Video Marketing
Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash
Why video needs to be a part of your marketing strategy.
By Robin Anderson
Not that long ago the big trend in marketing was to connect with customers by including imagery within your social media posts and make all communications, such as blogs, very visual. The goal was to catch their eye and draw them in. The new capabilities with smartphone cameras at the time made this a fairly easy thing to do. The quality was viewed as ‘good’ enough for the web. In fact, using professional photos was somewhat frowned upon at the time as they were viewed as disingenuous or too corporate.
With new abilities to post videos within social media and new tools for editing and more, we quickly moved from photos to videos. Video has now become the standard for reaching and engaging customers. They expect them. No one wants to spend time reading text. And while capturing video may be easy, actually effectively using video as part of your marketing strategy requires some planning.
What is video marketing?
Video marketing is an emotionally engaging way for brands to connect with customers and catch their attention in a digitally overloaded world.
Video marketing is one of many ways to market your business. Use videos to enhance your efforts and to boost your brand and awareness of your company. It is one tool of many to use as a part of your content marketing strategy. And for hopefully all the right reasons, it can be a great way to attract attention from those you otherwise may miss.
Why is video marketing important?
Video marketing is becoming the prevalent form of reaching customers. According to WebFX, people spend a third of their time online watching videos. For many, they are using videos to help make a buying decision. In addition, attention spans are short. Video helps convey your message in a quick and visual manner reaching a greater audience and building a stronger connection with your audience.
“Video will be the primary marketing format for years to come.”
One of the important considerations for creating and making your videos is knowing your customer.
72% of customers said they would rather learn about a product or service with a video, with 84% convinced to buy after watching a video.
One of the tricks for marketers is to excite your customer base in a way your competitors can’t. Using the latest and greatest in technology is one of those methods. In 2022, customers expect to be able to view a video to understand the what, how and why.
Benefits of using video
Marketers are always looking for ways to improve their marketing in terms of reach, engagement and converting customers. It’s important to track trends, and use tools that your customers use. For many, that is video. The benefits for using video to reach your audience include:
Better connect with your customers in an emotionally engaging way
Boost your SEO strategy with videos
Videos are 53 times more likely to generate first-page rankings than other traditional SEO techniques. When presented with a video versus a text in search, users are more likely to select the video.
Use it as a way to build trust with user-generated content
Users read reviews. They place a higher level of trust on the viewpoints of others. Incorporate the ability to include customer testimonials as part of your marketing efforts.
Types of videos to create
While one can watch videos of pretty much anything, for a company, use video as a way to communicate more complex information that is related to your product or service. A few examples of subject matters to focus on include:
Introduction to your company
Live videos for product launches, company-sponsored events, and more.
Product demonstration - use video to demonstrate and highlight features
Product training or ‘how to use’ product tutorial
Vlog - Showcase your brand personality to help your customers while focused on your product/service subject matter
Customer testimonials - how your product has helped your customers in their work or personal life
Video creation best practices
While creating a video is not an incredibly difficult task, to create one that is focused and effective, use video creation best practices:
Start with planning
Set a goal, such as using video to educate, or answer frequent product questions
Look for ways to extend the use of the video by breaking it into snippets to post for social media
Tie it to a marketing campaign to boost your efforts and extend the reach, and engagement, to your target audience
Keys to engage with your audience
Create a video that elicits emotion. This helps to grab the audience’s attention and hold their attention while you are delivering your message
Entertain rather than promote. 80% of your content needs to be helpful, 20% focused on selling your product.
Pay attention to quality. You don’t need to use a full-production studio. However, the quality of video needs to be sharp and the audio clear. Poor quality will turn away viewers in an instant and they won’t come back.
Tools to plan your video
Create a storyboard. Your storyboard should include your goal, key takeaways (to help you stay on target), video length breakouts, details need to record your video (such as the appropriate background), a script with imagery for your participants (to ensure you capture the right shots), a timeline, and your CTA (what do your audience to do following viewing your video).
Make sure you have the equipment you need to record video, audio, proper lighting
Editing - there are a wide-array of tools you can use to edit your video
How to extend the video you create
85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound - which means you need to ensure your video is optimized to view via silent mode. Create snippets to use in social media. Integrate into your website and take advantage of snippets for company presentations.
Each new marketing trend comes with new challenges. However, to effectively reach your audience may require you to learn a few new skills. You never know, you might uncover a secret talent - a future oscar-winning screenwriter, movie director or cinematographer. Have fun with your creations - that fun will be reflected in your videos.
Need help planning your marketing strategy? Contact Us for a free 30-minute consultation.
FunFact Friday
As of April 2022, the most popular YouTube video is “Baby Shark Dance” by Pinkfong. Released on June 17, 2016, it became the first YouTube video to surpass 10 billion views. Music videos tend to lead the list in popularity with a heightened interest in viewing within the first 24 hours of release. You can view the “Baby Shark Dance” video here.