What kind of video strategy should you have in place to ensure the success of your video marketing efforts? In order to achieve the results you want, it is important to clarify the purpose of your video marketing efforts and to create a video strategy that is well-balanced with your marketing efforts.
A tip for ensuring that your video marketing efforts are not a one-off is to use the HHH (Hero, Hub, Help/Hygiene) strategy framework (https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/youtube/schedule-your-content/) proposed by Google in 2014 regarding content marketing. This framework itself is not a new concept, but by thinking about it in combination with the marketing funnel rather than as a standalone concept, you can closely construct your video and overall marketing strategies and get closer to the optimal solution for your company.
We will introduce the points you need to check in order to maximize the return on investment and scale up your video marketing not only now but also in the future.
__Table of Contents__
– [What are the three types of videos classified based on the HHH Strategy?](#1-hhh3)
– [Let’s decide on the purpose, target, and scope of your video marketing](#2-)
– [Let’s create a budget for your video strategy](#3-)
– [Tips for achieving results with your video strategy](#4-)
## 1. What are the three types of videos classified based on the HHH (Three Hs) Strategy?
### Hero videos
“Hero” videos are videos aimed at achieving broad awareness. They focus on the brand and aim to increase brand awareness and familiarity, as well as to create a stronger bond with viewers, through high-quality videos that move the emotions of the viewer. For example, videos such as the ‘Just Do It’ campaign by NIKE and the iPhone campaign by Apple fall into this category.
### Hub videos
Hub videos are designed to encourage viewers to repeatedly visit your company’s website or media. Videos can be used to improve the user experience of your website and turn it into a resource. The following are examples of Hub videos
– **Interview videos:** Interviews with industry experts and influencers. It’s best if you can get positive comments during the interview
– **Product demo & explanation videos:** These are effective because you can talk about the benefits of your company’s products and services in real terms, not just to existing customers, but also to potential and prospective customers
– **Testimonial videos:** A testimonial is a recommendation for a product or service from a consumer or expert. It is more persuasive if the customer tells their own story about how your product or service has helped them in their own words
– **Conference and event videos:** If you record and edit your company’s conferences and events into short videos, and use them on your website, it is a good way to encourage repeat visits to your website
### Help videos
Help videos are aimed at search terms. In this case, the goal is to rank highly in search results and increase access and conversions. When the HHH strategy was first proposed, it was called “Hygiene” (hygiene habits), but it is now also called “Help”. This means videos that present information in an organized way to answer viewers’ concerns and questions. By creating videos that cover the main search terms in your industry, you can direct viewers to your owned media and create a deeper connection with them.
## 2. Decide on the objectives, target, and scope of your video strategy
As with other strategies, it is advisable to plan your video strategy in relation to the general marketing funnel. When you think about the HHH strategy and the marketing funnel side by side, it becomes easier to understand which type of video is targeted at which stage of the marketing funnel.
Let’s look at the items that should be considered when deciding on the purpose, target, and scope of video measures, by video type.
### Hero Video
In order to maximize the effectiveness of this type of video, it is necessary to consider both the creative and promotional strategies in detail. The target audience will be the widest, as it corresponds to the “awareness” stage of the marketing funnel.
– What do existing customers want? What is the hook that will attract the target audience?
– While eye-catching, beautiful video visuals are important, it is even more important to be able to tell a compelling and creative story
– In order to avoid the cost of video production spiraling out of control, it is important to ensure that the company clearly communicates the project outline to the video production company and that the video production company fully understands it
– Is the priority of the promotional strategy clear?
– Is it possible to optimize the video by using all the appropriate SNS and following the best practices for each SNS?
### Hub videos
It is important that this type of video can be published on an ongoing basis and that it contains content that will help people recognize and trust your company. The target audience is more specific than the target audience for Hero videos, as it corresponds to the “Interest” and “Comparison/Consideration” stages of the marketing funnel.
– Does the content have the power to move the emotions of the viewer?
– Does it arouse interest and deliver information properly?
– Does it contain content that can improve the viewer’s experience, such as the latest trends and technical information?
