With the tremendous rise in popularity of video formats, businesses of all kinds need to learn what video marketing is and how they can best use it to their advantage.
In today’s digital age, video marketing is one of the most popular content delivery formats for capturing the hearts and minds of customers. Many successful marketing campaigns now rely heavily on video marketing.
Looking for ways to position your business for maximum exposure? This article provides the information you need about video marketing and its importance in the new drive for market capture.
What Is Video Marketing?
You may have seen a company advert on TikTok or YouTube displaying their newest product or service. Some are laced with a call-to-action (CTA) asking viewers to take a specific action. This could be funneled to the business website or for an app installation. In most cases, it’s often used as a market strategy to engage viewers. That is video marketing, a medium that enables businesses to use video content to generate awareness about their brand, products, and services. Video marketing employs consumers’ visual and audio-sensory nerves, making it a very effective broadcast tool for marketers to tap into.
In a Wzywol report, 91% of businesses confirmed using video as a marketing tool in 2023. This is the highest figure ever recorded since the platform began tracking video marketing in 2016.
A Statista survey of 8,000 marketers in June 2021 also showed that 89% agreed that pre-produced video was the leading digital consumer engagement tactic globally.
Other findings from the survey disclosed that 81% of marketers used this video format in their digital marketing efforts. In addition, 13% of those surveyed said they intend to explore this marketing medium in the coming months. This clearly shows the vast impact video marketing is having on both the public impact of businesses and their revenue health.
Video marketing became a household name a year after YouTube launched in 2005. However, the Google-owned video-sharing platform is not the first of its kind. In 1997, the first video-sharing service called ShareYourWorld.com was launched. However, the platform soon lost its appeal due to security issues it experienced, leading to its eventual shutdown before the internet boom of the 2000s.
YouTube is currently the de facto video-sharing platform hosting videos about education, science, astrology, marketing, gaming, live streams, and other topics. About 3.7 million videos are uploaded daily, representing 271,330 hours of watch time, per Wyzwol data.
The impact of YouTube is undeniable. With 2.6 billion-plus monthly visitors accessing the platform, YouTube is the second most visited website globally, just behind its parent company Google.com. A daily influx of around 122 million users further underscores the platform’s immense appeal to consumers.
As a result, video marketing has become a crucial tool in every company’s strategic arsenal, recognizing the unparalleled influence and reach that video-sharing platforms like YouTube possess.
Is Video Marketing Important?
Having explained what video marketing is and how videos have evolved, it’s time to inquire about how vital this content delivery medium is.
In essence, why is video marketing important for business success?
The numbers speak for themselves here. Firstly, videos are very powerful persuasive tools. An Animoto press release showed that 93% of businesses landed new customers after sharing videos on social media. A further 94% of marketers confessed that video ads posted strong ROI for their businesses. However, this is not where the best detail is.
According to the Animoto study, 73% of people affirmed that they were persuaded to interact with a brand, product, or service after watching a video. In addition, 58% of users watched videos when they intended to shop online, directly linking to the idea that video marketing is a goldmine businesses don’t want to pass on.
Secondly, videos can convey simple and complex messages or ideas in seconds or minutes. This makes them a potent force as consumers are inundated with both visuals and audio within their limited attention span.
Text and images are the most popular marketing strategies most companies employ. Video marketing takes it a notch higher. It combines visuals and audio, significantly increasing a business’s success rate in attracting its target audience.
Words posted on a status or images shared can easily be forgotten once the consumer scrolls past them. But a relevant and eye-catching video stays fresh in the mind of consumers much longer. Why is this so? It is because videos are, by nature, more immersive and dynamic in how they are presented.
Viewing a video ad on mobile is a different experience than when it is done on a larger screen real estate like a PC. However, what underlies both is that the video draws the viewer in and holds their attention till the expiration of the entire reel.
