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Video marketing is just one part of a large industry: the digital marketing industry. The digital marketing industry is vast and it offers plenty of options to business owners. Depending on your needs, you can invest your money in important services like search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click advertising (PPC), social media advertising, email marketing campaigns and more.
All of these services have their uses and their place in any business’ digital marketing plans. It all depends on your goals, obviously. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, connect to your customers more efficiently and engage them and present a stunning, succinct vision of your company, you need video marketing.
There is a good chance that you haven’t considered video marketing for your company. After all, it takes time, effort and money and you have other ways to market your brand, right? So why bother with video marketing?
Here’s why:
If the above facts aren’t enough for you to consider the importance of video marketing, then you need to take a peek at this Forbes article: The Growth Of Video Marketing And Why Your Business Needs It.
It reports:
By 2019, online content will consist of 80 percent video marketing, and mobile consumption of video content continually rises by 100 percent annually.
The article also has the following statistics:
What do you think of that?
While it is as straightforward as it sounds, you might have some doubts about what exactly falls under the term “video marketing”. If that’s your concern, you don’t need to worry. RankToday has got you covered.
Video marketing is essentially the incorporation of video into your marketing strategies. It can be simple video captured on your phone, edited on your phone to include some fancy music, your company logo and whatnot. It can also be a high-value production filmed with IMAX cameras and Oscar-winning actors. As long as the end result is used in your marketing, it is considered to be video marketing.
Anything and everything from sponsored videos on social media to videos embedded in web pages to videos that are part of email newsletters… all of it is considered video marketing. A video ad shown before your YouTube video plays? That’s video marketing, too. Video advertisements in general also fall under the general umbrella of “video marketing”.
Simple enough, right?
Of course it is. You are surrounded by video marketing. Today’s largely digital world means that you will have come across hundreds of instances of video marketing just within the last month. Every other company is utilizing the power of video marketing in their campaigns. Now it’s your turn.
Videos are definitely entertaining, sure, but there are more reasons than just that as to why many business owners choose to invest in video marketing. Watching videos is easier, quicker and for more than 80% of the population, the more preferable option.
The main benefits of video marketing include increases in:
Video marketing does wonders for your brand awareness. Brand awareness means that you’re the first thing that comes to consumer’s minds when they need something. With effective video marketing, you can make a positive impact on your consumers, make your brand easy to recognize and remember.
According to Google, “conversions generated by YouTube ads are up 150 percent year over year.” That’s more than enough evidence in favor of video marketing, right?
Many companies that use videos as part of their marketing strategy report an increase in conversions on pages with videos. An increase in conversions that was anywhere from 60% to 80%.
These aren’t all small numbers. A 60% increase or a 150% increase… these are significant figures that you could also be a part of. Create a video to break down a complex process, explain how a product is made or how a feature works, entertain your customers, or even simply tell them how they can get in touch with you. These are simple ideas, yes. But they carry a lot of weight when it comes to conversions.
While it may seem that video might be the most expensive of all the marketing options, the truth is that… it’s really not. Yes, acting, shooting, editing, animating… there’s a lot of parts involved in video marketing that make it seem time-consuming and expensive. It might have been that way once. But today, it’s easier and more accessible than ever before. The programs necessary are widely available and easy to use. The talent required is abundantly available.
With the increase in availability and accessibility, comes a reduction in all associated costs. Which in turn increases the payoff from your videos. In fact, according to marketing professionals, video might be the option that has the best return on your investment.
If there was ever a time to start investing in video marketing, it is now.
A well-executed video marketing strategy can result in increased trust with your existing customers, potential clients and more. You can use different types of video for different situations. With some videos, you can attract the general audience’s attention and build brand awareness. With others, you can convert them into actual customers. Videos can then be used to educate. Or even entertain – entertainment will go a long way in retaining loyal, engaged customers.
You can use videos to build the trust your customers have in you by implementing the following things into your videos:
While animated videos can be helpful to entertain or to educate, using a real customer who has used your product or service or an expert who explains the product and its features will go a long way in creating trust. Seeing real people in your videos will humanize your brand and allow your customers to form a connection to you. You can nurture that connection and increase their trust in you as a brand.
