Videos—especially those uploaded to YouTube—can be powerful marketing vehicles, but they’re still only as effective as the content they deliver. Before you decide to use videos as marketing vehicles, determine who’s going to develop the content. Do you have in-house staff with experience writing, filming and editing video? Do they need it?

Many publishing organizations now purchase Flip cameras for staff and have them record interviews and otherwise develop content. It seems like an inexpensive way to create video content, but a little expertise can go a long way toward making your videos more effective. And that expertise doesn’t have to cost a lot more.

To illustrate my point, compare the following videos. First, a disclaimer: These videos were not solicited, sponsored or endorsed by Turkey Hill. My brother and I made “Man Loves His Turkey Hill Iced Tea” as an act of love and slightly obsessive fandom and not as part of Sway Engine.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsK4L3D9pEI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt5odcMWxP0]

I hope the differences are obvious. Ours has a narrative structure with varied cinematography. It was filmed and cut by a trained, skilled editor (my bro). It has a purpose and an audience in mind. Is it perfect? No, but it also didn’t take long to make, given the difference in quality.

Imagine if your organization wanted a similar video. Our relatively quick project took less than 36 hours total to write, film, produce and upload. With basically no marketing, at least 300 people have watched it already in the last three weeks.

For those of you to whom ROI matters, how much is this worth paying for? Let’s say that instead of 300 people, you’re going to reach 10,000 people. When you consider that this is the kind of content that will last forever, how much is a good investment for the life of the project?

My point is, a little expertise goes a long way, and eventually organizations that engage in content marketing will need that expertise to maintain a competitive edge. And not just to produce videos.