Within this timeframe, businesses can better showcase their product’s benefits and services while offering users quick how-to guides for seamless setup. Instead of going through a written wall of text in instruction manuals, consumers can easily watch a concise five-minute video and swiftly become adept users of the product.
Lastly, the rapid growth of mobile smartphones has been a game-changer for social and video marketing. Mobile phones are used for shopping, gaming, and leisure. Now, more people are buying smartphones than the previous generation did.
The smartphone market is exploding, and a Spherical Insights report shows that the industry is expected to be worth well over $947 billion by 2030. This will see the industry surge 4.1% in its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) within nine years.
Businesses already recognize mobile devices’ huge potential, and many are creating video content that better works with mobile viewing. Broadband Search’s findings further point out this potential for video marketing.
According to the marketing research firm, users spend 40 minutes on average daily watching YouTube videos on their mobile devices. Short-form videos on TikTok and Instagram reels have been the most viewed due to their short and engaging nature.
In a nutshell, video marketing is a powerful strategy more businesses are becoming receptive to largely because more consumers are leaning towards it. Technological advancements and the number of smartphone users globally further enhance the marketing strategy’s potency.
Mobile devices now play a major role in making video marketing the force it is today. Moreso, video marketing is genuinely engaging, short, and quick to the point, and even better plays a strong persuasive role in consumer purchasing decisions. As a business operating in the multi-channel ecosystem the internet has engendered, video marketing is a must-have portion of most marketing strategies.
The ’90s saw the explosion of TV ads and the rise of a new generation of consumers. However, the rise of the internet in the early 2000s presented new opportunities for businesses to increase their market share. Since then, the medium of video has exploded like no other, capturing the minds and attention of billions of people every single day.
Companies are now turning to video marketing to better showcase their brands, products, and services to their target audience to take advantage of the eruption in the popularity of the medium.
Benefits of Video Marketing
Video marketing is a prominent performer among various marketing channels, such as print and audio. As the use of video remains prevalent among the vast majority of businesses, let’s look at the benefits.
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Increased Engagement and Attention
In contrast to other types of content, like text or still images, videos have an exceptional and captivating capability to seize and retain the audience’s focus. Their dynamic and visually engaging characteristics make them highly effective in evoking emotions.
According to a study, videos serve as an optimal medium for delivering information efficiently because the human brain processes visuals at a staggering 60,000 times faster rate than text.
On social media, posts with videos often receive significantly higher views and engagement than simple photo posts. Social videos generate 1200% more shares than a combination of text and image content.
Furthermore, viewers retain an impressive 95% of the message when they watch it in a video, in contrast to only 10% when reading the same information in text format. As a result, viewers are more likely to absorb and remember the message a brand conveys through video. This, in turn, increases the chances of conversions and strengthens brand recall.
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Enhanced Brand Awareness
Brand recognition and customer interaction play a pivotal role in driving successful sales. Customers seek to identify the entities they buy from and establish trust in the brand or business they choose.
In light of this, videos allow businesses to create high-quality and imaginative content that vividly showcases their brand and brings it to life.
Videos can capture attention and convey emotions, surpassing the impact of words or still photos. A staggering 89% of customers claim they have been swayed to purchase after watching a persuasive video.
Marketing relies heavily on storytelling, and videos offer an exceptional medium to narrate captivating tales.
Due to this, brands use videos to demonstrate their products or services in action, present testimonials from contented customers, and offer a glimpse behind the scenes, establishing a more genuine bond with their audience.
By combining visuals, audio, and narratives, brands can effectively convey their message in a manner that deeply connects with their audience, ultimately fostering trust and inspiring brand loyalty.
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Improved Conversion Rates
Video marketing’s impact goes beyond just engagement; it also significantly influences conversion rates. Videos can influence viewers to take the intended action, whether making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or downloading an ebook.
For instance, a study revealed that email subject lines containing the term ‘video’ experienced a 19% increase in open rates and an impressive 65% surge in click-through rates.
