Posted by There was a time just a few years ago when video took forever to upload and view on the internet. Dial-up and slow connections would make for long periods when viewers would stare at the screen while the video loaded and buffered. Even when a video was viewable, the picture was often choppy, and the audio not in sync with the video.
All of that changed with the rise of high-speed internet connections that are now accessible on smartphones, tablets, and any other mobile device.
Today, video is now an integral part of any digital marketing efforts designed to generate website traffic and revenue for your business. Online video content is a useful tool to grab the attention of large groups of potential consumers from around the world. The information presented in a video format is far more likely to be absorbed and retained by the viewer, making it an ideal vehicle for marketing applications using a wide range of platforms and outlets.
Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are massive digital communities with billions of active users that check their feeds and scroll through their timelines throughout each day. These popular social media networks offer a variety of marketing opportunities that can reach large groups of targeted consumers.
The following statistics from recent studies demonstrate just how effective video is at increasing your online presence and growing your brand.
- Video views on mobile devices like cell phones and iPads continue to increase 100 percent each year (Insivia)
- Video content on social media is shared 1200 percent more than posts with text and photos (G2 Crowd)
- Upwards of 95 percent of information seen in a video will be retained by the viewer, compared to just 10 percent when reading text
- It has been predicted that 82 percent of all online traffic will be video by 2021
- Of all the people around the world that use the internet, about a third the, or close to two billion people, use YouTube to watch videos (YouTube)
Setting Video Marketing Goals
Digital marketers have figured out a number of different ways to utilize video content to fulfill a variety of business goals and objectives. Video content distributed throughout a variety of distribution outlets can be used to:
- Generate leads, sales, and profits
- Explain a complex issue or procedure
- Introduce products or upgraded features and functions
- Tell your story and introduce your business to consumers
- Educate existing and potential customers
- Increase online presence and consumer engagement
- Build your brand as a trusted resource and industry leader
Types of Digital Marketing Videos
Depending on your business marketing objectives, industry standards, and advertising budget, you have a variety of choices when it comes to the types of videos you can use for your digital marketing campaigns. If you need an idea of cost then feel free to try this video production cost estimator to determine cost.
Drive-Up Sales
The ultimate goal of your business is to make sales, generate profits, and grab a larger share of the market in your industry. These types of marketing videos are created with your sales numbers in mind.
- Humorous Video: Comedy can be a great uniter but needs to be handled with care. What is funny to you may not be to others, and that can turn people off and drive them away from your business. Deftly adding universally humorous elements to your videos will set the mood for your viewers and make it far more likely they will like and share your content with their friends and contacts.
- Traditional Commercial for New Formats: The digital age has forever changed television advertising works. With opportunities on social media, your business website, and other digital properties, commercials can be more easily and more affordably distributed to massive groups of online consumers. Regular television programming has adapted to the digital age with streaming and on-demand services that offer marketing packages.
- Brand Awareness: The more people know about you, the more likely they are to become customers. A company video that can be housed on your home page and social media accounts will introduce your brand elements and present your business as a valued source for quality products and services in your industry. Introduce the benefits, features, and functions of your products and demonstrate the culture and mission statement of your business.
Product Introduction Videos
Video is an effective marketing medium to showcase your products and demonstrate how it works and the benefits to your customers. Provide consumers with all of the most important information they need to know to make a purchasing decision.
- Product Demonstration: Videos are especially valuable at highlighting your products, addressing any potential questions or concerns, and show how it can offer solutions to viewers’ problems or needs. Get into detail about what your products are about and why your services will benefit prospective customers.
- Lifestyle Video: Showcase the culture of your business and the ways your products and services can improve the lives of your customers. Using real employees will add an element of authenticity and credibility to feature the lifestyle benefits of your business.
- Interview Video: Customer testimonials using a real, satisfied user of your products and services is a great way to instill trust in your brand and your business. Consumers respond to real-life stories for actual customers extolling the virtues and benefits of your products.
Educational, Informative Videos
You are the expert about your products and services. By informing consumers, you can show viewers how and why your products work and can be beneficial. These types of videos will also set you up as the industry resource consumers will come to for valuable information.
- Explainer Videos: Demonstration and explainer videos are perfect for complicated topics or machinery in a way that can be understood and retained by customers. These videos can be stopped and started as needed and saved for future reference.
- How-To Videos: “How-to…” web searches continue to be among the most popular and effective ways to find specific valuable information about your product or services. Video is highly effective at being able to break down complex procedures and instructions and making them accessible and memorable.
- Webinar: A long-form webcast in a more formal setting allows you to provide a large amount of information about how your business operates. Webinars can be live-streamed to help engage and interact with your audience in real-time and then archived for on-demand viewing at a later
- date.
Videos That Increase Views, Exposure
In today’s digital landscape a good video marketing strategy combined with video content seems to be the only way to grab the attention of today’s online users. Publishing and distributing quality videos throughout your digital assets will help to drive consumers to your website and expose your brand to the largest possible target audience.
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