Getting Strategic With Video: 4 Questions to Ask Before We Hit Record

For most marketers and communicators, everything we create is expected to support a bigger organizational goal. You wouldn’t green-light a brochure, ad campaign, or website refresh without understanding the business case—yet video often gets treated differently.

We regularly see companies jump into production because they feel they “need something for YouTube” or want “a video for the homepage.” But without clarity on objectives, audience, and message, even a beautifully crafted video can miss the mark. Video isn’t a silver bullet, and it certainly isn’t a strategy on its own.

As strategic communication expert Karen Lee, ABC, MC, often reminds her students: focus on why, not just how. Strategy comes first. Tactics come later.

With that in mind, here are four questions every organization should ask before starting any video project.

1. What’s the Problem or Opportunity?

Before you get into storyboards or creative concepts, you need a clear communication objective—and it must connect to a broader organizational priority.

Maybe your goal is to:

• Launch a new product

• Reduce onboarding or support costs

• Improve recruitment

• Support a behaviour change

• Drive leads into the sales funnel

Think of goals as the long-term change you want to create, and objectives as the measurable stepping-stones toward that change.

When defining communication objectives, avoid vague language like “raise awareness” or “engage people.” Instead, identify the specific behaviour you want the audience to take. What action are you trying to drive?

And resist the urge to brainstorm tactics at this stage. “Let’s make a YouTube video” is not a strategy—it’s a delivery method.

2. What Does Success Look Like?

Imagine your video was totally successful. What changed? What did the audience do differently? Now turn that vision into a measurable statement: a number, a timeline, and a clear definition of success.

If you’re not currently measuring the baseline, now’s the time to start—otherwise, you won’t know whether your video made an impact.

It’s also helpful to picture a scenario where the project fails. What might cause that outcome? Tight timelines? A budget mismatch? The wrong audience? Identifying risks early helps you plan around them.

Speaking of budgets—the success metrics can help determine the level of investment. If a successful outcome could bring in seven figures, it makes sense to allocate resources accordingly. If the case is harder to justify, it may be a sign that the project needs rethinking.

3. Who Is the Primary Audience?

If your video tries to speak to everyone, it won’t resonate deeply with anyone. Focus on one primary audience per video—defined by demographic, vertical, behaviour, or stage of the buyer’s journey.

Do your homework:

• Look for internal data and audience research you already have

• Understand what your audience currently thinks or knows

• Identify cultural considerations, knowledge gaps, or barriers

• Map where they sit in the sales funnel

A prospect who is early in the awareness phase needs a very different message than someone ready for a detailed demo or case study. The more precisely you define your audience, the easier it is to craft a message that lands.

4. What’s the Key Message?

Your message should answer the audience’s most important question: “What’s in it for me?”

Keep it simple, keep it clear, and keep it audience-focused. One primary audience = one primary message. If you find yourself wanting to communicate multiple messages, that’s usually a sign you need multiple videos.

Video performs best when it delivers a single, memorable takeaway.

Now You Can Think About Tactics

Only after your objectives, success criteria, audience, and message are defined is it time to dig into tactics: creative approach, distribution plan, platform, aspect ratios, CTAs, thumbnails, and budgets.

Each tactic should have a tactical objective that supports your communication objective. For example:

• A video in an email campaign aimed at improving click-through rates

• A landing page video created to increase conversions

• An ungated video designed to drive top-of-funnel traffic

• A gated webinar intended to capture emails

Once your campaign runs, gather enough data before measuring performance. A/B test thumbnails, CTAs, and placement. Remember that video is iterative—your voice and style evolve over time, just like content writing.

Finally, compare the behavioural changes against the baseline metrics you defined earlier. That’s your proof of ROI—and often the strongest case for doing even more video.

Wrapping Up

Videos should be strategic, measurable, and purpose-built. They should be tailored to each platform and grounded in best practices for where and how they’ll be consumed.

The goal is simple: stop making videos “just to have videos.” If there’s no problem to solve, no opportunity to pursue, and no way to measure results, your budget is better spent elsewhere.

But with strategy guiding the process? That’s where video shines.

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