The versatility of video marketing allows businesses to tailor their approach to suit any circumstance. Imagine having a landing page showcasing product features through engaging videos instead of static content.
Furthermore, short and informative tutorial videos, such as “how-to” guides, have the potential to greatly benefit customers by helping them comprehend the intricacies of the product.
Studies have shown that having a video on a landing page can result in an 80% or higher conversion boost. Furthermore, 96% of individuals rely on explainer videos to better understand products or services.
Customer review videos also prove highly effective, as online reviews significantly influence the purchasing decisions of over 93% of consumers.
In that case, the ability to present information in an engaging and informative manner enhances the likelihood of viewers converting into valuable customers.
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Increased Social Media Reach
Shareable content is important for effective marketing in the era of social media domination. While there are many other sorts of content, social media sites give the video a unique position because of how well it can capture and engage people.
Stronger emotional connections and greater narrative are made possible by videos, which boosts user engagement and extends the time spent on the platform. This benefits the platform’s ad revenue and user retention in turn.
Viewers who enjoy a video are more likely to share it with their social networks, greatly extending the brand’s reach. Notably, 51% of people express a greater likelihood of sharing videos with their friends than any other form of content. Sharing an ad with a friend has never been so easy before the rise of social media and brands are taking advantage by trying to be as sharable and viral as possible.
The potential to go viral, drawing a sizable influx of potential customers with little work on the part of the brand, makes social media video marketing the greatest cost to reward strategy many companies can pursue.
Furthermore, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have made it incredibly easy to distribute video content to a vast audience. Instagram boasts a staggering 2 billion monthly active users, and TikTok just over a billion, per data from TikTok Statistics. These platforms offer immense opportunities for brands to reach a diverse and extensive audience.
Features like Reels have transformed into a potent platform for brands and creators on Instagram. The prevalence of short-form videos on social media is undeniable. With an algorithm focused on maximizing reach and relevance, any brand neglecting Reels is already falling behind.
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Improved SEO Performance & A Boost to Other Important Metrics
An organization’s search engine and social media algorithm positions can be significantly enhanced by incorporating videos into its marketing strategy. Videos are known for being high-quality and engaging entertainment, and Google’s search algorithm is well aware of this fact.
Additionally, videos may improve important performance indicators, including click-through rates, dwell time, shares, comments, and likes. These metrics are useful gauges of user involvement and fulfillment.
Furthermore, including videos on a website encourages users to stay on the site longer, resulting in lower bounce rates.
This feature informs search engines that the website provides unique, worthwhile content, an important factor Google considers when ranking content.
Despite the increased competition for traditional search results, driven by Google’s emphasis on video, this shift has allowed websites with video content to successfully attain first-page rankings.
According to Forrester Research, videos were found to be 53 times more likely to achieve an organic first-page ranking than conventional web pages. With proper optimization, videos can enhance a brand’s online visibility and drive organic traffic to its website.
Types of Video Marketing
There has been an increase in people searching for an answer to the question, what is video marketing? It has emerged as an essential and indispensable tool for businesses seeking to captivate their audiences, increase brand awareness, and boost sales.
However, while businesses may know the potential impact of video content on their digital marketing endeavors, it remains challenging to determine the most effective types of video marketing to leverage for optimizing their marketing campaign.
Let’s explore five types of video marketing strategies, along with statistics and use cases for each:
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Explainer Videos
Explainer videos are effective tools for communicating complicated concepts, goods, or services. They boost brand trust while also improving the customer experience.
These videos target certain client problems and show how the business’s product or service is the best solution. The ultimate objective is to attract viewers, leave them wanting more, and inspire them to act by contacting the business for additional information.
The secret is in convincingly demonstrating the importance of this good or service so that potential buyers will stop considering it and start taking action. To increase conversions and successfully educate their audience, businesses frequently use them on landing pages, social media, and email marketing.
