of the sales force/distributor base. This is no surprise to any direct sales company. The problem I see so often is that too many direct selling companies do not put enough emphasis on the volume of videos they put out. In today’s day and age, you need quality AND quantity when it comes to videos.

In the event that you are not 100% convinced that video is key to your sales and marketing strategy, here are just a few statistics for you to chew on.

• 85% of all Internet users in the United States watched online video content in the past month on their device. (Statista 2018)
• Internet users spent an average of 6 hrs & 48 mins per week watching videos online (Limelight, 2019)
• In 2022 82% of the global internet traffic will come from video streaming and downloads (Citco, 2019)
• Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year (Insivia, 2020)
• 72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video than (HubSpot, 2020)

On top of all this data, the Covid-19 pandemic has created what essentially is a digital bonfire where most of America is spending a great deal of time on their devices, and brands are either telling their marketing story around this proverbial bonfire or they are simply missing out on the opportunity to do so.

At Left Hook Videos, our team has been creating video content for direct selling companies for over 10 years and our goal has always been to create videos that serve as a silver bullet for the field to fire.

In general, almost all direct selling companies provide their field with the following core videos:

• Brand Story/Company Overview
• Informational/Product Promos
• Event/Trip Promos
• Success Stories/Testimonials
• How To Get Started

Some companies have these videos integrated into their social media strategy. While all of these videos are absolutely essential, what your field and your brand NEED is so much more. You need much more volume to stand out from the crowd than just a few of these basic informational videos. I understand the hesitation and the reasons why a lot of companies do not produce video content by the truckload. Below are just a few of the most common I’ve heard:

• “It’s too expensive.”
• “We don’t have the manpower or the bandwidth.”
• “We have other priorities.”
• “Creating video content is difficult and too time consuming.”

Sound familiar? All of the above mentioned reasons are real, and depending on the size of your company, more video may seem impossible to even consider. However, not producing fresh and ongoing video content for your field to share with the world in 2020 is a mistake you cannot afford to make. In a social-media-centric world, video is the fuel that keeps that content engine flowing. And your distributors are begging for it.

There is not an industry out there that can offer as much value, inspiration and creative video content as the direct selling industry. In our experience, the PEOPLE and the PRODUCTS that make up direct selling companies are the content that should and can be leveraged more often. Your field will always appreciate you pumping out short, creative, and fun videos for them to like and share, and you can never supply too many!

In the same way, you can never share too many stories about your field and their love for your products and your company.

Some companies understand the need for more video content, but feel that they just cannot make it happen right now due to budget. Budgetary concerns don’t have to stop you from producing great content.

Here are two helpful ideas in creating fresh content that won’t break the bank:

1.Take current “long form videos” and cut out 15-30 second nuggets, add music and a simple introduction and ending.

2. Incentivize your field via social media to create and submit a 30-60 second video with content such as:

• • Their passion for the company and products.
  • Any success or feel good stories they may have.
  • Showing how they like to take or use the products.
  • The type of financial or time freedom they have been able to experience since being part of your company (be careful with those income claims!)
  • Anything involving kids and pets! (the web loves kittens!)

Be sure when incentivizing your field that you give guidelines/instructions. One thing you can do to help your field create these videos, is to create an example video in which you walk them through the type of video you are looking for.

So what does a more appropriate amount of video content look like? We believe that there is no such thing as too many videos, but understand that there must be a realistic goal in place.

Setting a goal to pump out 2-4 online videos a week (not including the bigger videos that you already have scheduled to go out) is a great place to start.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating fresh video content:

• Try to keep them under 60 seconds.
• Keep it upbeat and fast paced to help maintain viewer engagement.
• You can never go wrong with funny and witty.
• Adding stock footage can help immensely. One option for stock videos is to utilize resources such as Storyblocks.
• Add music and try to use different tracks for each video. ArtList is a great place to start.
• Remember that sometimes perfection is the enemy of progress. Not posting a video for weeks because you don’t feel it is 100% perfect can oftentimes be a mistake. Get that content out there!
• Have at least two people review and proof the video before posting. Things like spelling errors can turn a great video into a bad video very quickly.
• If you start to increase your video content output by even just 20%, your field leaders WILL be thankful and you will see that reflected in their engagement and in the numbers they produce.

If you are looking for a place to get started, I want to encourage you to check out some of the videos that we have created here. This portfolio can help you come up with concepts for your company, perhaps spark creativity, and will give you a better understanding of the videos we have been referring to in this article.

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