Video Marketing: How to Harness the Power to Defeat Your Competition
Video marketing is nothing new. It’s been around for a long time at this point, and it has steadily gained in both popularity and performance. Today, video content is the second-highest converting form of content marketing, coming in just behind research reports and white papers. However, Cisco expects video to account for 81 per cent of all consumer-oriented Internet traffic within just two years. By harnessing the power of video marketing now, you can defeat the competition and reach your customers through a medium they love while reaping significant benefits like increased conversions and improved brand recall.
Why Video Marketing?
Why should video marketing be such a central element of your digital strategy? Here are just a few additional compelling statistics, as compiled by Digital Information World.
- Video included in a landing page can increase conversion by up to 80 per cent.
- 65 per cent of your audience will watch at least three-quarters of a video. Only 5 per cent stop within a minute.
- YouTube alone serves up more than 5 billion videos per day.
- Social videos generate 1200 per cent more shares than static images and text combined.
- 36 per cent of Internet users trust video ads.
- 28 per cent of smartphone owners watch at least one video per day on their device.
How to Use Video for Your Business
Now that we’ve highlighted why video needs to be part of your digital marketing arsenal, we need to dig a little deeper. How do you make it work for you? Actually, there are plenty of ways that you can experiment with depending on your industry and niche.
Product Videos
If you sell physical products, or your company creates physical products, then video can be used to highlight what you offer. Product videos are usable by resellers/retailers, but also by manufacturers. Many other firms can use product videos, too. For instance, does your company provide landscaping services? Perhaps you install swimming pools or build decks. All of these things can be highlighted with video.
Customer Support Videos
Is your customer support team being inundated with calls for help? Support videos can be integrated into your FAQ page or your knowledge base to provide answers to common customer questions or challenges. Customer support videos perform very well and also bolster your company’s image because they are not overtly ad-oriented and deliver real value to your audience.
How-To Videos
Few uses of video are more popular than how-to content. You can highlight how to achieve a particular result with your product, or how your tools can be used in the real world. Really, almost anything can be turned into a how-to video, and chances are good that you already have ideas that can be drawn from customer questions or your FAQ page.
Testimonials
Social proof is incredibly important today. Customer reviews can provide some of that, but few things compare to the traction you gain through video testimonials of real customers sharing authentic experiences. However, take care to ensure that these videos are genuine. If your audience feels you are being disingenuous, they will leave and you’ll begin developing a negative reputation.
Video Tips and Tricks
We’ve covered some of the more popular uses for video content in your digital marketing, but we also need to touch on a few tips and tricks to ensure that you’re able to get the most out of this technology.
Lead Gen Placement
Your lead generation tactic, whether that’s an embedded URL, a call to action, an opt-in form, or something else, needs to occur within the first 20 seconds of the video to really gain traction.
The Right Thumbnail
Choose your thumbnail image very carefully. It might be tempting to centre the image on your company’s logo or some other recognisable business-owned collateral, but studies show people have a better reaction to smiling human faces.
Length Matters
Avoid the temptation to produce very long videos. The shorter they are, the better they will perform. However, that does not mean that you need to create 30-second customer support videos or 10-second how-to videos. The length of the video should support the topic at hand. Just remember that you need to take your audience’s time seriously and that the longer a video is, the more disengaged your audience will become. Videos between three and five minutes tend to have the greatest level of audience engagement.
Video is important
Video content should have a prominent place in your digital marketing campaign. If it doesn’t, your competition will surpass you. However, with the right strategy and some creative thinking, you can use video marketing to defeat the competition and boost both brand recognition and customer loyalty.