HubSpot reported that 94% of marketers had seen an increase in user understanding after incorporating an explainer video.
A prime example of an effective explainer video is one used by Chip App, an investment app focusing on alternative asset investing.
The video highlights how users may take advantage of the app’s functionalities in just 60 seconds while communicating the app’s offerings clearly and effectively.
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Live Videos
Live videos provide an outstanding chance for in-person communication with the audience. They frequently serve as venues for product introductions, Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes tours, and virtual events. They aid in developing a stronger bond with the audience, fostering greater trust and commitment.
Live videos generate a sense of urgency and authenticity, increasing audience engagement. According to Livestream, 82% of consumers prefer live video to traditional social media posts.
Organizations have multiple options for conducting live streams through Vimeo, IBM Cloud Video, and Brightcove platforms. Additionally, businesses may reach a wider audience thanks to social media platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram Live, and LinkedIn Live.
For instance, Shopify, the e-commerce platform, utilized live video to host a virtual panel featuring prominent Black professionals.
The aim was to promote black businesses and bring improvement to the black community. The event also taught financial literacy.
The live format introduces an extra layer of enthusiasm and urgency to the audience’s viewing experience. A notable advantage of live videos is that customers can conveniently access and replay the recorded livestream.
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Testimonials and Case Study Videos
Testimonial and case study videos are powerful tools that showcase real customers sharing their positive experiences with a brand’s product or service.
Customer testimonial videos are designed to evoke emotions, featuring satisfied customers praising a business, explaining their reasons for choosing the product, describing its usage, and expressing their appreciation for the product or company.
Authenticity is crucial in these videos, as unscripted testimonials effectively convey the customer’s true emotions, elevating online reviews to a whole new level.
Testimonial videos can also present compelling case studies, showcasing the customer journey, from the initial problem they faced to the solution provided by the company and its resulting impact.
These videos can also offer diverse perspectives, showcasing different generations to effectively cater to the target audience. For instance, featuring a testimonial from a younger individual can enhance relatability and resonate with an audience of similar age.
A survey by BrightLocal revealed that 84% of consumers trust online reviews and testimonials as much as personal recommendations.
In this instance, HubSpot, a CRM platform, nailed its customer testimonial video. The platform showcased a video testimonial by one of its customers, Will Curran.
In the testimonial, Curran, founder of the event production company ‘Endless Events,’ tells us how HubSpot played a major role in their success story.
The authenticity and passion conveyed through his expressions in the video would undoubtedly compel prospects to seek similar benefits, making them eager to partner with HubSpot.
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Company Culture Video
Company culture videos present a unique opportunity to establish a profound connection with audiences. In a time when traditional advertising is met with skepticism from consumers, being authentic has become ideal for building trust.
These videos offer glimpses of real employees, their personal stories, and their genuine passion for their work. By doing so, companies can forge an emotional bond with their target audience, leading to stronger brand loyalty and transforming customers into advocates.
The impact of company culture videos extends beyond external audiences and has significant internal benefits. By showcasing a vibrant and positive work environment, these videos can boost employee morale and instill a sense of pride in the workforce.
Engaged employees, in turn, tend to be more motivated, productive, and dedicated to the organization’s success.
Additionally, these videos play a vital role in recruitment efforts. Prospective candidates gain insights into the company’s culture, helping them evaluate their fit within the organization. This, in turn, attracts more qualified candidates who align culturally, streamlining the recruitment process.
A study noted that 89% of consumers had been convinced to purchase a product or service after watching a brand’s culture video. These videos build trust and loyalty by humanizing the brand and making it relatable to its audience.
An example is HubSpot’s company culture video, which accomplishes several commendable aspects.
It effectively informs, welcomes, and persuades the audience without relying on excessive extravagance or flashiness. The video’s simplicity is intentional, as HubSpot’s culture is self-evident and speaks for itself.
