For those of you just starting to dip your toes into video marketing strategy and unsure of how to get the most out of it, here’s our step-by-step guide to help you along the way.

Why Video Marketing Works

Five years ago, video was optional in digital marketing. No one questioned your credibility if you didn’t use it. Almost 40% of businesses didn’t in 2018. In a post-Covid era, though, if that’s still you, it’s time to catch up. According to Wyzowl, as of 2025, 89% of businesses have embraced the powerful potential of video as a sales and marketing tool.

If you want your voice heard and a serious return on your marketing dollar, a solid video marketing strategy and thoughtfully created videos are the proven winner. According to Statista, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text. Hubspot’s 2025 State of Marketing Report also indicates that more marketers are seeing high ROI from short-form videos than from images, live-streamed videos, podcasts, audio content, and user-generated content.

To make your videos as effective and engaging as possible, you need to create an emotional connection with your audience. Social media influencers are experts at that. They build parasocial relationships with their audiences and, using proven credibility, persuade them to get excited about brands and primed to buy the products they endorse. How do they make themselves credible? By ensuring that their video content always includes these four ingredients: 

The tools for making videos have vastly improved and become much more accessible since 2018, as well. With a little scripting, editing and distribution strategy, one video can result in dozens of useful clips. Video isn’t optional any more. It’s your loudest, clearest, and most compelling voice. Use it, or risk going unheard.

Know Your Video Marketing Strategy Before You Hit Record

Before you jump right in and hit that red record button, your video marketing strategy should start with clear goals about the type of video you’re going to make. Are you trying to:

Drive sales?

Want to increase your bottom line? The Short Form Social Ads we mentioned earlier are a proven ROI powerhouse because they grab attention quickly and are optimized for mobile and social algorithms. These ads can drive potential customers straight to your landing page. For those in the consideration stage, Product Demo/Explainer Videos clearly show how your product works and the problems it solves. Pair them with Client Transformation Videos and Customer Testimonial Videos to build trust with social proof. Bonus: These testimonial-style videos also improve your website SEO by increasing engagement and dwell time on your website.

Build Brand Awareness?

If your new business needs to get noticed, you need a Brand Story Video that tells the world about your mission, values, and showcases your unique personality. Behind-the-Scenes and “Meet the Team” Videos add authenticity and help audiences connect with the faces behind the brand. To take it further, create shareable, fun Social Media Reels and Tiktoks to tap into viral trends and expand your reach.

Educate Your Audience?

Educating your audience is a powerful way to build credibility and foster long-term engagement. How-To/Tutorial Videos aimed at solving common pain points can position you as an expert and help your customers solve real problems. Webinars or Workshop Videos give you a chance to dive deep into a subject and capture leads along the way. FAQ Videos not only present useful info, but can also help reduce pesky support tickets and customer complaints. Want to really spark some engagement while you’re at it? Go live with a Customer Q&A session. Real-time interaction builds trust and fosters your customers’ loyalty.

Scripting Your Story

Customers don’t just buy products. They buy stories. A great story is the heart of any effective video marketing strategy, keeping your brand in their minds long after the screen goes dark.” We’ve discussed why this works on the Journey Momentum blog before, but it really comes down to using emotional connections to tap into the brain’s natural way of remembering and processing information. By crafting a compelling story, you literally make your brand unforgettable.

Build Emotional Connection With Every Frame

The best stories to tell via online videos are short, clear, and intentional. To write a script that meets those criteria:

• Begin with a clear hook in the first 3 seconds. You’re in a competition for attention out there. Use quick, eye-catching movement and a scroll-stopping first line to pique their curiosity. Driving sales or educating your audience? Pose a compelling question about a pain point. Building Brand Awareness? Be bold about telling your audience why your brand matters.
  
• Show a transformation, results, or otherwise demonstrate your expertise. Selling or educating? Provide a relatable Before and satisfying After (with time frames if relevant) and explain processes simply. Building awareness? Show how your brand has evolved or what makes your selling proposition unique.
  
• Include a clear call-to-action (CTA). Always align your CTA with the video’s purpose, whether that’s to “Buy Now,” “Subscribe for more weekly advice,” or “Download our free guide.” Creating a sense of urgency (ex: “limited time offer”) can increase conversions. Need some ideas? Take a look at our free CTA Swipe File, free with our Emails That Convert series:

Include FESA (Facts, Expertise, Similarity, and Attractiveness) to ensure that the content is credible, relatable, and emotionally engaging, and you’ve got a winning content combination.

