Is Video Marketing the New Best Way to Push Your Brand Forward?

A few years ago, video marketing was considered an exciting supplementary content strategy. These days, it is essential to compete in what has become a saturated marketplace in virtually every niche. High-quality video marketing provides a clear and compelling method of communicating the most salient aspects of any brand’s story.

In fact, video marketing is now the #1 way to build and maintain relationships with prospective customers and website visitors. In this article, I will outline the following:

General benefits of using video marketing.
Various types of effective video marketing content.
A concise guide to creating a video for your brand.
How to create a video marketing social media strategy.
How to measure the performance of your site’s videos.

Video Marketing in Numbers

First of all, let’s check out some data relating to video marketing:

85% of marketers claim that video is one of the most effective ways to earn online attention.
95% of viewers say they retain a video’s message.
94% of marketers say that video helps increase user understanding of products and services.
93% of brands that used video on social media earned a new customer.
86% of marketers say that video marketing has boosted traffic to their websites.

The list of fascinating statistics goes on. In simple terms, video marketing helps to: increase revenue, increase the amount a customer spends per purchase, and increase brand awareness. I’ll examine the reasons for the above in the final section.

What Are the Different Types of Marketing Videos?

At Techsors, we’re not content to use any single form of video marketing. We recognize that there are at least a dozen different types, so here are six of the most commonly used.

Explainer Videos: As the name suggests, these types of video help explain why viewers will benefit from what you have to offer. An explainer video typically tells the story of how a buyer can have their problems solved by using the company’s product or service.
Demonstration Video: This video form provides an overview of how your product/service works. It is an especially good option for technical products.
Brand Videos: You create this video as part of a large advertising campaign. It tells the viewer all they need to know about the company’s mission, what it stands for, and what it does/sells.
Interview Videos: The idea here is to find an expert in your niche and get them to discuss your company and the industry in general. This is a type of video that can significantly increase audience trust for any brand.
How-To Videos: You create an educational video to help instruct your audience on understanding your services and your industry better. A well-crafted how-to video positions your company as experts in the niche.
Animated Videos: These are fun to make, albeit expensive if you want high-quality animation. This type of video is ideal if you’re struggling to find a way to explain a product or service in detail using stock images/footage.

How to Create a Video for Your Brand

The video-making process is long and detailed. What I’m going to do here is provide an extremely quick overview of what to expect when you venture into the process.

Writing a Script

You should write a script to ensure your video provides the intended message, and also to ensure that the video is the right length. (Bear in mind that a 500-word script will give you approximately a 3-minute video). When planning your video, take the following into account to ensure you attain your goal:

Target audience
Purpose of the video
Where you’re planning to upload the video
Deadline and budget
What equals ‘success’

Setting Everything Up

A lot of businesses these days use an iPhone to shoot their video marketing content. If you have the budget, however, it is best to use a professional camera and an expert video maker. A complete list of equipment to produce top-notch video content includes:

· Lighting

· Microphones

· Tripods

· Actors

If you’re using in-house staff as the ‘stars’ of the video, you may want to ease their nerves a little! Make sure you offer clear directions to get the best performance. You can also of course hire professional actors, but like anything these days, they can be quite expensive.

Editing – The Creation of a Masterpiece

Don’t worry; you don’t have to get everything perfect in one go! There is a saying that goes along the lines of, “shoot for the edit.” This basically means realizing and accepting the fact that you’re going to have a lot of raw footage that will need editing. Make sure you leave a small buffer at the beginning and end of the video to ensure the editor doesn’t have to cut too close to a crucial scene.

Organizing your footage can be a pain if you do it the wrong way. Learn how to organize your files, and remember that video format files are enormous. It is essential to buy an external hard drive. Otherwise, you’ll run out of storage quickly.

There are lots of editing software choices, including Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple iMovie. Don’t forget to add your music score, as well as the actor’s voiceover if/when applicable.