The video employs a “show, don’t tell” approach, providing glimpses of their flexible and enjoyable office spaces and capturing the genuine smiles of their staff.
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Interview/Q&A Video
The interview/Q&A video provides an interesting and educative method of engaging consumers, increasing brand awareness, and building trust with potential customers.
Typically, an expert, influential member of the industry, or firm representative can be seen engaged in thoughtful discussions or responding to frequently asked topics in these fascinating videos.
Additionally, the format offers a priceless opportunity to convey expertise, build credibility, and foster trust with the target audience, boosting lead generation and enhancing conversion rates.
Furthermore, due to their adaptability, interview/Q&A videos can be customized to address specific issues, market niches, or customer pain points.
Businesses can then effectively market their goods or services as the best answer while addressing specific questions or issues.
Furthermore, adding this content to a comprehensive video marketing strategy allows organizations to humanize their messaging, putting a face to the company and promoting authenticity.
This helps foster a more intimate relationship with the audience, increasing client loyalty and brand advocacy.
An example of this can be observed in the launch video for Shopify’s Markets Pro.
In an interview-style presentation, Jelani Lewis, a support advisor at Shopify, guides viewers through the concept of Markets Pro and the reasons behind its introduction.
How to Use Video Marketing to Boost SEO and Build Backlinks
Now that you have a better understanding of what video marketing is and the benefits it could bring for your business, it’s important to briefly discuss how it facilitates backlinks and boosts search engine optimization (SEO).
According to a 2023 Hubspot data report, 72% of consumers would rather learn about major talking points of a product or service through video due to its ability to relate messages appealingly.
Additionally, according to Statista, the global viewability rate of video advertisements for marketing goals stood at 77% for different devices in the first half of 2022.
In the measured period, video ads achieved impressive viewership rates of 93.2% and 80.1% on internet-connected TV and mobile websites. Videos marketed on mobile-in apps and desktops recorded rates of 83.7% and 76.9%, respectively.
Statista data analysis above highlights video marketing as a functional advertisement platform that permeates various regions and platforms.
Digital marketing experts in the business sector are optimistic that the coming years will feature a spate of marketing-driven integrations, which could increase the adoption rate of videos for marketing.
Here’s how video marketing can accomplish these goals:
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High-Quality Content
While video marketing backs up data that proves it to be a functional advertising tool, its conversion rate is mostly based on the quality of content displayed. This is true for the SEO benefits of video as well. Businesses need to ensure they create videos with high-quality content.
Many ideas can be utilized to create crisp and invaluable video content. The first tip is to know your target audience. You need to know who your audience is as well as their wants and needs.
The next step is to choose a type of video ad and a topic that resonates with the audience and determine what kind of information your video would convey. Refer back to the previous section to choose the best type of video ad for your specific needs.
Once all of these basics are sorted, the other important details revolve around the actualy production of the video, which involves preparing scripts, finalizing a set and talent, preparing the film equipment, and more.
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Link Building
With the surge in viewership of videos driven by high-quality and relevant content, companies can embed their videos in their content, creating a valuable chain of backlinks.
Backlinks are links from other websites that point to yours. It is viewed as a vote of confidence or endorsement by search engines. The greater authority of the website that links to yours, the greater SEO benefits you can derive from it.
Companies can use video to try to attract back links by creating high quality, unique content that others will want to link back to. If the video is passed around enough and gets even just a few high-authority links, the effort was likely worth it.
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Enhanced User Engagement Metrics
Enhanced user engagement metrics are one of the key features that make video marketing stand out due to its simple and fast-paced ways of accomplishing all advert objectives.
These metrics include conversion rate, sales boost, total leads, and average time spent on a video hosting platform (Website, YouTube, etc.)
When a video is published and viewed by a potential target audience, search engines interpret the content as relevant and rank it higher for more audiences to access easily.
