Video is without doubt the crown jewel of content marketing, simply because it is the closest medium to real life. Think how our brains are wired; sight, sound and motion.

Imagine if at this point, video was a key strategy for all Action Sports brands. The industry would be a leader and certainly have a high profile, which would be reflected in participation and sales.

The upside for a start-up through to medium size Action Sports Brand or Business is that video can play a major role in developing brand awareness and engagement, which ultimately will lead to growth. It is extremely cost effective, can make your business seem larger than what it actually is, provide a creative way in which your products are communicated and multiple calls to action.

Video is the ideal content for social networks and there are many clever strategies where the 2 work brilliantly together.

There are three key components to Video Marketing when considering your strategy:

1.Content - What do I want my content to do, what response do I want?

2.Distribution / Syndication - Who do I want to see my content?

3.Budget / ROI - What do I want to get from my-spend?

Video Content

Video content normally falls into one of these high-end categories:

·Branded Editorial

·Advertorial

·Educational

·How-To's

I believe it is critical to connect with consumers at a local or grass roots level. There are so many creative ways to get your message across, the days of traditional media are fading quickly as markets are so much more fragmented and self selected.

I see a lot of video content based around sponsored athletes, events and products.

Lets look at an example where we could do things differently with content around a product.

The product is a mountain bike.

·Firstly, you could do an in-situ product demonstration or review and make sure it has a call to action - like, you can test this bike at your local dealer or some sort of incentive to purchase or win a bike.

·Secondly, develop How To content featuring the bike - How to climb difficult terrain, how to tackle a drop off - check our product review video or go to our website for more info.

·Support the product by producing a quick video outlining how to win a bike - send us your best MTB photo, tell us about your best MTB experience.

·The key is to syndicate this content out to reach your audience with the idea of a call-to-action. Facebook, YouTube Channel, Twitter, extreme sites, bike sites etc. You want to draw people back to your website or Facebook to purchase, get their details or at least engage with them.

This is just one of many ways you can leverage Video as a key marketing strategy for your Actions Sports Brand or Business.