Video ad creation sits on that fine line between an art form and a clear methodology. While creativity definitely has an important place in the process, it’s not a dependable commodity that we, as businesses, can always count on. Like any form of content creation, video-making isn’t made up of erratic sprints – it’s a steady-paced marathon.

That’s why we are big fans of forming the right habits. Habits make it possible for us to do things without spending exorbitant mental effort.  Video creation habits are especially crucial for those of us who have businesses to run and can only allot a limited amount of time and brainpower to our marketing videos (as important as they may be). 

We can’t wait for a magical epiphone or our inner artist to wake up. We need to be able to create a consistent stream of quality video ads that align with our business’s marketing strategy on a regular basis.

To get you started, we listed a few tips that we found to be the most effective in making video creation a habit. 

1. Start with a strategy

This is where you lay the groundwork for habit-forming – your roadmap to all of your video marketing efforts. Now is the time to determine what you are working with and what you are working for. This includes:

• Goals –  What do you want to achieve with video marketing?
• Frequency – How often should you post your video ads?
• Platforms – Where do you plan on sharing your videos?
• Budget – How much can you afford to spend on your video advertising efforts?

To organize your entire strategy in an accessible format, we recommend that you put it all in a video posting calendar. Put every important date in the calendar ahead of time so you can stretch your budget accordingly and never miss a marketing opportunity.  Bookmark your calendar and start a habit of checking it daily to see what upcoming videos you should get started on. Important dates in the calendar should not only include the video post date but also the date that you should start creating your video to ensure your campaign has time to run. 

Pro tip: The Promo.com social marketing calendar not only marks all of the post-worthy events but also provides you with ready-made videos to post every day. All you have to do is add your logo and share on your socials – saving you tons of time and giving you quality content to engage your audience.

2. Establish your brand voice

To form good habits means that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you sit down to create a video (because it’s not good for your overall marketing strategy either). For your videos and any other type of user-facing content that you create, it’s important that you stay on brand with a clear, recognizable voice that aligns who you are as a brand and the audience segment you are targeting.

According to a study by McKinsey and Company, businesses that remain consistent with their branding are 20% more successful than those who do not. This is a habit that is worth forming sooner rather than later. Once you nail down your brand voice and make an effort to stick to it with every video that you create, it will soon become second nature and you won’t have to think about it twice.

Pro tip: We recommend creating a brand persona and writing down all the qualities and values that your business holds. Your brand persona can be anything from a character or a mascot to a simple idea. The important thing is that you make it visual and accessible so that you can fully envision it, or better yet print it out and hang on your wall as a constant reminder.

3. Get to know your video-making tools

Even if you stage, film and edit every video from scratch all on your own, it’s important to know what tools and resources you have at your disposal before you can start making it a realistic long-term habit. While we’re a little bias in favor of Promo.com (because it’s obviously the best), at different stages in your company’s growth and with different team members to give attention to video marketing, you may find additional tools to add to your arsenal.

You should always know what you can and can’t realistically execute before you start fleshing out your video marketing plan. Consider what type of videos you can create and how long it will take you to create each video. That way, you already come prepared every time you sit down to make a video and can avoid (most) surprises or inconveniences, allowing you to form a habit naturally.

Pro tip: Before you start making videos for your business, take the Promo Editor for a test drive. Take some time just to play around with it and check out its capabilities and features. Make some notes of clips and features you want to use in the future and see how much time it takes for you to make a full video so you can effectively plan your strategy.

4. Set a video-making schedule

To turn an activity into a habit, you need to do it regularly, consistently, and preferably, at a set time. Think about habits like going to the gym, cleaning the house, and calling your mother – the likelihood of you actually doing it decreases if you do it sporadically. Depending on how many videos you plan on making a week, set an allotted amount of time that is 100% dedicated to video making. 

For example, you can decide that every Monday morning you will create all the videos you need for the week. Following the above tips, your calendar will tell you what videos you need, you are already familiar with your video-making tools and you know what your brand voice should sound like. You’ve outlined everything you need to sit down and focus on the videos themselves without dealing with all the distractions around it.