This is important as it impacts other search engine optimization metrics, drives traffic, and facilitates the conversion of viewership into customers. This way, the company’s search engine ranking would likely surge to the top, making it far easier for users to interact with them due to the enhanced visibility.
How to Start Making Marketing Videos Today
Having explained how video marketing works and the type of videos businesses can deploy for marketing, it’s time to discuss how to create videos.
Before an individual creates a high-quality marketing video, several steps should be followed. Here are comprehensive steps to get individuals started:
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Define Campaign Goals and Target Audience
The first step in creating marketing videos is to clearly define the video objectives and identify the target audience you aim to convert into potential customers. This involves understanding the campaign goals, which could be geared toward increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, or driving website traffic.
Once these objectives are established, ensuring that the created videos effectively resonate with the intended audience becomes crucial.
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Determine Video Type
Marketing videos come in different types, each serving specific purposes. For example, an explainer video is perfect for advertising the major talking points of a product or service, while a testimonial video is made to showcase reliability and build trust and loyalty between a business and its customer base.
Individuals must carefully consider their target audience to choose the most suitable video type. This will ensure seamless production, increases in engagement, and continuous conversion rates.
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Tell a Story
A video that tells a story often captures viewers’ interest and influences them to purchase products or services advertised.
Individuals should integrate elements that captivate the viewers, highlight a problem and a solution, and create a lasting impact when crafting a video.
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Incorporate Branding Elements
Logos, brand colors, and other visual elements are important when creating a marketing video, as it reinforces brand identity and enables viewers to recognize your video content easily. Furthermore, simply getting your brand into the minds of prospective customers has the ability to sway them when making future purchases.
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Video Embedding and Backlinks
An insightful call-to-action (CTA) must be included in videos to propel viewers to purchase products or services advertised.
To enhance engagement and exposure, you can include a video description encouraging viewers to share the video on their social media platforms or embed the video ad on their websites or blogs. These actions can lead to more backlinks, higher click-through rates, and broader content reach.
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Optimize for SEO
When considering YouTube and websites as potential hosts for a video ad, individuals must prioritize optimizing the video content for search engines like Google. This involves adding relevant details, such as keywords, to the video title, tags, and description.
By conducting effective optimization, a video can attract more views and higher levels of engagement as it becomes more discoverable to the target audience on search engine platforms.
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Optimize Video Thumbnails
A video thumbnail is a snapshot of your video, offering viewers a glimpse of its content. The impact of a compelling thumbnail cannot be understated, as it can make the difference between garnering thousands of views and just a few when videos appear in search engine results.
Using an attractive thumbnail that strikes curiosity in the mind of viewers is essential to get people to click on your video.
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Publish and Promote
Once the video is ready, it’s time to publish it on your chosen platform or website. To effectively reach a broader target audience, individuals can share published videos through social media, email, and your website.
Is Video Marketing Worth It for My Business?
Video marketing can be a worthwhile investment for most small and medium enterprises seeking diverse rewards, including high sales rates, web traffic, and more.
According to Statista, video marketing investment has soared to moonshot since the start of 2020, when it permeated several regions and advertising communities.
Digital video advertising investment reached $70 billion in 2020 and has since experienced rapid growth, with data-driven potential to peak at $120 billion in 2024.
This substantial investment is justified by the exceptional engagement and conversion rates that videos offer compared to other forms of content, enabling businesses to effortlessly connect with their audiences.
Video marketing can convey complex ideas simply and visually appealingly, leaving long-lasting impressions. Additionally, it is a great advertisement option to boost brand awareness.
Despite the fact that video marketing is crucial for most businesses, it may not be ideal for everyone. Creating marketing videos requires time, equipment, skilled personnel, storytelling, and more.
More so, not all target audiences resonate or engage with videos, which often results in low investment returns if videos are promoted.
Nevertheless, business owners must research to identify their marketing goals, target audience, and resources available to determine if making a video is the best advertisement tool to promote products or services.