Developing a Video Marketing Strategy on Social Media

There are numerous video hosting platforms to choose from. Some of the most popular include:

YouTube
Vimeo
Vidyard

When you post videos on these platforms, you’ll need to find a way to inform your target audience. This is where social media comes in. Most brands post their marketing videos on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. YouTube remains the big daddy of them all, with over a billion unique users each month. Even so, it pays to use all available media platforms.

Also, check out the audiences of each platform to determine when they are most likely to watch your video. This is prime time for you to create live videos for maximum engagement. Here are a few other tips for getting videos seen on social media:

· Keep your videos short. The average attention span of consumers is extremely low, especially on mobile devices.

· Spend extra time creating a catchy title that grabs viewers immediately.

· Respond to comments as soon as possible.

One of the great things about video marketing is that you can use it at any stage of the sales process.

· Attracting Prospects: Create a video that builds trust and educates viewers. How-to and explainer videos work well at this stage.

· Conversion: This is the time for you to generate excitement amongst prospects. Consider demonstration and animated videos.

· Closing the Sale: At this point, it is all about turning leads into paying customers. You could develop a testimonial-style video or one that highlights how your product/service helps the viewer’s business.

· Post Purchase: Your work isn’t yet done, even after making a sale. You now want these customers to become brand advocates and repeat customers. Create product training videos or even something to say ‘thank you.’

How to Measure Performance

When it comes to determining factors that constitute a successful video marketing campaign for your company, there are several key metrics of interest to consider:

Number of views.
The ‘play rate’ (which is the percentage of viewers divided by the number of impressions received).
Social media comments and shares.
The percentage of viewers who watched the entire video.
The click-through rate.
Bounce rate.
Average time watching the video.

Why Should I Consider Video Marketing for My Brand?

The simple answer is because video marketing is an extremely effective way to generate interest, find leads, and boost revenue. It is a fact that a large majority of people prefer videos over any other form of content. The human brain is far more efficient at remembering visuals than text.

Estimates vary, but it is believed that up to 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is via visuals. Also, the brain processes visuals up to 60,000 times faster than text.

If you’re still not convinced, here are five additional benefits of video marketing:

1 – Provides a Huge SEO Boost

These days, a website is over 50 times more likely to reach Google’s first page during a search if it contains a video. While Google is the undisputed #1 search engine, YouTube, which Google owns, is #2. As a result, Google favors relevant YouTube videos in its search results.

2 – Better Customer Engagement

Video marketing is a fast way to explain everything a consumer needs to know about you and your company. Instead of reading your About Us page (which no one really does), visitors to your site can check out your Explainer video.

People also find it easier to ‘connect’ with a brand when they see a human talking directly to them. With a video, you can use music, facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey emotion. This ‘humanization’ only helps with customer engagement.

3 – Builds Trust

Improved engagement also means greater credibility and trust. The aforementioned human touch makes it far easier to speak to the emotions of the viewers. Consumers “buy with emotion, and justify with logic.”

You also have a better chance of getting customers to ‘like’ you, which is hugely important. Remember the adage: “Customers don’t buy the product/service; they buy the salesperson.”

4 – Provides an Outstanding Return on Investment (ROI)

Making a premium quality video isn’t cheap, but it is more than worth the time, effort, and money spent. Produce your video and spend the appropriate time promoting it, and the returns will likely dwarf your initial investment. For the record, almost 90% of video marketers say they earn an excellent ROI. Approximately 95% say they plan to increase or at least maintain their video marketing expenditure into the following year.

5 – Enhanced Bottom Line

As much as you want to provide an industry-changing product or service, it is ultimately all about profitability. SEO boosts will lead to significantly more website traffic and, eventually, more revenue. Over 60% of consumers purchase after watching a branded video on social media.

Final Thoughts on Video Marketing for Your Brand

It is no longer a question of whether you should invest in video marketing. It is now all about how much you can spend, and how quickly you can do it. If you intend to expand your brand, video marketing must become part of your strategy. Quality video content generates leads, turns them into customers, increases brand awareness, and ensures a company becomes more profitable. Moreover, you can use video marketing to earn customers for life. Get in touch with the Techsors team today, and find out how we can use video marketing to take your brand to the next level.