Search engines absolutely adore videos. According to studies, Google gives preference to YouTube videos and they are very likely to show up in the first page of a Google search page. Not only that, but they are also usually within the first ten results. Videos also almost never appear in a position below thirty.
In case you haven’t heard the good news, search engines love videos! According to a study completed by Stone Temple, YouTube videos are most likely to show up in the first 10 results when you perform a Google Search. Also, this study shows they are rarely found in a position lower than the top 30 results. Take a look for yourself:
Your videos can get to the coveted top ten spot, too. You need to take some measures, obviously, but they aren’t all that hard:
When you have a published video that has optimized titles and descriptions with the right keywords, the video performs better. And when you embed the video into a page on your website or your blog, it will in turn make the page perform better. By cleverly utilizing marketing tricks like these, you can improve your whole campaign while you work on your video marketing.
With the increased digitization of the world, people are left feeling a sense of disconnection. By utilizing authentic videos in your company’s marketing, by telling a compelling story, you can provide them with a sense of connection. When people can watch a video and connect, they will engage with your brand more. They’ll comment, like, share and retweet it – audiences are ten times more likely to interact with videos than written content – and it’ll organically increase your reach.
Videos containing customer testimonials or reviews can do wonders for increasing trust in your company. But it doesn’t stop there, it will also increase engagement. Reading about your product or about your services is all well and good, but watching video does more than reading does. It leaves a lasting impression.
This is not something we’re making up, no. We’ve already told you that organic engagement on Facebook increases when posts include videos. In addition, just the inclusion of the word “video” on an email subject line can do wonders for email open rates. The power of video marketing is proven.
You might not want to include videos in your marketing strategy. Not because they’re hard to make or whatever. Rather, because you don’t want to be on-screen and you definitely don’t want to go through the hassle of holding auditions, hiring actors, creating sets and doing that whole process. If that’s what is holding you back, don’t worry.
Video marketing encompasses many different types of videos. Sure, some videos need an on-camera element with an actor, a set, professional lighting and all that, but not all. You can simply create a completely animated video. You can film in your office with your smartphone. You have options. As long as your video is of a certain quality and has engaging content, you don’t have to worry about much else.
The variety of videos that can be implemented into your video marketing plan include:
A company profile or a brand video is essentially a high-level overview of your company. It can be about your company itself or the products and services that you offer. Or even both. The intention behind these videos is to tell your customers what your company is about. You are basically introducing yourself to your potential and existing customers.
These videos can increase brand awareness and create interest for your company and its products/services amongst your target audience. These videos will serve as Step 1 in converting your viewers into actual clients by allowing them to form an initial connection with you. Once that initial connection is formed and your company is on their minds… you’ve already made great strides.
Company profile or branded videos will require you shooting on-location – ideally your office/workplace – and you’ll have to interview an employee or two, so that your viewers can form a connection with the people behind the brand. Perhaps you yourself can also appear on camera. These videos are powerful, and should be included on your website’s homepage and prominently visible on your social media.
A customer testimonial can go a long way in showing potential clients that your company is trustworthy, reliable and professional. A real customer speak about the positive experiences that they’ve had with your company is a powerful tool to increase your conversions and sales.
Data from YouTube shows that people watch a large amount of review videos. People want to know about other people’s personal and unique experiences with a company. They want recommendations.
You can, of course, shoot on-camera interviews with your existing clients and ask them to share their experiences with your company. Another method you have is to contact established content creators and ask them to review your products and services. After all, videos are more likely to be seen as “trustworthy” and beneficial when they feel personable and honest. A professionally produced, polished video can lack a sense of personal touch. A video by an established content creator on YouTube, on the other hand, feels more genuine and personal. It can help to build trust with your target audience and create engagement with your brand.
Once you have the videos – whether you produced them or someone else did – you’ll then want to them across every channel: social media platforms, your website, testimonials/reviews pages and more.
