Businesses and brands that are killing it at the content marketing game know that a variety of video content is crucial to targeting and nurturing their audience, and has the ultimate power to win customers.

They also know that YouTube reigns as one of the best ways to connect with viewers searching for content to consume, whether for entertainment, information or lifestyle interest.

A recent poll, shared by Google, asked viewers what they use YouTube for primarily. And, while YouTube is a massive video playground full of comedy clips, music videos, late-night entertainment shows and more, the poll showed that the majority of people use it for answering questions and learning how to do something.

Video Viewers Want How-To Videos

• A whopping 65% of people said they turn to YouTube for help fixing something in their home or car.
• 56% said they use YouTube videos to learn something new.
• 54% – To help solve a problem
• 54% – To satisfy curiosity

Are you sensing a trend here?  This is clearly a solid case for why How-To videos are crucial to your video marketing strategy. Read on for tips on crafting your How-To videos as part of a winning video marketing strategy…

Leverage Your Search Keywords for better SEO     

Take a look at your best–ranking search terms to understand what people are searching, and what offers you strong results in terms of accurate leads.  Be sure to address those how-to questions and work those into titles and dialogue within your videos.

Address Current Customer Needs

If you have a customer support team, start with the questions that are most frequently asked of them. If you don’t try running a survey or poll with your current customer base.

Address the Entire Customer Journey

Walk through your ideal customer’s journey, from them searching online for how they will solve their problem, to them viewing your content, to what they would do next. Consider all the steps throughout the entire journey, from information they need in order to consider a product, make a purchase, or support they’ll need in using the product or service.

Consider The Viewer’s Emotional State

Some of the most common emotions leading into the search will be: stress, confusion or uncertainty, fear, lack of direction, inconvenience and more.  Or, they could be experiencing excitement, yearning, motivated, passionate…it depends on the topic or problem at hand.

Depending on your area of business, be sure to consider how most of your target audience is feeling and the feelings you want to create for them in order to truly help them and make them a customer.

Create a NEW Emotional State, and Brand Loyalty

You want to address the viewers problems, but craft content that makes them feel like their problems have been solved or will be solved with continued use of your content. Help them feel prepared, inspired, smarter, less stressed, accomplished and enthusiastic!

There are a lot of ways you can do this; working these considerations into your script, visuals, music as well as titles and supporting text is critical. It helps create the bond between you and the viewer, and it nurtures their loyalty to your content and your brand.

Create Content for Them, Regularly

Again, going back to the customer journey, you have to think about what it’s like for them when they’re searching for this How-To or tutorial video. Are they in a time crunch? Are they on the go? Are they under stress? It will only benefit you to have video content produced in a way that will meet with viewer expectations and practical or logistical needs.

For example, I’ve personally looked at How-To videos and dropped out of them within 8 seconds because I could already tell they weren’t getting to the point. I’ve also overlooked some of the video options because of an inability to use the audio.

Consider these things when producing your How-To videos to make them more viewer friendly:

• Make them mobile-friendly with large, clear shots of what’s being done, and with subtitles.
• Make them follower-friendly with a step-by-step approach.
• If the video moves way too slow, viewers could get frustrated. Remember, it can always be paused and played as they choose.
• If you’re sharing to social, you have less than 2 seconds to capture attention in a viewers feed, so make your first 3 seconds visually clear with clear and important title or subtitles.

And finally, remember that not every customer is won with a single play of a video. Regular content is key to continually engaging your ideal customer and creating brand loyalty. So, be sure to create various How-to or tutorial videos, each one concisely addressing a single topic or question.