I have always been a movie buff. Some of my earliest memories are of going to the drive-in with my mom. I might be dating myself, but I remember seeing Charlton Heston in the Ten Commandments and Sal Mineo in Tonka at our local drive-in movie theater.
Videos have been a part of my life forever. Imagine my surprise when I began hearing the term Video Marketing. My natural curiosity drove me to investigate. I was intrigued by the variety of methods used to create videos. But would it be a flash in the pan? The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.
What Is Video Marketing?
Pictures have long been used to illustrate or demonstrate the point of marketing pieces, as well as to break up the monotony of text. How much more effective and valuable might video be? Video is a versatile medium, serving many functions, from presenting how-tos, customer testimonials, livestream events, and delivering entertaining content.
Here are five benefits of video marketing:
1. Video Drives Search Results
Video is 53 times more likely to appear on the first pages of search engine results than text pages, according to Forrester Research Group. Articles that include a video are more easily searched on the Web and receive three times more clicks than those without them. Video is an SEO gold mine, helping create backlinks to your site, boosting Likes and shares (which can affect search rankings), and driving traffic to your site.
2. Video Increases Customer Interaction
Marc Fleishhacker, Managing Director at WPP’s Ogilvy Consulting, says email marketing with video increases customer interactions — like opening the emails or clicking on the content — by as much as 200% to 300%.
Email subject lines including the word “video” have a 19% open rate and a 65% higher click-through rate than those without them.
3. Videos Increase Information Retention
If a customer just hears something, they are likely to remember about 10% of the information three days later. If what they hear is accompanied by videos, an average of 65% of the information is retained three days later. That’s a big difference, any way you look at it. That alone can have a big impact on a business.
4. Customers Love Video
Four times as many customers prefer to watch a product video, rather than read a product description. After watching a video, customers are 64% to 85% more likely to make a purchase.
5. Mobile Viewers Love Video
Deloitte recently released a study finding that Americans check their smartphones upwards of 8 billion times per day. More than 75% of video viewing worldwide is done on mobile. Video is the best way to reach and engage with that giant mobile audience.
There is a growing range of content available on such on-demand platforms as Facebook Watch, Netflix, YouTube, and others, that encourage viewers to watch more frequently on smartphones and tablets while on the go. That doesn’t even include the wide range of free and paid streaming channels that are now available.
Your Video Marketing Checklist
Creating a marketing budget and deciding how to spend it can be very challenging tasks. Video can help you create a dynamic campaign with a limited budget. If hiring a production company is out of reach, you can create a very effective video yourself using simple software or an online video service.
Some tips to keep in mind when making your video are:
- Keep it short. Studies show that customers have an attention span of about 30 seconds. This makes a series of short videos a better choice for your message than one long one.
- Combine video and still images. A mix of videos and still images increases the interest and variety in your video ad.
- Add a personal message. It can be from you, an employee, a testimonial, or a recommendation from a customer.
- A little humor never hurts. Like the blooper reels that are sometimes shown at the end of movies and TV shows, showing your own mistakes in creating your video can make it more appealing.
- Give your videos a call-to-action. Make it clear what you want them to do after watching. Add a coupon, special offer, or freebie of some kind.
- Make sure viewers know how to find you. Don’t forget to include your contact information. Encourage them to connect with you online. If you have a brick-and-mortar location, include a map and directions.
- Use every distribution channel possible for your video. Promote it through online ads, social media posts, YouTube, email, and your own website. There are online services that will handle promotion for you, if you don’t want to do it. Of course, this is a paid service.
Do that, and you’ll build KLT with your prospects
Though it sounds like a lot of bother, you do need to add video to your arsenal of marketing tools. It engages customers and sets you apart from all those other ads they see online. Video can help you build a relationship with your clients. It can also help you become a brand and face they come to know, like, and trust.
Now that you know some of the measurable ways video marketing can help your business, why not take the next step and use your computer’s webcam, your smartphone, or an online service to create a short marketing video of your own? You might be surprised at the results!
