In the not too distant future, you’ll probably be watching this article rather than
reading it. As screens continue to infiltrate our public and private spaces, most
businesses are waking up to the reality that video is one trend they can’t afford to
ignore if they want to keep customers engaged.
Why you should take video seriously
Video is, quite simply, a lot more interesting to consume than more traditional
forms of marketing. It combines all of the key ingredients of human storytelling –
imagery, sound, motion and message – into a single medium that is both
stimulating and easy for audiences to digest.
And their appetite is growing.
In the five minutes it takes you to read this article, 500 hours’ worth of video will
be uploaded to YouTube.
Over six billion hours of YouTube video are consumed each month – that’s almost an
hour for every person on Earth. The growth in video consumption over the past
three years has been astounding, and YouTube is now acknowledged as the second
most used search engine.
By 2017, video will account for almost 70% of all consumer internet traffic,
according to Cisco. Video-on-demand traffic alone will almost have trebled.
The value in video marketing
While the internet has provided a quick and efficient platform to reach business
consumers globally, video provides a unique, convenient and comprehensive means
for companies to inform, entertain and most importantly engage their target
markets.
As Forrester Research’s Reineke Reitsma recently noted: “Videos are definitely one
of the strongest forms of media in our society today,” and increasingly they are
being used by corporations to “help inform people in determining purchasing
decisions.”
Videos may not directly earn you revenue, but businesses can use video marketing
as a powerful tactic to improve consumer engagement, click-throughs and traffic.
An Implix study found that including video in your emails increased open rates by
5.6% and click-through rates by 96%.
Forrester Research has found that your brand is 53 times more likely to appear on
the first page of Google’s organic search results if you have a video incorporated
into your online marketing efforts.
There is no doubt that video is a powerful form of communication, but it needs to
be used effectively. Which brings us to the final and most important point of all
this…
How can you be sure your video will be effective?
There are many questions and uncertainties surrounding video marketing, and for
small companies with limited marketing budgets, it’s tough to weigh up the costs
against what seem like very uncertain odds of success. Among the six billion hours
of video being watched every month, how can you be sure your video will even be
spotted in the crowd, let alone give you a return on your investment?
With so many different video approaches and styles out there, it’s difficult to know
how to make your video stand out. But developing a solid video strategy built
around content quality and understanding of your target audience is a critical first
step in the right direction. Ad hoc videos made by your son-in-law’s cousin might
warrant a few bravos from your family and most loyal staff, but they aren’t going to
cut it when it comes to customer engagement – unless your son-in-law’s cousin
happens to be Bono.
A good video strategy needs to integrate with your overall marketing plan, your
business goals, and of course, your brand. It’s really marketing 101, but you’ll be
surprised how few companies fail to work through this process when creating their
videos. It’s no wonder there are so many videos (and way too many cringe-worthy
ones) out there – a lot of people seem to be playing a game of YouTube roulette,
hoping their video will magically hit the viral button.
The truth is that once you have clearly established the goal, purpose and strategic
role of your video, and have a clearly profiled target audience in mind, it becomes
a lot simpler to define the right messaging and style for your video.
Once you have this in place, the next step is to define your measurement criteria,
and put a good seeding and analytics framework in place from the get go. Video
seeding is the process of announcing, distributing and promoting video content
online. Through video seeding you can develop strategies across multiple online
platforms that help guarantee your target audience will be eating up your videos
and passing their plates around for seconds. Then detailed video analytics will tell
you who’s watching, how long they stay engaged and at which precise point you’re
losing them. Knowing that information, you can further develop your message and
target it more precisely.
So when you decide to hit play on your video marketing strategy, be sure to seek
out a company that understands the importance of content strategy, audience
targeting and measurement, and can ideally work with you to take things to the
next creative level.
By Richard Ahlfeldt
Sources: Forrester
Research
