The importance of video marketing to engage customers and create brand awareness is now unrivaled. Of all businesses, 90% use video as part of their overall digital marketing strategy. Most of the consumes now a days prefer learning about a brand through video. Video is everywhere right now. Search for anything on Google and you will get at least one video result. Scroll your social media feed and you will constantly be directed towards video content of all kinds.
There’s no strategy like video marketing for educating, generating leads, and converting customers. And video production is more cost-effective and easier to accomplish than ever. Today you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video even with your smartphone. But between strategy, equipment, and editing software, video marketing is still pretty complicated.
Video in digital marketing
As the technology to create quality videos gets easier, it’s become more popular with marketers. But that’s not the only reason video is the dominant form of communication today.
First, there was the rise of smartphone technology that made watching videos easier and more convenient. Then the pandemic boosted online media consumption by 215% in the U.S.
Reasons for video marketing
Right now, video is the king of content.
So, for your brand to remain relevant and top-of-mind, you must be an active player in the video marketing game.
Reachability
As a marketer, you want your message to reach many people. How do you ensure that happens? By leveraging digital marketing tools that appeal to your target audience. One such tool is video.
Increased sales
Conversion of traffic is important for the brand. Customers are now more careful with their hard-earned cash and increasingly picky about what they buy.
A brand needs to prove itself and what better way to do so then using video as a tool for digital marketing.
Yes, that’s video marketing. Imagine a whopping 92% of marketers in 2023 report an increased return on investment due to video content. Further supporting video marketing is a must-have in your marketing toolkit.
Videos boosts SEO
Incorporating videos for digital marketing is a good strategy, as it helps in leveling up SEO efforts. Search engines like Google consider content with videos more engaging and valuable for users. Therefore, they are more likely to rank your website higher in search engine result pages (SERPs).
In addition, videos increase the stay time of users on website. This can be up to two times longer when videos are involved! And that’s what search engines want! This will boott the website’s overall SEO performance.
Social media engagement
You can leverage Social media to popularize your brand.
But, to get the likes and shares going, you must fill it with content that resonates with your target audience. And with videos, you can do just that!
Approximately 66% of social media users prefer engaging with content containing short-form videos.
So, to get the most out of your social media platforms, incorporating videos is the way to go!
Emotional connect
The biggest driver of any purchase decision is emotions. So, combining facial expressions, movements, and even color in videos makes it easier for users to connect with your brand. This is an evolutionary trait.
So, carefully crafting your videos to leverage these innate human instincts will trigger your desired response. And that’s to purchase your products or services.
Benefits of video marketing
Ignoring video marketing is no longer an option for brands who want to excel. Lets look at some of video marketing’s biggest benefits.
Encourages social shares
Video is the second most popular content type on social media for increasing engagement. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have always been about video. Meanwhile, platforms like Instagram and Face8 4book are focusing on video.
Even platforms that don’t offer native video uploads emphasize the value of video marketing.
Appeal for mobile users
Mobile users are a driving force for video consumption. According to a Statista study, 77% of those surveyed use a smartphone or tablet to watch online videos. Everyone has done it. Laying down in bed and scrolling through video is both easy and satisfying.
Trust building
Benefit of video marketing is its importance in building trust.
Onboarding videos, knowledge-based videos, meet the team videos, support video calls, and customer stories are just a few ways that video can create a more thorough, personalized customer support experience.
According to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers prefer lower quality, “authentic” videos over high-quality videos that seem artificial and inauthentic. This is part of the reason influencer marketing has grown from $9.7 billion in 2020 to an estimated $24 billion in 2024.
Video marketing strategies
Set goals and strategy
Before starting to make video start with a marketing strategy or goal, as every decision made during the video creation process will point back to purpose and what action is expected from audience to complete after watching it.
Without a clear purpose one can find themselves in a whirlwind of re-shooting, re-framing, and editing. That wastes a lot of precious time. So, begin the process with a clear strategy.
Cater to target audience
The popularity of video and user-generated video content means that you need to target a specific audience with each video. If you don’t already have strong buyer personas, start creating them now. If you already have a set of buyer personas, make sure to update your personas to include the most recent video research.
Considering what one is aiming towards. Whether it is to increase brand awareness for prospects or making a direct ad for leads.
Budget and time frame
Though video in digital marketing can needs fewer resources to succeed, it can still be a time-consuming and expensive process. One can save time and money with planning and project management.
Create a clear timeline for every step of the process and plan for occasional delays. Even a small video production relies on the skills of many different people. So, you want to make sure that even with unexpected challenges and changes you can still deliver your video on time.
Choosing correct platform
Before starting to make video, think about the platform to broadcast it. YouTube SEO is becoming as important as website SEO. Think about what people on that platform are looking for. Also consider average view time, size, budget and promotion.
Some platforms have built-in vehicles for promotion, while others will need you to put in some time and effort to get more eyes on your video content.
Communicating through message
It’s important to communicate a message with your videos. Use examples of marketing videos to inspire the video strategy. Also aligning the video messages with the flywheel is a good marketing strategy.
Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success.
Before you dive into production, you need to define your video goals and find the best metrics to help you understand whether you’ve accomplished those goals.
One can use the default metrics available in your platform of choice. Also a great help is several key performance indicators (KPIs) that correspond with your video goals. This list of metrics is a good place to start if one is not sure where to start with tracking the video marketing.
Video marketing is now one of the essential tools for brands looking to increase their reach. That’s because videos are more engaging and reach far and wide. This helps in boosting conversions and sales. When you have all this going in your favor, your brand’s success is all but assured!
