7 video marketing challenges and how to overcome them

1. Lack of time

As marketers manage campaigns across various channels, such as email and blog sites, they often have little time left over for video content. Traditional video production requires a lot of effort, from script writing to post-production editing, which can overwhelm marketing teams.

However, marketers don't need to create all video content from scratch. Instead, they can use existing content, such as blog articles, interviews and email newsletters, as a foundation or catalyst to quickly create videos. For instance, a marketer could extract key points from an article and use them to structure a YouTube video. This approach eliminates many preproduction stages, such as ideation and scriptwriting, which often consume the most time.

Additionally, generative AI (GenAI) video tools, such as Pictory AI, Synthesia and Google Vids, can streamline production. For instance, these tools can quickly transform text inputs, such as bullet point lists or rough scripts, into editable videos to save marketers' time.

2. Lack of production equipment and expertise

Some types of video content, such as commercials and brand stories, require professional-grade equipment and expertise, which many marketing teams lack. For instance, a commercial that stands out from competitors' ads might require professional lighting, videographers and sound engineers. While many organizations can hire their own production teams or work with third-party agencies or freelancers, not all brands have the budget for this.

Organizations with smaller budgets can focus their efforts more on social media videos, because authenticity tends to matter more on these platforms than production quality. For instance, marketers only need a smartphone and free editing tools, such as iMovie and Canva, to create effective video strategies on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.

3. Managing videos across platforms

The optimal aspect ratio -- the relationship between a video's width and height -- can vary across social media platforms. For instance, YouTube's standard aspect ratio is 16:9, which is a horizontal shot, whereas Instagram and TikTok display videos vertically. This formatting difference can slow marketers down, as they must manually edit videos or reshoot content for specific platforms.

To overcome this challenge, marketers can shoot content in high resolution and frame shots with extra space around their subjects. This approach lets marketers easily crop videos to their preferred ratio without sacrificing quality.

Additionally, marketers can use editing tools, such as Canva Pro, to quickly resize a piece of content for different platforms. They can also use social media management tools, such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite, to schedule their posts across platforms from a central hub.

4. Standing out from competitors

As content floods consumers' social media feeds every hour, brands often struggle to stand out from the competition. Therefore, marketers must find ways to quickly grab people's attention as they scroll.

Marketers must find ways to quickly grab people's attention as they scroll.

Short-form video content, such as YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, can help with this challenge, as it offers viewers instant gratification. Marketers can adapt recent trends, sounds, skits and dances to engage audiences, make them laugh and connect on a more authentic level than traditional marketing techniques.

Additionally, many platforms let marketers create polls and quizzes. This type of content can further engage audiences as it encourages active participation.

5. Long-term visibility

Social media algorithms differ in how long they circulate videos after publication. For example, Instagram and TikTok videos tend to generate most of their views within the first 24 to 72 hours. This short window requires brands to post content frequently.

However, brands that want their videos to generate long-term engagement can embrace platforms like YouTube, which tend to collect views over weeks, months and years. Additionally, brands can integrate their videos with a search engine optimization strategy. For instance, marketers can embed videos into relevant blog articles, because blogs often generate traffic for years before requiring updates.

6. Budget constraints

A video marketing strategy can become expensive, whether a brand uses a third-party production company or an in-house team. Expenses typically include videographers, high-end cameras, lights, microphones and editing software.

To reduce costs, brands can focus on social media videos, because this approach doesn't require high-end production. They can also embrace user-generated content (UGC), which is unpaid content that customers or other stakeholders contribute to a brand's website or social media page.

For example, Apple encouraged everyday consumers and professional videographers to share videos shot on their iPhones to social media platforms using the hashtag #ShotOniPhone. The approach showcased the phone's capabilities and offered the company free video content promoting its product.

Additionally, organizations can adopt GenAI tools to reduce costs, because the software lets marketers who lack production expertise quickly edit and create videos.

7. Lack of leadership support

Due to the complexity and cost of video production, marketers sometimes struggle to gain leadership support. For instance, executive teams might perceive video as less likely to generate ROI compared to more traditional approaches, such as email or paid search ads.

To convince stakeholders, marketers can present examples from competitors and explain how a video strategy aligns with the organization's business goals. Marketers can also track metrics, such as engagement and conversion rates, from any existing video campaigns to demonstrate ROI potential.

Additionally, marketers can advocate for a pilot program to reduce risk. This lets teams demonstrate measurable results but doesn't require significant investment.

Key takeaways

Marketers who manage video campaigns face many challenges, such as limited time, budget constraints and a lack of professional equipment and expertise. However, GenAI tools and UGC can streamline production and reduce costs.

To create an effective video strategy, marketers can start with pilot programs. These initiatives help marketers demonstrate ROI on a small scale and, if effective, can prompt executives to allocate additional resources to the video strategy.

Tim Murphy is associate site editor for TechTarget's Customer Experience and Content Management sites.