You can gain more ground with your customers by demonstrating your expertise. How-to/instructional videos can do wonders to build trust. By showing your knowledge and education them on your industry, your services and your products, you give reason for your customers to view you as someone who knows what they are talking about, which increases trust. These kind of videos can also increase conversions by providing solutions to actual problems your customers might be having.
According to Google, 93% of millennials go to YouTube to learn how to do something. Considering that YouTube is a more prominent search engine than Bing, Yahoo and the like, and the popularity of how-to videos is consistently high… you have all the reasons in the world to create and publish content that is educational and informative to your customers. Such videos can also serve as a breeding ground for further interaction between you and your viewers. Through comments or messages, you can nurture discussion, gain feedback, answer questions and more.
How-to/instructional videos will also require that you shoot on-location with actual employees and experts. These videos should be embedded on relevant blog posts, posted on your social media, and more important than anything: uploaded to YouTube.
Animated videos are an excellent tool to convey what you want to convey in a quick, visual manner that makes both consumption and understanding easier. They can be effectively used for any number of purposes: to inform, to educate, to entertain and more.
They also have the great benefit of being easier to remember. A professionally animated video with the right script can embed itself on your audience’s mind easily. They are easy to watch and understand. By including written content that is optimized for Google ranking with the video, you can increase your page’s conversion rates.
Further, animated videos are more often shared on social media, especially if they are also entertaining. This can lead to increased engagement, brand recognition, and site visits. Considering that animated videos perform well across many channels, you can embed them wherever necessary and take advantage of the increased recognition and engagement.
More important than anything is the fact that you don’t need to shoot on-location or have interviews with animated videos. You can commit to them without much worry because there is not much required from you. They are created entirely in-house at your video marketing agency. All you have to do is provide the base idea and ensure the final product matches your vision.
We’ve already established the power of YouTube as a platform for video marketing. By using YouTube ads, you can get your brand and your company in front of a large audience without much effort and at a reasonable price.
Since YouTube ads take into account factors like demographics, interests, remarketing, topics, placements and keywords, the ads will also be targeted at the specific audience you want viewing your ads. This gives you an incredible amount of control over your marketing strategy.
Pre-roll ads have been proven to increase brand awareness. Plus, when you’ve got a unique and engaging video, they can also help you set yourself apart from your competitors.
For video ads on YouTube, we recommend that you have a marketing team like RankToday help you out. RankToday – or a similar company -- can edit together clips and sound bites from other videos, create the necessary graphics, add the right music, incorporate your company logo and output a video that fits the criteria for YouTube ads. You only have to publish them on your YouTube channel.
Once they are uploaded to your YouTube channel, they will be promoted and tracked through Google Ads. You will, of course, need to make sure that you have a budget in place for the promotion of these ads. There are costs involved, yes, but the return on investment is worth it.
If you’re convinced about using video as part of your marketing strategy, you’ll want to know how to actually go about doing it.
You’re in luck, because Google has put together a YouTube Playbook with a section dedicated to “Effective YouTube Advertising Strategy”. They also have a section dedicated to creating effective ads. The YouTube Playbook contains a lot fair amount of strategies, tips and best practices and going through all of them will help considerably with your own marketing strategies.
In addition, you can also consider some of the following tips:
We’ve told you all you need to know about video marketing. We can only hope that you know the importance of video marketing in your marketing strategy going forward. Considering how critical video marketing is, and because people who watch your videos will remember you more clearly, you need to make sure that you only put the best content forward. To do that, you need a professional video marketing agency to help you.
Whether your goal with video marketing is increased views, conversion rates, engagement, rankings, brand awareness, recognition or recall, having the right video marketing agency will make all the difference in the world.
RankToday is that right video marketing agency. With years of experience in the digital marketing field and with a team of experts who know all about video marketing, we are the best option to ensure that your brand is presented in the best light to your target audience. We have all the tools, all knowledge and all the industry experience to cater to your video marketing needs: from concept to completion.
If you want to work with us on your video marketing strategy, reach out to RankToday now.
