Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to both share your story and reach audiences. Reports show organizations that use video in at least one marketing channel have 27 percent higher click-through rates, 34 percent higher web conversion rates, and, most importantly, grow revenue 49 percent faster year over year than organizations that don’t incorporate the medium.

Still, not every piece of video is right for every situation. A video clip is not a square peg that can fit into any round hole and attract customer engagement. To get the best results from a video campaign, you need to know—and choose—the best visual options. Would your campaign be better served by an animation? Should that animation be line-drawn or computer generated? Should you produce a talking head video when Vine videos have been proven to resonate with your audience? (Hint: Probably not.)

Regardless of your messaging, asking these three questions will steer you toward the path of most engagement:

1. What are you trying to say?
2. Who do you want to hear it?
3. How should you say it?

Say what?

Ideally, the various pieces of a marketing campaign tell different parts of the same story. They are unified in their messaging. The temptation with video is to “add a line about _____.” It’s understandable; video offers the ability to convey a lot of information in a short amount of time, so it makes sense to want to get more bang for your buck. But consider the consequence of combining or flat-out mixing messages: Viewers leave with two diluted messages instead of one clear call-to-action. It’s important to stay on message.

Who’s listening?

Know your customers. Know the virtual water coolers around which they gather. Learn their preferred ways to receive industry-related information. Audience research will help you discover where your customers are—and where they are not. Business decision makers may be on LinkedIn, and influencers might be on Instagram, yet both could be attending a regional conference or subscribing to digital magazines. This begs the question: Where should your video show up?

What does it look like?

The type or theme of your video is not the same as the style of your video. Video types include profiles, feature announcements, anthem videos, case studies, tutorials, and event videos. Video styles include live-action, animated, live-streaming (Periscope, Livestream, Broadcast Me) and short-form (Vine, Instagram, Snapchat). Types and styles should be mixed, matched, and optimized for your audience. For instance, creating a short-form video from your event’s keynote speech makes sense. It doesn’t make sense to capture the main ideas from that speech in animation. An animation may be ideal for a tutorial, while a live-action explanation could cause further confusion about an already complex topic.

Lights. Camera. Action.

Knowing what you want to say and who you want to hear that message can help you decide where to place your video content. Selecting the appropriate video type and style can make your messaging more effective. The challenge, though, is that some video styles won’t fit with your brand. On the other hand, some may suit your brand perfectly and you just don’t know it!

Once you have an idea of the type of marketing video you want, shop around. Your video marketing partners will have additional ideas. Video is an art, after all, not a science! You may not know exactly what works until you see what doesn’t. Choose a vendor that understands your brand and can add creative value. Together, you’ll build your organization’s video standards and better engage your potential customers.