They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. So how many words would you think a video is worth?
The answer is millions!
Research has shown that one minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. Just one minute! As YouTube remains the second most commonly used search engine, more and more small businesses are noticing how strategically important video marketing is.
Marketing is about reaching people and speaking to them in ways they understand, pushing them toward an action. While your business will have web pages and brochures that explain who your company is and what it does, trust me when I say that many people would prefer to learn that information via video. And videos could even help them understand your business better.
Why Video Marketing?
You may be asking yourself why video marketing is important or how it could be lucrative to your business. Fortunately, the facts speak for themselves.
A year-old report from market research firm, Aberdeen Group, revealed companies that use video marketing strategies increased their revenue 49% faster than businesses that do not use video. In that same study, 85% of marketers said that their primary goal when using video is to drive lead generation. A new report called by a digital firm called L2 shows that TV viewership has been decreasing since 2012, and L2 predicts that approximately 80% of total online traffic will be driven by digital video by 2020. Other studies have shown more beneficial statistics about video marketing: placing a video on a landing page increases conversions by 80%, people who enjoy a video advertisement are 97% more likely to buy, 90% of users claim product videos are helpful in the decision making process and 1/3 of all online activity is spent watching videos.
Online video marketing is one of the most widely-used marketing techniques, as well as one of the most helpful techniques for lead generation. Your business needs videos, and probably various types of videos. No matter what type of business you run, videos can be used to describe your company culture, specifications of your products/services or just simply to explain in laymen’s terms what your business does.
Keep reading to learn more about the different types of videos that businesses should get produced and where they should be placed online.
Types of Videos to Get Produced
- Company overview – what your business does, how and why
- Product or service demo/tutorial – showcase your products or services by showing a demo of the service or a tutorial of a product being used, then explain the benefits and unique features
- Case study with customer testimonials – interview happy customers and have them speak freely about their experience with your company
- Infographic video about stats and data – learning about a company or product/service can be more fun and easier to understand when we see data in a video, rather than reading a long and boring white paper
- Animated explainer video – these are incredibly popular and can be quite short, which increases the likelihood that people will watch it all the way through and it also means the video is versatile enough to put on a wide variety of locations online
- About Us – you can make a more in-depth video about your corporate culture, the management team or your entire crew (and with video, you can make it as fun or silly or serious as you’d like)
- Viral parody video – if you want to try your luck mimicking a viral video (remember how everyone spoofed the “Call Me Maybe” song?), this would be both really fun for your employees and your fans; including a popular hashtag when you share the video on social media will stretch awareness of your company
- Live videos – this is a hot trend that is getting more and more popularity
- To recruit employees – brag about how awesome your business is and what makes it special to work there (this video can even be used in social media ads to recruit)
- To train employees – a traditional use for videos, but this oldie is a goodie
Some facts about Online Video Marketing
Where to Promote the Videos Online
- YouTube – larger than Bing, Yahoo!, Ask and AOL all together, it’s safe to say that YouTube is where videos live on the Internet
- Company website – if the point of the video is to drive people to contact you or make a purchase, the video should live on your website, ideally on a landing page or the home page
- Company blog – make a blog post about the facts mentioned in the video, behind-the-scenes of the video or anything that will help persuade people to watch the video
- Facebook – not only can you make a post on your business’s FB page with a link to the video on youtube or, even better, on your website, but you should also import it on the Videos tab to receive a ton of organic reach
- Twitter – this social media powerhouse has several video options, and with use of hashtags, people will find your video quickly
- Vimeo – a large video sharing site, like YouTube, that will expand your reach and help with SEO
- Facebook Live Videos – take live video of your company creating a product or conducting a service or a Q&A session or a behind-the-scenes look
- Periscope app – for more live video broadcast opportunities
- Email blasts – include video in your marketing emails and watch the click-through-rates skyrocket
- Social media channels – definitely share a link to the video on all of the business’s social media channels
- Press releases/media – if you can find a newsworthy angle, you can mention a video in a press release and/or email the YouTube link to your press list
- Other blogs – reach out to other blogs that have the same target audience to see if they would want to feature your video on their blog
- Niche communities – share a link to the video on groups, forums and online communities that are made up of your target audience, explaining why they should watch
Video Marketing Tips:
- Optimize the video’s metadata, as well as tags on video sharing sites
- Place your logo in one corner throughout the entire video
- Include your business’s contact info at the end of the video
- Include a call to action at the end, telling the viewer what you’d like them to do (for example: either share the video, contact your business, learn more, etc.)
- Consider using the video as an ad
- Hire a professional marketing agency to come up with the video concept, script and the actual creation of the video, or you could hire a videographer, but you would most likely have to come up with the majority of the creative direction
Video is not a privilege strictly for big, rich companies! Your business, no matter how small or what your business does, deserves video content in its marketing mix.
Don’t let your competition beat you to the punch! Incorporate videos into your marketing strategy today.