As marketers, we want to find innovative ways to grab audience attention. Video has become a more versatile, meaningful way to engage with customers. When used correctly, video marketing can help make any business look more professional, which can lead to better brand awareness and conversions than any other medium.
Stand out with video marketing
Think about your own experience on social media. When you open Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram or Pinterest, you can view a large number of videos or GIFs that tell you about business, products or services. You are drawn to watch a video, whether you turn on the sound or simply read the script that details the video. Videos give your business an opportunity to get discovered and engage with your audience without having to over explain it, thus maximising your time output. At the same time, video marketing, because of its moving parts and interesting angles, has an uncanny ability to reel us in, whether it’s an advertorial video or a raw unscripted video where you get a sneak peek into the life of someone else. Video is fast becoming addictive and a way to share your story effectively.
Benefits of video marketing
The demand for video marketing is on the rise and its application will increase. According to Hubspot, including a video on your website or social media landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%, while 96% of B2B organisations use video in their marketing campaigns and as much as 73% have reported positive results to their return on investment.
We live in a world where technology and marketing have collided. With the increase of social media, we’ve become a society that consumes information quickly because of our short concentration span and time constraints. Video plays to these needs. It’s fast focused information that gives the audience a view inside your business in the shortest time possible. Hubspot statistics speak for themselves: 92% of mobile consumers often share videos with their network on social media, while 90% of users say that product videos are helpful when making a decision to purchase. Whether you know it or not, you have the ability to produce content that is relevant, informative and valuable at a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing video.
A video marketing plan
Before you start, the first step is to plan and think about your objective and what type of video you want to create. Various skills and online programmes are involved in creating a video. Understand these before you start. As an entrepreneur I use various video applications. One of the most popular sites is Animoto.com. It provides easy-to-use templates, background music to theme your video, with drop and drag functionality for moving images. It also allows you to share the video instantly within social media sites or embed into your website using code. Other video production sites with similar applications include Photodex.com and Get.Wideo.co.
Video marketing approaches
The type of work and skill to create videos:
- Vlogging: Producing a real-life video A vlog is a blog created in video format. Facebook live and Twitter Periscope are examples of this type of video format to provide insight into your business, service or product – useful for brand awareness.
- Advert: Advertorial video A 40-second advertorial video, is a quick introduction to your business or yourself and normally highlights who you are, why you do what you do and how you do it. Uploading these types of videos onto your website or social media sites is a great way to introduce your business and create brand awareness.
- GIF: Graphic interchange format GIFs are still images that carry small aspects of Flash or moving parts on top of a static image. These types of video formats are normally used to illustrate an occasion or specific emotional action. Most digital marketers use GIF for banner ads or flyers. I use Giphy.com to animate some of my memes (humorous images) and upload or share them with my audience.
- Sales video: Value proposition and showcase video A sales video is a way to create a story around your offer. It is a great opportunity to highlight benefits of services or products, create an emotional angle to your pitch and increase sales.
- Introduction corporate video: sneak peek Introduction videos could spike brand awareness and showcase the business and the team players; instantly telling an audience what your product or service is about and why they should do business with you and your colleagues.
- Viral Videos: Memes and GIFs (humour) Creating talking points around your staff or business is vital. Humorous animation videos with staff or customers who visit your business can add a fun element to your video marketing efforts and help others to familiarise themselves with your premises, staff and way you treat your customers.
- Tutorials: Explanation videos Tutorial videos are great to share insights on how to use your products or services. A tutorial video can be used as part of a vlog and can be included with your product to improve user experience or it can be used as a stand-alone advert.
When using video in your marketing, it should speak to your audience. The ideal video on your website homepage should be different to the video you share on your business Facebook page or to that of your vlog. It is therefore important to plan and strategise your approach to the market. Go to www.lucilledivine.com and download a free ebook on video marketing.