How to create a video content mission statement
If you’re in business, you have a mission statement stating the reason you are in business, who you serve and how you serve them. When you are creating video you need a video content mission statement that does the same thing.
When I work with clients on creating strategy, (after we’ve done an assessment of where they are with their business), we create or revisit their mission, vision and values statement. It’s a way to evaluate if the actions they are taking in alignment with their mission.
The first step in creating a video strategy is creating a video content mission statement. Think of it as a road map to how you decide to create video content. It will answer three questions: what you do, how you do it and why.
Your video content mission statement will help you stay on target when you are developing content for your videos.
It will ensure you are creating the right content for your audience to help them through whatever pain points they are dealing with AND deliver value.
Joe Piluzzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, has a great philosophy around content marketing mission statements:
He says "in developing your content strategy: your why must come before the what. He says while This seems obvious, most marketers have no mission statement or core strategy behind the content they develop."
He continues ” content marketing is not about “what you sell” it’s about “what you stand for.”
The informational needs of your customers and prospects come first. Although there must be clear marketing objectives behind the mission statement, those should not be outlined here.
Last week I talked about why you need a video content strategy. Your homework was to think about the types of videos you want to create and what that would look like.
The goal of the exercise is to get you thinking about the types of videos that will serve your viewers and why you want to create that type of content.
This week, I take it one step further and walk you through how to shape that into an actual video content mission statement.
The cool thing about doing this is it will help you line up with your overall business mission and keep you on target.
There’s a huge sense of power that comes from knowing that the steps you are taking support your end goal. Remember, if you don’t know where you are going any road will do.
Okay, if you're ready to take another step toward creating your video strategy, let’s dive in.
Step one: what type of content are you creating?
Is it Educational, inspirational, entertaining? A combination? Get really clear about this. Last week’s exercise was designed to give you some insight on that. If you didn’t have a chance to listen to episode 42.
Flesh this out.
"I create easy to consume and simple to implement content to help you show up with confidence on camera by educating and and inspiring through interviews with experts."
Step two: who are you creating this content for and what problem are you solving? Who is your target audience and what are their pain points?
You need to have a clear sense of who your content is tailored for. There are lots of resources out there to walk you through the process of identifying your core audience, so we’re not going to cover that here.
It’s worth every minute of the time you invest researching this because you’ll know that the content you’re creating is resonating with the people you want to serve. You will save so much time when you sit down to create your videos.
A good place to start is with your existing customer descriptions. Take some time to understand their preferences. Is video a good way to reach them and what types of content will work best for them. This will help you to build your video audience description.
By knowing your audience and whether they use video it will guide you to what point in their journey video is most useful.
"I create content for high achievers who need to use video for business and don’t have the time or the luxury of learning how to be confident on camera through trial and error."
Since 54 percent of my market says they prefer video to text, it makes it easier to plan my content.
Step three: what is the outcome or result you want to deliver through your content? What is the transformation?
" High achievers who work with me quickly learn how to show up looking, feeling and sounding their best in front of the camera."
Simple, clear and to the point.
Joe says: Remember, content marketing is not about “what you sell” it’s about “what you stand for.”
Your content mission statement is about meeting the needs of your customers and the information they need and want. Your mission statement doesn’t talk about selling your product.
See how that works?
Once you know these three things you can then create your video mission statement what type of information will you deliver and why.
Do you want to educate, entertain, inspire?
What does your audience need? What are their pain points? Getting really clear on this does two things. It lets you plan and deliver a cohesive body of content and develop a content calendar that supports your business strategy.
When you have a road map it defines what you should be doing as much as what you should not be doing. What is the outcome your audience will receive as a result of consuming your content?
Now, you are ready to write your video content mission statement.
Once you do, it will guide your content decisions whether you’re doing a quick video on Instagram or a longer format education video.
You will know who you are talking to, why they need what you are delivering, and what outcome will they achieve from consuming your content. Most importantly, you will know how your content supports your company’s mission.
Here are a few examples of mission statements: