‍

It’s no secret that video marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your business and engage with existing and prospective customers, however, knowing and doing are two different things.

Stats show that the biggest barriers to using video are:

• A lack of time
• Not knowing where to start
• Worries about return on investment (ROI)
• Concern about the potential cost
• Not being able to convince decision-makers about the value of video

If you’re struggling to pinpoint what video you need for your business you are not alone. It can also prove challenging to know what you should do with the video to achieve the results you want.

In this week’s blog, we’ll be going over the benefits of using video for anyone who’s still sceptical (including the latest stats available).

Check out subsequent articles over the coming weeks to help you get clear on the three pillars of effective video marketing: video strategy, content production and strategy management.

1. Video attracts attention over other types of content

Creating a mix of content for your target clients should be at the centre of your inbound marketing strategy. Video is a must-have in this mix. It’s said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words but there’s no doubt that video is even more powerful.

As humans, we’re hardwired to notice movement and sound. A video can spark a connection and an emotional response in a matter of seconds! This is something that can rarely be achieved with other types of content.

It’s essential to produce videos that are tailored to their intended purpose and the different stages in the ‘buyer’s journey’. As your prospect first becomes aware of, considers and then decides to buy your product or service.

Get the message right and 85% of marketers rate video as an effective way to get attention online, especially on social media (see point 6 below).

2. Video strengthens your marketing message

Most people need visual aids to learn. According to Covideo, this is why viewers retain 95% of a video’s message compared to the 10% retained when people see the same message as text.

Viewers are far more likely to fully absorb the content of a video if it has a strong impact on their emotions.

3. Videos increase understanding of your products or services

Video is a fantastic tool to show rather than tell people about your products and/or services.

The latest stats show that 68% of people say they’d most prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a short video.  According to Hubspot, the four most common video types are explainers, product demos, how-tos and testimonials. A staggering 96% of us have watched an explainer video to find out more about a product or service.

And evidence shows that once people have watched a product or service video, they’re 64-85% more likely to make a purchase. Video marketing isn’t just helpful for explaining more about products or services that your clients are already interested in – it’s also a proven way to make people aware of new options too.

4. Video marketing helps your business rank higher on Google (the world’s biggest search engine)

As the world’s number one search engine, Google’s priority is to give searchers links to high quality, relevant information that best matches the reason for their search.

To achieve this, Google’s search algorithms look at a wide number of ‘signals’ in order to decide which web pages to rank in search results and in which order.

Using videos on your website is a proven way to increase certain positive ranking signals.

For example, 37% of people will watch a video from beginning to end, meaning they spend more time on a web page than they would if they were just looking at text. This is known as dwell time.

In Google’s eyes, high average dwell time is a sign that your content is interesting and engaging, keeping visitors on your site for longer. Eighty per cent of marketers say that video has increased dwell time on their website.

If you also include a call to action in the videos on your website encouraging people to click through to a different page, this will lower the bounce rate, i.e. the percentage of visitors leaving from the page they landed on without going deeper into the site. A lower bounce rate is another positive ranking signal.

According to Martech Zone, a web page featuring a well-optimised video is 53 times more likely to appear on page one of Google.

5. Video gives you a presence on YouTube (the world’s second biggest search engine)

Over two billion logged-in users visit YouTube every month, which is almost one-third of the internet. Every day, users watch over one billion hours of video on the platform.

This makes YouTube the world’s second biggest search engine after Google, and one that solely returns video content in response to searches.

According to Animoto, YouTube replaced Facebook as the number one platform that affects consumer behaviour back in 2019. It is also the number one purchase-driver on social media. ‘How to’ searches are the most popular.

Think about the questions your clients most commonly ask you. Is there anything that would make the basis for a tutorial? For example, a law firm that specialises in conveyancing might consider creating a video about ‘How to find a solicitor when you’re a first-time buyer’.

By publishing videos aimed at your target audience, you attract views from people searching for your knowledge. The ability to display your video to someone who has already expressed a need for your services through their search term is the best marketing opportunity ever.

6. Video marketing increases your social media presence

Video marketing is also fantastic for boosting your presence on social media, not only because it gives you content to share but also because video is highly shareable for your followers.

Some 92% of mobile users say that they share videos with others, while 60% of consumers say that they bought from a brand after discovering it on social media.

Knowing this, which are the best platforms to share you video marketing?

Currently, the ones most likely to drive purchases to your business are YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook

If you’re planning a video marketing strategy for Facebook, you might want to think about how you could best use Facebook Live – one in five videos on the platform is now a live broadcast.

In fact, Facebook says to think about the three Vs – video, voice and VR – in 2020.

Instagram

Instagram continues to grow as a video marketing platform with 77% of marketers having posted a video on IGTV.

One in four consumers now make a purchase after seeing a product or service in an Instagram story.

Twitter

Although you may not automatically think about using video on Twitter, it’s actually the platform’s fastest-growing advertising tool.

There are over two billion video views on Twitter every day, which is a 67% growth over last year.

Significantly, tweets that include a video attract 10 times more engagement than video-free tweets. Promoted tweets with videos save more than 50% on cost-per-engagement.

For these reasons, you might want to add Twitter to your video marketing strategy.

LinkedIn

If you have a corporate client base, you might be wondering how effective video marketing is on LinkedIn.

In the 12 months following its 2017 launch of LinkedIn native video (i.e. the ability to upload videos directly to the platform), video posts generated 300 million impressions on the platform.  These numbers are said to be increasing year on year, with 66% of marketers saying that they’re planning to use video content on the platform in 2020.

Using video marketing on LinkedIn is an ideal way to promote your services and brand to your network and their contacts.

It is known that LinkedIn videos are most often watched at people’s place of work. Videos designed to have no sound perform best on the platform and are 70% more likely to be watched all the way to the end.

Burnt-in captions, i.e. a transcript that’s overlaid as text on to the video, are an ideal solution. You don’t need to enable the sound to know what the video is about because the captions appear as text at the bottom of the screen.

7. Video marketing increases website traffic

Having increased your presence on Google, YouTube and across your chosen social media platforms, your video marketing campaigns should bring more traffic to your website. Eighty-four per cent of marketers say video has boosted their number of website visitors.

8. Video reaches new customers

Thanks to attracting more social shares, higher rankings and more website visitors, videos are an effective way to reach new customers and generate leads.

Again, it’s important to remember here that you need to tailor your videos for different stages of the customer journey.

Video that is designed to attract new customers could be your brand story, a chance to communicate what makes you different and encourage the audience to get to know you better.

Being clear on your video strategy before producing content will help you create videos that are relevant to your customers, from creating awareness about your brand right through to enlisting happy customers as brand ambassadors.

9. Video skyrockets conversion rates

Stats from Hubspot show that featuring a video on a product or service landing page can increase conversion rate. For example, the number of people who buy or follow-up after enquiring can increase by 80%.

10. Video boosts email click-throughs

According to Campaign Monitor, including video in an email marketing campaign can boost click rates by 65%. It can also increase click rate by as much as 96% if it’s your first email to someone on your mailing list. Considering that the average email click rate is 2.69%, that’s quite an increase in engagement!

One thing to bear in mind is that only 40% of email providers support embedded video playback. A better approach is to feature a thumbnail from your video in your email that takes people through to your website or a dedicated landing page when they click on it.

11. Video grows brand awareness

Ninety-three per cent of brands say that they’ve attracted a new customer through a video posted on social media.

There’s no doubting that video marketing is a great way to spread the word about your company. This allows you to:

• talk directly to potential customers
• give authentic insights into your business
• showcase your products and services
• introduce your team

…. and so much more.

All of these things will help to raise brand awareness and to turn potential clients into passionate brand ambassadors.

12. Video helps you to understand your audience

Once your video is online, tracking and optimising the impact is essential. Carrying out this activity will allow you access to very important data such as:

• how many people are watching
• how long they’re watching for
• when they’re turning off

… and more.

This data can give you powerful insights into the customer journey and the various ‘touchpoints’ that take people from their first contact with your business through to becoming loyal customers.

13. Video gives people content that they want

By 2021, video is predicted to account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Collectively, we watch more than a billion hours of video per day, and six out of 10 people prefer watching online videos to TV.

Hubspot says that 54% of all people want marketers to put out more content.

The message is clear – videos are in big demand. Your customers are waiting for you to reach them by video.

14. Video marketing improves customer service and reduces demand for support

As we’ve seen above, people love ‘explainer’ and ‘how-to’ videos. Many companies find that using video to answer FAQs or give detailed insights into their products or services helps to reduce customer service enquiries and support calls.

As well as saving time and money for the business, video information like this makes life easier for potential and existing customers too.

Videos are an effective way to break down the barriers that might stop people buying from you.

For example, a client testimonial video can be an extremely powerful tool in converting sceptical leads. It’s good practice to include client testimonials at the bottom of the sales funnel. This helps prospective clients who are strongly considering your services but might still need a little more persuasion.

15. Video builds trust and credibility

All of the above points will help you to build trust and credibility.

You should use video marketing to show your clients that you understand and care about meeting their needs. Most importantly, it pays off to add a human touch to your marketing and help people feel like they know you before they even make an enquiry. You can highlight the benefits and value of choosing your business.

Summary

Once upon a time, video marketing was confined to TV ads or glossy corporate videos alone. Only the companies with the budgets to fund them could afford to invest in this medium. Fortunately, the landscape has shifted. These days, it’s possible to Facebook Live from your mobile phone.

This opens up a world of possibilities. As we’ve seen, video marketing has many benefits whether you’re a lone freelancer or the CEO of an international corporation.

The biggest problems that still remain for many businesses are:

• determining what kind of video to make
• knowing when and how to use video
• understanding how to measure ROI

This is where the importance of developing an effective online video strategy really becomes clear.

The key is to identify your target audience, understand what they need, and how you can help. By understanding your audience, you’re going to know what videos to make. You’re going to know where those videos need to be distributed and you’re going to have some real insight into how to create a cohesive video marketing strategy across the full customer journey.

Developing a strategy for using video in your marketing mix can be confusing if you haven’t worked extensively with video before.

If you want to make video a profitable part of your business, it’s important that you have a video marketing strategy that extends beyond your normal digital marketing or content marketing strategy, and maximises the impact of the videos you get produced.

Don’t know exactly what you need?

Get in touch for some free advice and discover:

• What videos will have the greatest impact on your bottom line
• The best way to have your videos produced, based on your needs and budget
• The video marketing channels that will deliver the greatest reach and engagement for your brand