Pro tip:  You will slip up. You will forget one week or you just won’t have the time. According to Forbes’, “The Science Behind Adopting New Habits”, the golden rule is “Never Miss Twice”. It’s important not to throw in the towel every time you miss a video-making session but recognize that once you start missing it regularly – that is the habit you will start forming.

5. Create a video-making routine 

Okay, you have everything you need to start creating videos, you’re at your desk, with your calendar on one side, your visual brand persona on the other, and your video creation platform at your fingertips.  You know that this week you have to make 2 videos, one to wish your customers a happy holiday and one to announce a big sale. Check. Check. Check.

But still – where do you start? You need a video-making routine. You need to determine how you start creating your video, how you finish it off and the sequence of activities in between.

Pro tip: This is the video making routine that we recommend: 

• Start with the CTA – Once you write down your call-to-action, you have simplified the goal of your video. If the goal of the video is to announce a new product, you can choose between “Click below to order”, “Come get one at 123 Main St.” or any other action you want the viewer to take after watching the video. By honing in on a clear CTA, the rest of the video will follow suit.
• Write the script – Now that you know what your end goal is, you can begin the storytelling. Whether it’s a joke, a pun, a story or a simple announcement, now is when you should decide. Writing video copy is easier than you think – Learn how here.
• Find the footage – Using Promo’s search tool, find the footage that most resonates with your ultimate message. Learn how here.

Note: Sometimes a video clip will inspire us to write certain copy (like this one), often making the last two steps interchangeable.

• Select the music – Enhance your message and footage with the best music track. Learn how here.
• Review your video – Watch and rewatch to ensure that the graphics, fonts, and colors are consistent and correlate with your overarching message. Don’t hesitate to go back and continue tweaking.
• Adjust to distribution channels – Note where you want to boost and share your video and make sure to publish it in the right aspect ratios for those platforms.
• Get ready for publishing – Once your video is complete, make sure it is ready to publish. Insert into Buffer, into an email draft, or if the timing is right – publish directly on your social channels. Don’t create it and forget it.

If you’re really in a rush, you can find one of Promo.com’s ready-made templates that fit your goal and customize it in a matter of minutes.

6. Look back

This listicle isn’t just about forming the habit of creating marketing videos but creating good videos. That means that before you sit down for your allotted video-making time slot, take a look back at the videos you created previously. Check out the analytics and see how they performed so that you can apply these important insights to optimizing your new videos.

Measuring your videos’ performance and improving upon them is crucial to video marketing success. Learn what your audience likes, what resonates with them and which videos achieve your ultimate goal. If it worked, find a way to replicate the winning elements while trying something new. If it didn’t work, try to isolate the problem by testing it against your new video.

Pro tip: Before you release a video, make sure to note what is it that would make that particular one successful – is it likes? Shares? Conversion? Good feedback? That’s the only way that you can measure its performance after the fact.

7. Don’t stifle your creativity

As a business, we know you’re busy with a billion other tasks every single day. That’s exactly why it’s important to build video marketing into your routine. However, while forming habits is a practical endeavor, it doesn’t mean that there’s no room for creativity. 

Habit-forming is to help you make a good video without too much brainpower, but that doesn’t mean dropping our creativity. We all have a little bit of creativity in us (yes, even you shaking your head) and it doesn’t hurt to stretch those muscles once in a while. You don’t need to be too artistic to announce a sale, but it’s those original ideas only you can know about your business that really have that viral-potential.

Pro tip: If you have a strike of creativity or an epiphone throughout the day – don’t ignore it! Even if you don’t have the time, you’re on the phone with a customer or in a meeting, just take three seconds to write it down and circle back to it the next time you have a scheduled video making session.

Why it’s worth it 

Video content has the power to take your business to new heights. While this video-making might seem like just another task on your list, it’s one of the most important efforts for your business’s success. Just as an example, over 50% of all internet users look for videos about a product or service before making a purchasing decision. That is not something that any business can afford to miss out on.

Integrate video-making into your daily habits today to start seeing real results in the future.

Don’t have a video maker yet? Check out Promo.com today and start forming the right habits!