– Can it solve the problems that are preventing potential customers from making a purchase?
– If it is a video that proposes a product or service, can it appeal to the viewer by balancing functionality and benefits?
– Can you regularly release videos to encourage people to revisit your website (e.g. every Wednesday, or on the first day of every month)?
– Which social networking service should you use to spread the video?
### Help videos
For this type of video, **it is important that the content is useful for solving problems**. Whether it can improve your company’s SEO and whether it can provide detailed analysis are also important points. The target audience is more specific because it falls under the “purchase/customer retention” stage of the marketing funnel.
– What keywords have sufficient search volume to raise the priority of your efforts, taking SEO into account?
– As a basic point for appearing at the top of search results when keywords related to the theme of the video are searched, does the video title match the content?
– Can the video be personalized for each viewer? Can it be an interactive video that allows the viewer to take action?
– Can it provide insight that not only explains the problem but also solves it and leads to success?
– On which social networking sites should the video be spread?
## 3. Let’s create a budget for video measures
So, how should we decide on the budget allocation related to the examination of objectives, targets and implementation scope?
In order to achieve results with video marketing and develop it in the future, the best process is to make adjustments through repeated trial and error. This is because the content of products and services, the business environment, the strategy in line with the outline and objectives of the measures, and the interests and behavior patterns of customers differ depending on the situation, so it is not possible to make a general statement. However, there are some points that should be analyzed.
– What kind of media do your customers usually watch (digital/non-digital, TV, SNS, etc.)?
– What kind of content do they watch? What attracts their interest and attention?
– Which type of video is most effective for achieving your set objectives: Hero, Hub, or Help?
– Are there any parts of your HHH strategy that are lacking and need to be supplemented?
– What kind of realistic budget allocation would allow you to continue your video strategy and implement the PDCA cycle?
In general, Hero videos are expensive to produce and often require promotional costs too, so if you don’t have a large budget, it’s a good idea to start with Hub/Help video measures first, and then implement Hero video measures once these video measures are up and running.
## 4. Tips for achieving results with video measures
Considering budget and scale, it can be said that Hub and Help videos are the easiest to produce in large numbers and to improve through repeated PDCA cycles. In addition, by prioritizing the production of Help and Hub videos, which are closer to sales in the marketing funnel, and improving KPIs, it will be easier to scale up your overall video strategy. While constantly enhancing your Hub and Help videos, which are stored as assets on the Internet, attract more new targets to the marketing funnel with Hero videos that move viewers’ hearts, and maximize the results of your video strategy.
– **Hero videos:** Aim to tell a story and move your audience. It is also effective to create videos that people will want to share. To increase the diffusion effect, it is also a good idea to consider creating videos related to topical themes.
– **Hub videos:** Investigate what types of videos, such as interview videos and product demo videos, would be appreciated by potential customers and prospects who are the target of nurturing, and create them. Plan to regularly add more videos
– **Help videos:** Make your company website more competitive and develop it into a useful resource site. To do this, create and publish videos that include keywords that can strengthen SEO. It is also recommended to add subtitles to videos to strengthen SEO. Conduct detailed analysis of your videos and continue to make improvements to increase viewer satisfaction.
For Hub and Help videos, it is also effective to **make them interactive** as a way to increase viewer engagement. Typical examples are personalized videos and interactive videos.
– **Personalized video:** This involves inserting the viewer’s name into the video, or predicting what the potential customer wants to watch next and providing it. For example, sending a video introducing an upcoming event to a potential customer who has signed up for a webinar. **Delivering personalized videos that are timely and relevant to the viewer’s interests, tailored to each customer’s journey** will lead to potential customers developing an attachment to the brand more quickly.
– **Interactive videos:** By displaying options in the video and allowing the viewer to make a selection, it becomes possible to quickly reach the content that the viewer is interested in. This can promote a one-on-one dialogue between the company and the viewer, and improve the user experience and loyalty.
How did you find this article? You may be wondering where to start when it comes to video marketing, but we hope that you will find this article useful for planning and reviewing your video marketing.
