These days it is hard to surprise anybody with the idea that video marketing is a significant trend in promotion strategies. But exactly how important is it? Is it something that’s good to have if you have resources to spare, or is it something absolutely indispensable? Judging by statistics, with every passing year it is getting more and more into the latter category. According to the study by Wyzowl, 87 percent of businesses now use video as a part of their marketing strategy (vs. just 63 percent in 2017), and 91 percent of those engaging in video marketing believe it to be a significant part of their overall strategy. This means that today it is not just an addition. It is a must, and by forgoing video marketing, you put yourself on the losing side. But why exactly is it so important? Let’s take a look.

1. It increases conversion

Humans are primarily visually-oriented creatures. This means that it doesn’t matter how eloquent your product descriptions are and how good you are at SEO, when a person visits your product page, his decision of whether to buy or not to buy is going to be dictated by the visuals. Presence of a video on a landing page is reported to increase conversion by a whopping 80 percent. Therefore, you may like it or not, but facts speak for themselves: videos are extremely effective at selling.

2. It is cost-effective

Of all the marketing tools, the video demonstrates one of the best combinations of price and efficiency. You may argue that producing a quality video is both time- and resource-consuming, and would be right – it takes time, money and know-how. However, the payoff usually more than compensates for all the expenses. Of course, for your video to have the desired effect you have to know at least the basics of how to make one, have some minimal equipment and software tools. However, these days it is not nearly as great a problem as it used to be. You can easily find detailed step-by-step guides on the Internet, many video editing tools are available at bargain prices or free of charge, and speaking of equipment, even an average smartphone has a camera that is more than enough for most your needs.

3. It motivates social sharing

There is hardly a better way to motivate a person to share something on social media than to put this something into a form of a short and entertaining video. YouTube has already been the second most popular social network in the world, and most other important social media follow suit these days: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and all the other big players integrate videos into their paradigm in this or that way. However, you should remember that what we said about entertainment is important – most people will happily share a video that is funny but are unlikely to do the same with something more fact-oriented.

4. It affects search engine ranking

Nobody knows exactly how and why Google decides one page to be more valuable than the other, but one thing is certain: having a video embedded on your website greatly increases the likelihood of it appearing among the top search results. Perhaps it has something to do with visitors usually spending more time on websites with videos, perhaps the reason lies somewhere else; you should remember one thing: Google loves videos.

5. It is excellent at explaining

Videos have an advantage over all the other media when it comes to explaining things, and for many reasons. Firstly, it is easier to understand something that is shown to you as opposed to reading a description. Secondly, videos are more engaging than text or images, and if you have to explain a complex concept, they can be indispensable. However, not all videos are created equal – that is why so many notably good explainer videos today come in the form of animation. Good animation is immediately appealing and is much more likely to cause interest in the audience when compared to boring and same-y talking heads.

6. It is better at creating emotional connections

When compared to text or static images, video reaches out to the audience on many more different levels, which makes it more effective and efficient at building up emotional connections between the brand and the client. Most people are able to vividly remember a video commercial they liked even years after seeing it, which cannot be said about other media.

As you can see, video marketing is an extremely useful tool in a variety of ways, and nothing is surprising about it getting ever more traction in today’s world. Don’t stay behind and make it an integral part of your strategy as well – otherwise, you risk lagging behind.