Pro Tip: Plan for repurposing during scripting. Use short, punchy statements that can stand alone for Instagram captions and pull quotes for carousels. Behind-the-scenes clips, product shots, and Before and After visuals can be repurposed on your website as excellent content for blog posts and product demo clips, and in social and email teasers. One well-planned video can become a week’s worth of evergreen content.

Filming Your Story: Keep It Real (and Mobile-Friendly)

“Don’t worry about what’s cool and what’s not cool. Authenticity is what’s cool.”

~ Zac Posen, American Fashion Designer

Odds are good you’ve got all the filming tools you need in your hand right now, if you’re reading this from your cellphone. You can execute a strong video marketing strategy even with minimal equipment. Don’t get us wrong. Fancy equipment is nice. It can give you a higher image quality, better audio, and that lighting that can give you that impeccably professional, performance-ready look. But at the end of the day, authenticity wins over perfection, especially online. People trust people, not polish, and while perfection may impress, authenticity is what converts.

A Few Quick Tips to Prep Your Phone for Filming

Clean your lens, charge up your battery, and free up some storage space first. If you want to splurge, get a tripod to stabilize your shot, but you can also just film with your elbows down close to your body and using both of your hands to minimize the shaky cam. If you’re shooting for Reels, TikToks, or Stories, those should all be filmed vertically. Making content for YouTube or your website? Go widescreen.

Audio Matters More Than You Think

Prioritize your audio, especially if you’re outside. Wind noise can really kill a great shoot. A $15 clip-on lavalier mic with a foam cover will vastly improve sound, or you can work on it in post-production. There are a lot of great video editing software options out there. Some of the easiest to use, CapCut and Adobe Premiere Rush, both have basic wind noise reduction tools.

Posting Strategy for Maximum Impact

Made a video you’re excited to share? Incorporate it into your overall video marketing strategy by planning your release carefully. Sharing it at the right time, on the right platform, and in the right format will help it reach and resonate with your audience.

Where to Share for Real Results

To maximize your reach, post across platforms that favor short-form, engaging content. Consider the following:

• Instagram Reels – Great for reach and engagement with built-in audio trends to find the right song for an ear-catching soundtrack
• TikTok – Raw, relatable content is particularly suited here and more likely to go viral
• YouTube Shorts – Posting here gives you access to YouTube’s vast ecosystem, boosting your discoverability and search visibility
• Stories (Instagram/Facebook) – Ideal for time-sensitive CTAs and behind-the-scenes moments
• Your Website – Embed videos on key landing pages to improve website engagement and SEO

Best Times to Post (and How to Find Yours)

What’s the best time to post? While audience behavior varies across subject matter and industries, generally Tuesdays–Thursdays between 9-11AM or 6-9PM tend to get the most engagement. This is as good a starting place as any to benchmark performance. From there, use your platform analytics to refine your timing based on engagement from the audience you’re targeting.

Get More Mileage By Repurposing

Above all, don’t let that great content you’ve created stop at one platform. Repurpose it intentionally:

• Clip 15–30 second sections into Reels, TikToks, and Shorts.
• Transcribe the main message from your video into a blog post or e-newsletter.
• Email the video out with a CTA and powerful, value-packed summary.
• Screenshot key frames from your video or use quotes for carousel or graphic posts.
• Pull quotes from the script to use in social captions or stories.

Use Video Metrics to Sharpen Your Strategy

With your content strategically shared and repurposed across platforms, the next step is to track its performance so you can refine, improve, and make every video work harder for you. Keep an eye on your metrics for views, watch time, engagement, and clicks. With your performance data in hand, you’ll be ready to analyze your performance trends. If you find that you have a low watch time at the 30-second mark, for example, think about how you can make your videos shorter or more dynamic. Experiment with your CTA styles, post times, and content formats to see what really engages your audience best. Regularly review your video analytics after each post to identify patterns early, keeping your content fresh and aligned.

Your Business Goals in Focus

Yes, we all want our videos to be perfect, but a beautifully scripted, dramatically filmed, and painstakingly edited video isn’t really the goal of this kind of marketing. It’s about being authentic and present, bringing the FESA, and building that parasocial relationship with your audience. Show up regularly, share your value, and customers will show up, too.

Need a little help getting started? Sign up for our free Video Script Starter Kit.

Still unsure? Reach out to us directly at Journey Momentum. We’ll help you turn your story into high-performing content.

Make it a great week online, everyone!