If you’re into extreme sports or are an adventure traveler and you aren’t making any money, you’re seriously missing out. Chances are that if you can capture high-quality videos from exotic locales, advertisers are looking for you. Everyone is trying to get a piece of the video marketing pie and the power of viral GoPro videos cannot be denied. But how exactly can you turn your videos into gold?

A Closer look at the Business End

What GoPro did for amateur and professional videographers is exactly what Getty images has done for photographers. However, you can’t just go out in traffic and shoot footage of moving cars. You have to be able to provide stunning footage that tells real stories and will inspire others to share and view your videos millions of times.

One of the best ways to know what works and what doesn’t is to look at what others are doing. Look at what works and how many views they are getting. One perfect example was a video that was published by Kevin Richardson, a South African zookeeper. The video showed him playfully hugging and wrestling with lions. While the video was slightly longer than most YouTube videos at 15 minutes long, the video has had millions of views and thousands of shares since it was released.

The Creative End

If you’re going to produce stock footage instead of your own viral videos, then you have to know what makes a good stock video and what doesn’t. At the end of the day, people creating content want footage that can be incorporated into full-length videos easily. Overly choppy or footage that is too shaky will usually not attract many buyers. It would also be wise that you visit a site like I Am Gopro and look at a few reviews, so you can find the right camera and set of accessories to get professional results before you think about going down the stock footage route.

Plan your Videos

If you want to publish videos that tell a story, know that these usually require a lot of planning and rarely happen by accident. Like any movie, you can manufacture stories and scenarios instead of waiting until they happen serendipitously.

Plan each and every scene if you want to make your videos as valuable as possible. That works well on simple videos, such as capturing a beautiful sunset over a mountainous landscape or complex videos like capturing rare underwater sea life. You should also consider adding some nice montage with great music and effects like time-lapse photography.

Once you have your footage, you can either decide to use it to grow your own YouTube channel or use the footage and sell it on stock video sites. Sites like Pond5 and Shutterstock are great places to start.

Conclusion

It’s a brave new world out there and it’s your chance to turn your love of adventure into a lucrative business. With these few tips, you should be able to make your mark and create videos people will be willing to pay for.