Meryl Draper presented at the recent Annual Women in Digital Conference in Columbus, Ohio and she offered fantastic, practical tips for executing video ad campaigns. You should be employing them for and with your clients. She broke down common practices, issues and questions marketers run into while working with digital video. Heed her advice, because she is the co-​founder and CEO of Quirk Creative, an award-​winning video advertising agency based in Brooklyn, with clients including Western Union, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, and Carbonite.

"Digital and video are now one in the same and brands that don't acknowledge it will fail to truly connect with their audience and maximize their ROI in the digital space," Draper's opening slide read.

She recommended talking to your clients and prospects about their goals and hopes when experimenting with video for the first time or for the 500th time. In essence, get to the heart of what they hope to accomplish with each campaign and help guide them toward realistic expectations for end results.

Simply ask: "What do you want to get out of your video?"

• "Will it be a direct response video, with a heavy call-​to-​action and less storytelling?"
• "Or will it be a brand video, with long-​term recall and heavy creative?"

Then, Draper said to figure out and/​or ask, "What platform does it need to be on?" She recommends the following:

YouTube

• "Do :6, :15, :30 ads"
• "Take digital stills from these to use in other areas too!"
• "Go behind the scenes for video shoots." Try a blooper reel or engaging footage from the shoot.

Facebook

• "Facebook videos need the sound turned off with text overlay."
• "Think about what's entertaining to your audience for these short videos."

And I'm sure your accounts will be asking you: "How do I incorporate all these everywhere?" Draper suggested:

• "Mix search campaigns with brand videos."
• "Try video display ads with social posts."
• "In mobile campaigns, :6 short-​form videos (bite-​size) are the highest performers."
• "Make sure videos are formatted vertically for mobile campaigns." That's how people hold their phones to watch videos. Don't make them have to turn their screens.
• Go live! "Try some live videos."

If you've exhausted these strategies and your client wants to try something new, or stay on the cutting edge, Draper stated the obvious. "You can always google 'hottest video trends' and try one out."

She encourages everyone to A/​B test multiple versions of a message to see what resonates better.

• "Change the talent. See who audiences like better."
• "Change tones." Try humor, then nostalgia, go artistic, be helpful, get informative. See which gets better response.