With the Covid restrictions becoming less restrictive and more businesses reopening, marketers around the world are looking for new ways to engage their audience. One of the most effective (and economical) ways to connect with customers is through online video marketing.
The video landscape is changing; consumers have more video content than they can handle, and when presented with choices, they tend to opt for those that they perceive to be most relevant to them. Influencer marketing through short-form videos is becoming highly influential.
Marketers are capitalising on this trend, creating videos to supplement their other marketing efforts. These videos are typically bite-sized mini-releases that can be played on social media channels, attracting and engaging potential customers.
Many companies already utilize online video to some extent, with 44% using it as part of their strategy. While video content is growing at a rapid pace, it’s still relatively young compared to other digital marketing platforms. Businesses that establish a presence on social media channels particularly stand to gain from the growing video trend, as 76% of those surveyed said they would prefer to receive product-related information from brands via video content.
Why Video for Marketing
The benefits of video for marketing are numerous. Videos allow you to connect with your audience at a deeper level, engaging them through your narrative and offering them content that is both entertaining and educational.
Videos can also be used to build credibility, as 29% of consumers have questioned the credibility of an organization or product after watching a related video, and 38% have skipped over an offer or discount because of a brand’s video content.
More importantly, videos can be used to establish and strengthen brand presence. 36% of consumers have visited a company or product’s website because of positive brand association in a related video, and 25% have bought a product or service because of an enjoyable experience in a related video.
How To Market Your Business Via Video
To ensure your business’ products and services are reflected in your marketing video content, follow these five steps:
1) Identify the target audience and the type of content they respond to.
This step involves understanding the interests and needs of your ideal buyer, gathering information about their persona and psychographics. With this knowledge, you can create content that resonates with them and encourages them to act or buy from you. Also, by understanding your audience’s digital ecosystem, you can develop content that extends into other platforms and channels.
With the vast majority of video consumers now performing online research before buying a product or service, make sure that your content is easily findable as you develop and grow your business. The more effort you put into SEO (search engine optimization), the more likely your video content will appear in the search results. Ensure that your video content is keyword-rich and easily discoverable.
2) Select a niche and find your voice in it.
Niche is a marketing word used to identify a smaller market or segment of the overall audience. When creating content for marketing purposes, it’s important to pick a topic that you’re an expert in. This will establish you as an authoritative source and allow you to uniquely communicate your value proposition to potential customers.
If you can become an authority on a specific subject, you can piggyback off that knowledge and establish yourself as an expert in video marketing for Wisconsin businesses. For example, if you’re an architect, you might create videos explaining different types of building projects or how to design a specific structure.
However, finding your niche doesn’t mean narrowing your target market. The more you can achieve through establishing yourself as an expert, the more you’ll be able to draw in valuable leads and increase sales. Consider using video content to establish yourself as an expert in your industry and create content that is both valuable and of interest to your target audience.
As you establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you’ll be able to continually learn and grow your content creation as needed. Keep your niche, but don’t be afraid to explore new areas of knowledge when needed. The more you can contribute to the conversation, the greater the likelihood that you’ll establish yourself as an expert in your industry. This is also valuable for attracting highly qualified professionals to your organisation.
3) Create content that is both entertaining and informative.
Entertainment value can be achieved through a variety of means, from witty quips to animated video clips. However, make sure that your video content has value and isn’t just for entertainment purposes. While having fun videos is certainly valuable, establishing yourself as an expert in your industry requires a more solid foundation of informative content.
If you’re looking to create informative videos, look for opportunities to do so and see what you can discover about your industry. While many businesses create video content to market their products or services, more and more entrepreneurs are creating educational videos to build their online presence, establish credibility, and garner interest in their business. You can also create videos to supplement your other marketing tactics, such as SEO, to gain more web traffic and establish your expertise.
When creating video content, look for the information that your audience might want or need, rather than just what you think they might want or need for your product or service. For instance, if you’re selling shoes, but the majority of your videos are showing the process of designing a shoe, you might want to create a video educating consumers about the materials used in the manufacturing of shoes. Even in this relatively new field, video has proven to be a trusted source of information, easily discoverable through online searches. If you can establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you can rest assured that when customers are seeking information about your niche, they’ll come across your content first.
4) Use metrics to determine the effectiveness of your video content.
It’s important to constantly be evaluating your content’s performance, measuring things such as engagement and conversions, to determine its effectiveness and make future edits to enhance performance. The key to a successful digital marketing campaign is to continually look for ways to improve the performance of your previous efforts.
You can use a variety of tools to track performance, from clickable URLs to custom analytics software, but you shouldn’t be reliant on a single metric to make determinations about the effectiveness of your video content.
If you’re looking to increase engagement and conversions, establish yourself as an expert in your industry by creating informative content that people want to learn more about.
5) Integrate video into your website.
To fully leverage the power of video, you need to integrate it into your website. When someone lands on your site, they should easily be able to discover the information they need, without having to hunt for it. In 2019, video content is growing at a rapid pace, and it’s likely that your website will struggle to keep up.
To achieve this, add video content to your website in a way that makes it discoverable and accessible, using a variety of methods, such as animated GIFs, video embeds, or full-blown videos.
Animated GIFs are a simple, yet effective way to add video content to your site. These short videos, typically 2–5 seconds long, can be used to add personality, enhance a narrative, or simply entertain your viewers. They also allow you to test out different colors and fonts, before finally tying the video to an optimized, clickable URL.
While there are various methods for integrating video content into your site, make sure that the content is valuable, authoritative, and easily accessible. The more you can achieve through establishing yourself as an expert in your industry, the more valuable your content will be to your target audience, and the greater the chance you’ll gain traction and take advantage of this growing trend.