By Kristen Matthews
Is it just me, or is video content springing up more than it used to two years ago? Have you noticed that consumers have a short attention span, and it’s getting harder to get your marketing content seen?
I’ve been a digital marketing specialist for over a decade and am constantly intrigued by just how much and how quickly the marketing landscape shifts. The biggest shift that I’ve noticed lately is that video content is no longer optional for brands who want to succeed. Consumers expect it, and chances are, you’re probably not putting out enough video.
Let’s see if this post can help you land even more clients.
Is there too much “hype” around video?
Sure I can tell you until I’m blue in the face that your brand needs video content for
marketing purposes. But as marketers, we are data-driven beings, so before revamping your entire digital strategy, let’s look at some data.
I’ll get straight to the point:
69% of the consumers your brand is trying to target prefer to learn about a new product or service through video content as opposed to just the written word. If a consumer is researching your brand, it’s crucial that they easily find video content about your products or services, or they’ll end up purchasing from your competitor.
Wondering if marketers and business owners like you think video is worth their time? The answer is yes! In fact,
96% of marketers who implemented video in 2022 report that video content is crucial to their overall marketing strategy. With such a large number of marketers reporting enough success to continue with this strategy, something must be working.
And I have another fun fact for you:
64 to 85%of consumers are more likely to make a purchase decision after consuming a video about a brand’s products or services. As I mentioned, consumers have short attention spans but if you cater to this fact with short and to-the-point videos, you won’t need to create a ton of video content. Focus on quality of quantity.
You’ve probably heard that video is king and with data like this, video content for marketing purposes needs to be a priority in your 2023 marketing strategy.
Video content to fill your funnel
There are some discrepancies about what a sales and marketing funnel looks like. Personally, I think a good funnel consists of awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty. Based on these four stages, you can utilize video to move leads through the funnel and turn them into loyal customers:
- Awareness. Video content to promote brand awareness usually consists of short snippets of video for social media, or you can take it further and leverage commercials on TV. Brand awareness videos are meant to make consumers take notice of your brand; these videos should not be a sales pitch.
- Consideration. If someone is in the consideration stage, they need to be presented with videos that will set you apart from your competitors. Offer them some educational videos and expert interviews. Keep in mind that the consumer is likely checking out your competitors’ videos as well so make sure you do competitor analysis to ensure your videos have a competitive edge.
- Conversion. In the conversion phase, consumers are oh so close to purchasing from your brand. Videos that convert the best are case studies and demos of how your product or service solves a pain point that your target consumers are experiencing. Customer testimonials also do well in converting.
- Loyalty. Happy customers turn into loyal customers and even brand advocates. Create videos that make them feel a part of your brand like behind-the-scenes content, and videos about new things happening at your brand. Better yet, offer some of your videos for “consumers only” so that there is a little bit of exclusiveness. Who doesn’t like being on the inside?
Promoting your videos
You can create amazing videos all day, but what is the point if no one is watching them? And don’t forget, consumers actually WANT to see your videos—it’s just your job to help these consumers find your videos.
Promote your videos like you would any other piece of content. Experiment with paid and organic posts on your social channels, and feature videos on the home page of your website. Utilize videos in your email marketing.
Another strategy to consider is partnering with influencers who have an already engaged audience that they can share your brand’s videos with. Influencers have audiences who look to them specifically for brand recommendations.
5 things to keep in mind when leveraging video
Hopefully I’ve gotten you excited to create more video content for your company. Here are now five important things to keep in mind when leveraging video in your marketing:
1. Align your video strategy with your buyer personas
Keep in mind that each consumer will go down the buyer’s journey, and it’s your job to help them in that journey with video content that is easy to find at each stage of the funnel. This entails you knowing which platforms your target consumers are spending their time on so that you can be sure to seed video content strategically.
2. Don’t look at your videos as a way to immediately get sales
Get the attention of your target consumers with thought leadership videos; when the customer is ready to buy, they’ll know where to find you. Alternatively you can have a CTA at the end of your videos for viewers to sign up for something, such as a newsletter or to watch another video via a lead capture form. This way, you can get the email addresses of potential consumers that you can nurture.
3. While audio is important, it’s not as important as the actual video
Think about it. Many consumers watch videos on their phones without the sound on. Therefore, your videos need to perform well without sound. You can close caption your videos or demonstrate your point strictly visually.
4. Check your brand’s “vibe” on video
Videos are usually supposed to be fun, engaging, sometimes humorous, and rarely strictly professional. Bring some personality into the videos that you create and ensure that they line up with other areas of your brand’s branding. Some brands get hung up with their industry jargon while consumers just want to feel a humanized connection with brands. Try being conversational and funny.
5. Utilize talent you already have for your videos
Your videos will appear more authentic and will resonate with consumers if you use people from your actual company in the videos you produce. It’s okay for staff to speak from a script at first, but the goal should be that they get more comfortable in front of the camera so they talk more sincerely in the videos you cast them in.
How to implement more video content
It’s time to stop just ideating and dreaming; it’s time to actually start producing videos. Producing and editing a video takes a lot of time, so I recommend that you have a dedicated staff member to “own” video at your company. If that is not possible, work with a production studio, which can arguably be more affordable considering the time that goes into videos and the equipment required to execute a strong video strategy.
And finally don’t forget, consumers EXPECT you to engage them with your awesome video content so be sure that you promote it well enough that your videos are easy to find.
About the Author
Post by: Kristen Matthews
Kristen Matthews has been a digital marketing thought leader for over a decade and is currently the senior marketing director at Overit, a disruptive digital marketing agency.
Company: Overit
Website:
www.Overit.com
Connect with me on:
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.