By David Murray, author of Content Wise, the leading quarterly interactive publication.

The results of the 2013 content marketing Industry Characteristics Survey are proprietary for members of the Custom Content Council, and the summary we’re offering in ContentWise won’t be out for another week or two.

But I’ll offer one of the more profound findings right here and now: Video is smoking hot. How hot? Three years ago 37% of marketers said they were using branded video as part of their content marketing strategy. This year? Um, 68%—with 57% of marketers planning to do even more next year.

The questions is: Who’s going to watch all those corporate videos?

And the answer is: No one, if they’re not brilliantly enough conceived, made and distributed to cut through the clutter.

That’s why I think you should attend the first and probably the best of what will surely be many conferences on making strategic videos. It’s the Essentials of Strategic Video Storytelling, put on by my friend Russell Sparkman next month at his cool facility on Whidbey Island, Wash., near Seattle.

As you’ll see from the program, speakers at the two-day course (May 9 and 10) will cover video from conception to budget to distribution to measurement of results. And everything will be discussed in the context of how video fits into the overall content marketing strategy.

You should go. And give my best to Russell when you do. —DM

By Jon Wuebben is CEO of Content Launch ContentLaunch.com  / Author of “Content is Currency” and a featured Langley New Media retreat speaker this May 9th!

You’ve gotten into content marketing as a way to promote your brand and drive customers to your site. When discussing how to make and promote your content, everyone talks about it in terms of blogs: short, informative, written pieces that are designed to educate the reader on a particular topic or perhaps provide commentary. That’s all well and good, but you want something more visually engaging. Something that can entertain your target audience and make a more lasting impression.

You want to make videos.

Videos can be a great marketing tool. After all, YouTube gets over 4 billion views every single day. If you could tap into that popularity, even a little bit, it would mean great publicity for your brand.

But how do you go about it? Where do you start? Here are some tips for how to create a video that’s high quality and engaging.

(more…)