If you’re like most marketers, you’re always looking for new and effective ways to reach your target audience and grow your business. When it comes to video marketing, the possibilities are endless. Whether you’re a small business or a corporation, video marketing can help you achieve your marketing goals. In this article we explore why video marketing works and best practices for getting started.
What Is Video Marketing?
If a photo’s worth a thousand words, then how much more valuable is video?
Video marketing is the process of creating and promoting videos with the goal of achieving specific business objectives, such as increasing brand awareness or generating leads. When done correctly, video marketing can be an incredibly powerful tool for growing your organization.
It is also a great way to engage your audience and show them what your company is all about. You can use it to build customer rapport, promote products or services and even to provide instructions or tutorials!
Imagine a world where you engage with your customers on an individual level. Where videos capture their attention and hold it long enough for them to hear what’s in-store or see how something works before they make a purchasing decision! This is all possible with video marketing. This forward-facing strategy integrates engaging content at every turn, captures leads by providing valuable information and delivers viral content that attracts attention!
According to Wyzowl statistics, 79% of people watch at least some of a video they are interested in and 46% watch all the way through. That’s a lot of potential customers who can be reached with the right message! Video also has the ability to generate leads and conversions that other forms of content cannot match. When you use video on your website, you can see an increase in sales of up to 80%. Not only does this form of media hold attention better than text-based content, but it’s also more likely to be shared online, increasing your reach even further. In fact, using video as part of a content marketing strategy can result in three times as many web visitors from organic search results.
Recent surveys conducted by HubSpot show that including videos in your content marketing strategy can result in a whopping 80% increase in organic traffic. This demonstrates that video marketing is no longer an “up-and-coming” content strategy. It’s here, and it’s an increasingly powerful way to communicate brand stories, explain value propositions and build relationships with prospective customers. The most recent data shows that video content isn’t just effective — the demand for it is growing at an impressively rapid pace. If the statistics haven’t convinced you, here are the top five reasons you should incorporate video into your marketing strategy.
Top Five Fantastic Benefits Of Video Marketing For Your Business
- Video Marketing Is Big Business
Did you know that 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video?
According to recent studies, 300 hours of video is uploaded every minute on YouTube and 90% of internet users watch videos online. This trend has helped increase user understanding of products or services and has convinced them to make purchases just by watching a brand’s video.
A large percentage of advertisers say digital marketing videos give them an excellent return on their investment through leads, sales, reduced support queries, customer satisfaction and repeat sales.
Consumers are telling us they’re actively using video as part of their research and decision-making process and that they want to see more of it from brands going forward.
- Videos Help Tell Your Story In A Compelling Way
Video is the new way to connect with your audience and build trust. Today, much of a company’s digital marketing efforts are designed to build rapport. Video helps you connect with your audience and is the bridge that links what you say to who you really are, allowing customers to peer behind the curtain and get to know your brand. The more you let them see behind closed doors and learn about who you really are, the quicker they’ll be convinced there’s no better option for their business!
When you include videos in your marketing, you give people a chance to get to know you and your business in a way that’s not possible with text-based content. This is important because people are more likely to do business with someone they know, like and trust. And when people feel like they know you, they’re also more likely to be loyal customers and brand advocates who will help promote your company to others.
3. Video Marketing Boosts SEO
Video is a search engine optimization (SEO) gold mine. If you want your website or social media page to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to include videos in your content mix. This is because Google and other search engines favor websites containing videos over those that don’t. And let’s not forget that YouTube is owned by Google, so be sure to post your videos via YouTube Marketing and tag them with keywords or key phrases. Backlinks from successful blogs or news sites can boost your rank and increase traffic flow too!
4. Videos Marketing Generates Leads And Sales
Consider this: After watching a video, customers are 64-88% more likely to make a purchase. Videos not only help you achieve specific business objectives, but they are also highly effective at driving traffic and generating leads.
One of the reasons videos are so valuable is that they boost information retention. If your customers hear something only, they’re likely to retain about 10% of that information three days later. By contrast, if what they hear is accompanied by relevant imagery, they’ll retain an average 65% of that information three days later.
Another important aspect about video marketing is that it provides an excellent return on investment (ROI). In fact, one study found that businesses make $2 in return for every $1 they spend on video marketing — now that’s a ROI we can all get behind!
5. People Love Videos
There’s no denying that people love watching videos. YouTube is now the second largest search engine after Google, with over 1 billion monthly active users. And according to Cisco, 82% of all internet traffic will be video.
When people are asked how they’d most like to learn about a product or service, 73% said they’d prefer to watch a short video. This compares to 11% who’d rather read a text-based article, website or post, 4% who’d like to view an infographic, 3% who’d rather download an e-book or manual, 3% who’d rather attend a webinar or pitch and 3% who’d like a sales call or demo.
The best thing about videos is that if your followers love them, they’re highly likely to share them. In fact, people are twice more likely to share video content with their friends than any other type of content, including social media posts, blog articles and product pages. When your videos are shared, more people see your brand and your message.
Video marketing is one of the most popular strategies for growing your organization today. In fact, it’s often considered essential if you want to be successful online and stay ahead in an increasingly competitive marketplace!
If this sounds intimidating or overwhelming at first glance, don’t worry. We’re here to help. Here are some of the best practices you need to know when getting started in video marketing.
