Just like the leaves of an evergreen tree stay vibrant year-round, evergreen video content stays relevant and useful through any season (and in any stage of your marketing funnel).
Excellent evergreen content has the power to attract leads and move them through every stage of the marketing funnel. Because it is so long-lasting and versatile, evergreen content is extremely cost-effective and increases the overall ROI of your video marketing endeavors.
Here’s how to beef up your content strategy with timeless, sustainable videos you can use and reuse all year long:
1. Know the three main types of evergreen video content
Certain types of videos work best for evergreen content:
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Tutorials: Also called how-to videos, tutorials guide your audience through a skill or task in a helpful, easy-to-follow format.
Tutorials work well at the top of the funnel, exchanging useful information for a moment to show off your brand and your expertise.
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Explainer videos: This type of content stays evergreen by helping your audience understand a complicated issue, or by taking a deeper look into a subject of interest.
Explainer videos that point out or tackle a challenge that your product solves are particularly beneficial.
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Product demo videos: As long as your product (and the way your customers use your product) doesn’t change, your product demo videos will be evergreen.
This type of video can be useful at the top of the funnel to give an overview of how your product works, or towards the bottom of the funnel to walk your audience through a more complex aspect or use of your product.
2. Research and pre-planning
As with anything in marketing, planning, and research are key to proper execution:
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Audience pain points and challenges: Want someone to watch your video? Solve a problem for them! As you think about video topics, consider what challenges your ideal leads face. What questions and concerns do you often hear from leads? Your FAQs can be a content goldmine.
Conversely, your product may solve a challenge that your audience doesn’t even realize they have. In this case, videos that both identify and expand upon a problem you solve can be very effective.
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Target audience: Who do you need to reach with your evergreen video content? Consider your audience, where they are within the marketing funnel the buyer's journey, and what would be useful to them.
For example, top-of-funnel evergreen content needs to provide a hefty dose of value to a broad audience so that they’ll stick around long enough to get to know your brand. In the middle and bottom of the funnel, you can target specific buyer personas with more detailed information.
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Goals: What do you want your audience to learn about your brand and your offerings? What would you like them to do next? How will you measure success? Set expectations ahead of video creation, as you plan your content strategy.
3. Draft your script
It’s time to get those creative juices flowing! Writing a script takes some practice, especially when it comes to timing. Here are some pointers to get you started:
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Stick to the subject: Viewers quickly lose interest in overly complex video content. Make sure every aspect of your script ties into the overall topic in an easy-to-follow manner.
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Keep it short and sweet: Your entire video should be less than five minutes long, and as short as 1-2 minutes at the top of the funnel. Bite-size videos strengthen your strategy with consumable, eye-catching, relevant content.
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Include keywords: Your video transcript is a significant tool for SEO. Make sure you say your keywords throughout the video to ensure optimal ranking on YouTube and Google.
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Include a CTA: Refer to the goals you set during pre-planning. Where do you want your audience to go next? What would you like them to do? Be sure to include a clear call to action in each script.
4. In-house or outsource?
Your decision on whether to produce your evergreen video in-house or to outsource the task depends on several factors. What level of quality do you require? What are your limitations as far as time, skills, and equipment? What is your budget for each video?
Many businesses find that a simple video podcast format makes it easy to create effective evergreen content in-house without overextending their financial or technical resources.
5. Edit and brand your video
Your evergreen videos will require some level of editing to include things like call-to-action text and images, infographics, overlays, transitions, lower thirds, and more. Be sure to brand your video heavily by using your logo along with fonts, color schemes, and other elements specific to your style guide.
6. Select a hosting platform
Your hosting platform is more than just a place to stick your video. Hosting services offer a variety of analytics that can help you strengthen your content and optimize your video marketing efforts.
Look for services that track much more than just views. For example, some platforms provide audience insights like rewatches, heatmaps, and drop-offs to help you learn which parts of your video are the most (and the least) engaging.
Wistia, Vidyard, and Vimeo are some favorites (along with YouTube, of course).
7. Draft show notes and transcripts
Not only do show notes and transcripts increase accessibility and convenience for your viewers, but they are also important areas for SEO. Ensure that your show notes and other text like titles and video descriptions contain keywords. Your transcript should also include keywords as planned during the scripting phase.
Ready to create some valuable, ultra-useful evergreen videos? The experts at Tobe are here to help! Reach out and let us know what questions you have.
