Ready to jump on the video advertising bandwagon? Before you do anything, you’ll need a plan. There’s more to online video advertising than simply creating a 30 second spot. First, you’ll need to know who you’re trying to reach and what you’re trying to accomplish. Next, you’ll need to craft your video ads in such a way that they appeal to your target market and convey your message. Next, you’ll need to place your video ads on a video ad network or some other medium where your advertisements will actually be seen by the people you’re trying to reach.

Know Your Audience
As with all marketing mediums, video ads should appeal to a specific audience. Who are you trying to reach? Stay-at-home moms? Teenagers? Business executives? Recently unemployed workers? Senior citizens? Be as specific as you can when identifying your audience and remember that your ad can’t possibly appeal to everyone. For example, a video ad targeting business executives looking for business apps for the iPhone will likely have a different voice than one targeting teens looking for social networking apps. While the ad may detail the same device and possibly the same apps, the different audiences will require different approaches. Know who you’re appealing to before you do anything else.

Craft Your Video Ad
Once you know your audience, it’s time to write the online video advertising script and begin the video production process. If you work with a video production company, much of this will be done for you. However, going in with a few ideas can certainly help. In this case, you don’t need to fully develop your concept, but you should be prepared to express your ideas adequately. Consider who you are trying to reach and how your product or service solves their problems.

Video ads need to be short, simple, and to the point. In fact, they should make their point almost immediately. You only have a few seconds to capture your audience’s attention. If you miss that window, your video ads will be ineffective because no one will watch them all the way through nor will they click through to your site.

While you’re creating your video ads, your first thought may jump directly to video. However, there are other elements to consider including text, visuals, and audio. Be careful of using too much text. Remember, your video ad may be displayed in an extremely small window depending on where the ad is placed.

As far as visuals go, look for uncomplicated, relevant images that readily convey your message. For example, if you need to quickly convey that your product or service will solve the problems faced by unorganized business professionals, an image showing a mountain of paperwork overwhelming the worker’s desk could quickly convey the scope of the problem. Following up with an image of the worker’s clean desk after introducing your product leaves viewers with the impression that your product will solve their paperwork problems.

Display Your Video Ad
Once your ad has been produced, you’ll need to place it where your audience will actually see it. Like television advertising, online video advertising can be placed through a network. Video ad networks have hundreds, if not thousands, of publishers that they work with. You’ll work with a representative to place your ads on sites that target your desired demographic.

This comes full circle back to knowing your audience. Know who you are trying to reach, produce video ads that spread your message to your audience, and place your ads on online video advertising networks that target your audience.