Everyone loves online videos. People watch them on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, YouTube, Vimeo and more.

In fact, online videos are so popular and powerful that they increase the click-through rates of emails by anywhere from 200 to 300 percent. Videos on your landing pages create a conversion increase of 80 percent. And 90 percent of people say that product-focused videos help them make better decisions about what to buy.

Yes, everyone loves online videos–so why are your video marketing campaigns failing?

Adding video into your marketing mix can be incredibly effective. But you’ve got to do it right in order to get people to take action, buy and believe in your brand.

If you invested in a video marketing campaign that failed, here’s a look at 10 common reasons that might have happened–and what you can do to prevent them from happening again.

1) Mixed Messages

If the viewer isn’t able to easily follow and connect with the story you’re trying to tell, your video is likely to fail. No one will care if the video is only about you. If your message is targeting everyone, it won’t connect to anyone. Your viewer won’t be able to connect to your message if you are not giving a clear message.

Pro Tip: It all comes down to crafting a high-quality script! The best online videos have a clear message. They clearly and concisely describe a problem, a solution and then add in a little color to keep it compelling.

2) Obscured Objectives

Making an online video simply for the sake of making an online video is a bad idea. If your objectives are not clear–if you can’t succinctly say what you want your video to accomplish, maybe now’s not the best time to launch a video marketing campaign.

Pro Tip: Define your objectives clearly. You should know how the video will help your target audience to solve their problems, what benefits your product or services provide and how will you measure the success of your video campaign.

3) Too Much Talk … and No Call to Action

Do you know what you want people to do once they have finished watching your video?

If you don’t, they probably don’t, either. It’s great to have an awesome script that’s incredibly creative and compelling. But, it’s all for not if there isn’t a call to action.

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to tell viewers to “sign up,” “register,” “call now,” “click here” or do whatever it is you want them to do.

4) It’s an In-house Production

Anything they can do, you can do better, right?

Wrong.

Trying to copy your competitors by producing an in-house video is usually a bad idea. Your video is likely to wind up missing some important elements, looking like a cable access production and just being poorly done.

Pro Tip: Unless you are a video production company, you should probably hire a professional video production company.

5) It’s Too Slick and Sells Too Hard

Your video is just like any other commercial people are already watching on TV. It is only showcasing your product like an advertisement. This is where it failed!

Outside of the week of the Super Bowl, there aren’t too many times when people go online in search of commercials.

No, people go online to look for interesting stories.

Pro Tip: Your video has to strike the right balance between selling and seeming authentic. It needs to include humor, some surprising facts or something shocking–while telling a compelling story.

6) It’s Just Like Everyone Else’s Video

Boring videos do not go viral. Videos that are just like everyone else’s don’t get viewers. Videos that don’t do something to distinguish themselves from all the others are quickly forgotten. If your video is not original, it won’t attract your viewers.

Pro Tip: You have to be original. Take some (calculated) risks. Have some fun. Be yourself and build your brand!

7) You Don’t Know What “Metadata” Means

Metadata matters, but not everyone launching a video marketing campaign knows what it is. That’s why metadata is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of video marketing campaigns.

Metadata includes all of the titles, tags and descriptions for your video. Those are the things that allow people to find your videos when they’re searching on Google, YouTube and other search engines.

Pro Tip: Using metadata to your advantage is important–really important. Use online tools such as the YouTube Keyword Suggestion Tool to find relevant keyword suggestions or use a tool like TubeBuddy to optimize your videos.

8) Lack of Promotion

Statistically speaking, very few video campaigns actually go viral. Some don’t get a lot of views because they are simply bad videos. But some high-quality, compelling videos fail because they are not being properly promoted.

Pro Tip: In order to get as many eyes on your video as possible, you’re going to want to promote it on social media, send it to influential bloggers and asking them to post it on their blogs, and encouraging everyone you know to share it with everyone they know. If you have enough in your budget, it can also be beneficial to hire an outside firm that specializes in online video promotion.

9) Bad Execution

At the end of the day, even the best online video ideas require execution in order to connect with an audience.

If you had a great idea but bad execution, your video is likely to fail. Sometimes simply “doing your best” is not going to be good enough to execute.

Pro Tip: It’s important to work with people who understand the world of video marketing and have track records of success.

10) Missing Transcripts

Did you miss including a transcript on your video? It might be the reason your video was not able to reach your audience on other platforms. Without an accompanying transcript, your video will not be picked up by search engines.

Pro Tip: Adding a transcript to your video will help increase the reach of your video and make it more search engine friendly. You can use online services like GMR Transcription to get the caption for every video that you upload.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, you want your videos to speak clearly to your audience–and go viral.

Avoiding these mistakes will help you improve the odds of creating videos with huge potential. Follow these pro tips and your video just might accomplish all the goals you have set. It’s time to come up with a new, original idea and try again!

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