Best Practices For Video Marketing
If you want your video marketing to have results, then you must plan, test, analyze and test again. Yes, the goal of your videos is to tell a story and engage your customers, but from a marketing perspective, your videos must also align to your marketing sales funnel.
Instead of just promoting your product, create content that answers your customers’ questions and solves their problems.
– Sprout Social, Twitter Feb 202
Awareness
Attracting new people who are currently unaware of your brand is the initial touch point. The goal is to offer value and support. Use video marketing to disseminate information valuable enough for potential customers to remember your brand and seek more information on who you are.
Consideration
Consumers look for specific information when considering whether to buy a product or service. Ninety-six percent of people have watched an explainer video to learn more.
An explainer video is a short 1–2-minute video that explains the nuts and bolts of a product or service. This is a great way to introduce yourself to a new audience. Many brands have great success by using an explainer video in a prominent position on their web page, social channels and more.
Conversion
Trust that your audience has made it this far through the funnel and that sales will come in during this stage. Continue to nurture potential customer relationships until they are ready to convert.
It’s okay to gently nudge your customers to take the leap and make a purchase by using video marketing to offer incentives like a new customer discount or free shipping. In fact, about 67% of consumers said they would most likely interact with discounts or offers that are visually engaging.
Building Loyalty (Engagement)
Stay connected with your customers and make them feel like they are a part of your brand community. Do this by creating video marketing content that supports them based on the purchase they made. This may include providing tutorials, tips and product features.
Advocacy
Now that you’ve made the sale, it’s time to take the funnel one step further. This is when you convert your customers from fans into brand advocates.
Gather customer testimonials and reviews or offer incentives that encourage customers to share their journey with their friends and convert them into videos. Make them your brand ambassadors who will organically influence their network to trust your brand as well.
Traditional sales funnels have their time and place. But video marketing can engage your audience, build trust and create an authentic base of fans for your brand.
Video Marketing: How To Establish A Pre-Production Checklist
If you’re looking to create video marketing content, it’s important to establish a pre-production process. This will help ensure that your videos are high quality and meet your goals. Here are some steps you need to take to set up your pre-production process.
Establish Overall Cost
Budgets are always useful when creating video content because they remind us what we’re working with both financially as well aesthetically! Setting one up before getting started makes everything easier.
Clarify The Purpose
When creating videos for your blog or website, think about what you want to discuss and how to best convey that information. You may find that you need more than one video to cover everything you want to!
Define Audience
Video marketing is a great way to reach new audiences. Take your established purpose and message, then think about who’s most likely to engage with the video you’re planning on making — this will help you decide what kind of content you should create!
Write A Script And A Storyboard
As Single Grain explains, “Taking the time to get professional input—whether that’s from professional video scriptwriters or the video marketing agency you’re working with—at this stage of pre-production is an extremely worthwhile investment!”
Make A Shot List
Shot lists are a great way to organize your thoughts and keep track of what needs to be done. They can include everything from where you’ll be shooting, how many scenes needed in total (depends on length) and who needs to be in each one.
Overestimate The Time You Need
It’s always a good idea to give yourself more time than you think is necessary. Challenges arise, and it’s better to have more than enough time than too little.
Determine Equipment Needs
Make sure to do an inventory check before purchasing anything. It’s best not to buy anything outright unless absolutely necessary! If money is tight, consider renting rather than buying camera gear —rentals often come at much lower prices compared with new purchases.
Determine The Shoot Location
If you need a space but can’t find one, try renting at an hourly rate. Shoots on location often come with more work for everyone involved and may not be worth it in the long run.
Visit The Location Ahead Of Time
It’s always a good idea to visit your filming location beforehand so you know what is going on and can prepare any needed props, sets or wardrobe items.
Remember, Video Marketing Is Worth It
I hear you! It’s hard to make a video. But hang in there, it is worth all of the effort put into creating one. As long as your audience sees what matters most about YOUR business and connects with that message, success will follow.
According to Single Grain,
- 97% of marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service
- 76% say it helped them increase sales
- 47% say it helped them reduce support queries
- 76% say it helped them increase traffic
- 80% of marketers say video has increased dwell time on their website
In conclusion, video marketing isn’t always easy, but it can be extremely effective if you implement your video strategy across multiple online platforms. Video marketing increases your customers’ engagement and conversions, improves your SEO, assists you in building a stronger brand that people will follow and ultimately brings your business up to date with the latest marketing practices. It is an incredibly versatile marketing tool that can be used in a variety of ways to help your organization grow. Videos are engaging, informative and can help you connect with customers on a deeper level than other forms of video content marketing.
Video marketing is within reach for businesses of virtually any size, team and budget. The data is clear. To succeed, your business needs a solid video marketing strategy. If you’re not using videos in your marketing, now is the time to start.
Need Help Getting Started With Your Video Marketing Strategy?
Three Girls’ team of expert marketers can create compelling videos for your organization! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation with our CEO, Erika Taylor Montgomery. She’d be happy to share more about how video marketing, as well as other content marketing and public relations strategies, can be beneficial for your business!
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Sign up for a complimentary consultation during December and receive an Annual Marketing Planning Guide valued at $475! We offer a 30-minute phone consultation with our CEO, and can answer your questions and discuss your specific marketing needs - no strings attached. Call 408-218-2391 or contact us today to arrange your consultation!