With social media being such a crucial part of any marketing plan, many businesses are looking to create videos to promote products, services, and causes. While videos were originally used as a tool for entertainment, today they’re much more than that.

According to HubSpot Blogs’ research, 86% of consumers have watched product demos or videos to learn about products. Additionally, 63% of consumers use videos to entertain themselves while browsing products. Finally, videos can expose consumers to products they might not have seen before, leading them to make purchases that they might not have made otherwise.

If you’re looking to take your marketing strategy to the next level and consider using video content, check out these five steps to creating an online marketing video.

1. Set a goal for why you’re making the video and what you’ll accomplish with it.

Before you start making a video, you’ll need to set a goal for why you’re making it and what you’ll accomplish with it. It could be as simple as persuading a specific audience to take a certain action or achieving brand awareness among a certain group of people.

When deciding on the content for your video, it’s important to consider the purpose behind the video content. One of the biggest mistakes you could make is creating mindless entertainer videos for your Instagram when you actually need to be shooting informative videos for your YouTube channel.

The last thing you want to do is to confuse your audience, thinking that one of the videos contains valuable information while the other is just for fun.

2. Choose a platform.

Once you’ve set your goal for why you’re creating the video, you need to choose a platform. The internet, and especially YouTube, is full of video creators who could potentially shape your video content strategy.

If you’d like to create a travel guide type of video, consider using the travel platform, Google Maps, to capture travel itineraries and incorporate them into an informative video. Or if you’d like to create an explainer video to showcase how a certain product or service works, consider using an online tool like Vidyard to record yourself talking through the process.

3. Select a topic for your video.

Once you’ve decided on the platform, you need to choose a topic for your video. When selecting the topic for your video, you want to consider whether or not it’s a popular topic among your target audience. If you decide that your audience is indeed interested in your topic, create an explainer video to introduce the topic to your audience.

If your topic is something that is already somewhat prominent in the news, consider using existing materials to create an explainer video. For example, if you’re covering the Corona virus and selecting a topic such as masks, consider using existing articles and videos from reputable news sources.

4. Identify the key messages you’ll convey in your video.

Now that you have a topic for your video, you’ll need to identify the key messages you’ll convey in your video. When selecting key messages, it’s important to keep in mind the objectives of the video.

If you’re trying to persuade an audience to take a certain action or make a purchase, consider using evidence-based messaging to convey your key messages. For example, if you’re trying to convince your audience to buy a product, show them how that product can solve their problem.

When choosing a song for your video’s soundtrack, be mindful of the impact it will have on your audience. If your audience is mostly comprised of millennials, for example, they might not listen to music very often and can easily be distracted by an intrusive or jarring soundtrack.

5. Create a pitch deck.

Finally, you’ll need to create a pitch deck to present your key messages to a client or agency. A pitch deck is essentially a fully realized marketing plan, designed to make your case to a potential partner or buyer. It should include all the information you learned in the previous steps and should be formatted in a way that will make your case easily digestible. Once complete, take some time to review your pitch deck and make necessary revisions before presenting it to the outside world.

While creating a pitch deck is not as easy as it seems, having one will greatly assist you in communicating your marketing strategy to potential collaborators.