Human beings are sensory beings; the most used senses are audio and visual. Video content combines the two and packages it in a stimulating way to evoke emotions, which is the power behind most human decisions, including buying. If you do not believe it, a short google search on the internet will give you plenty of statistics that show video marketing is not going anywhere soon.
Videos allow companies to tell their brand story in an engaging and concise format. In addition, it is scalable and shareable. And analytics are available across various channels helping marketers and business owners track their progress.
This post explores why you need video marketing and goals to help you focus your efforts.
What is Video Marketing?
You can explain Video marketing in two ways. The first is using video content as part of your business marketing strategy to drive conversion, engagement, and educate customers. The second refers to using marketing techniques to promote a video to ensure its success. Both are equally important and go hand in hand.
The explosion of video marketing can be attributed to the rise of smartphones making the content available anywhere and at any time. Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have seen tremendous growth, with Youtube reporting 1 billion hours of video views daily. The pandemic also encouraged online content sharing, with the US experiencing a 215% rise.
Even platforms where video content is not native are encouraging its use. For example, Twitter reports tweets with video receive 10x more engagements, and 68% of marketers on Linkedin plan to use video. A billion videos are watched daily on Pinterest, which shows people love consuming video content. Going by this trend, video marketing will only grow bigger.
Why Does Your Business Needs Video Marketing?
A business that wants to promote and sell its products and services continuously cannot ignore video marketing. Internet users prefer to consume content in video format compared to text. As a result, the demand for video content is rising on all social platforms. Businesses, large and small, must incorporate video in their marketing strategy if they want to remain relevant. Some reasons a video marketing strategy for your business is crucial include.
It’s What Customers Want
Hubspot conducted a survey, showing that 54% of consumers prefer video to other forms of content from brands. Also, 43% find videos more memorable, and 73% want to see more entertaining content. The numbers present an opportunity to reach people where they are for any marketer. Producing engaging and entertaining brand video content puts you above the rest.
Improve Your Email Marketing Performance
If you want to improve your email performance, try adding a video to the subject line. This report from syndacast shows that when you do, you can increase your CTR by 65% and open rates by 19%. When you send emails to cold prospects, the unsubscribe rate is often high. But including a video reduces it by 26%.
Boost Your Online Visibility
When a video is included on a page, it can help boost your SERP ranking. One factor that determines if your page ranks well is dwell time. Users staying longer on a page signifies that the content is essential and relevant to search engines. According to Mist Media, having a video on your pages increases the dwell time by 88%.
Search engines like Google love videos which is why 55% of keyword searches in the US contain at least one video. If you want to appear at the top of search results, consider adding video content to your pages.
Build Trust with Customers
Having loyal customers is beneficial to your business as they make the best brand ambassadors. Though it is dependent on several factors having authentic brand stories delivered in a video format is one way of creating such lasting relationships. You can share your company values and missions through video while also showing customers how your products benefit them. Choose from various formats such as explainer videos, company stories, products, or testimonials.
Goals of Video Marketing
To succeed, you need to have a strategic approach to video marketing. Having achievable and measurable goals is one way of ensuring you meet your target. One of the factors that should guide you on which goals and objectives are right for you is the stage at which your specific customer is at.
Sales videos may not be suitable for a customer who barely know you and what you have to offer. Such customers need an introduction to your brand, products, and services.
The customer journey has three stages, including
- Awareness(top)
- Consideration(middle)
- Conversion(bottom).
At the top of the marketing funnel, potential consumers do not know you and have probably not interacted with your brand. Your objective here is to introduce your brand and the values you stand for, and the customer pain points you solve.
In the second/middle stage, your marketing should target existing customers to build lasting relationships. You also want to make existing customers repeat buyers and brand ambassadors.
At the bottom of the funnel, the aim is to get customers to take action. They can buy, sign up, subscribe, or even call. The videos showcase your unique selling point or favorable prices to nudge customers towards taking a specific action.
Once you have figured out which stage your target customer is in, develop a measurable goal for the video you will produce. This way, you can know if the video produces desired results. For example, suppose you release a video geared towards increasing conversion. You must track and quantify the number of people interacting with the video and how many have taken action.
The following are some video marketing goals to help you get started.
Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is a great way to help potential customers discover your brand. Some people confuse it with brand recognition, but it is much more. People can recognize your brand colors and logo but may not emotionally connect with you. The videos you produce here should tell compelling, authentic, and compelling stories about your brand. Remember to incorporate your tone and voice in all your videos.
The video content should share the emotions and values you want to associate with your company. But it must also be engaging and enticing to attract potential customers. You must also have a number in mind that you want to reach. Some metrics you need to track to know the reach of your videos are views, shares, impressions, and replays.
You must carefully evaluate the metrics that may give a false impression. On Facebook, views count as 3 seconds. It is easy to watch a video for 3 seconds accidentally, but it will still count as a view. Test and iterate until you find a format and content that works.
Increase Lead Generation and Conversions
Once you get the attention of potential customers, the next step in the marketing journey is lead generation. You must nurture potential customers and turn them into leads through lead generation. The video content under this stage should add value to customers while showing them how your company or brand can help them. Attract and increase their interest in your company by ensuring your video content is aligned with their needs.
The leads generated can be qualified as marketing, product, or sales. You can lead the leads to a particular landing page where you can entice them to take a desirable action. The content on this page is all about telling customers why they need to convert. A high-quality video can build trust, improving your chances of conversion.
The metric that you need to focus on is the click-through rate. It shows how many leads watched your content to the end and were convinced to take action. Depending on the action customers are supposed to take, conversion means something different for various businesses.
Increase Viewer Engagement
The goal is to get viewers to appreciate and engage with your content. Sharing your content with a small interested group is advisable for more accurate results. A sizeable general audience may not give accurate results if viewer engagement is what you want to measure. Your content must encourage brand loyalty and support to achieve this objective. As a result, leads will convert more quickly.
Since you want to know the level of interaction viewers have with your content, some metrics you should look for across all channels are likes, dislikes, comments, and watch time. Examine both positive and negative comments. Since they are more tasking for the viewers to leave, they will provide valuable insight into whether your content is resonating with your audience or if it is a miss.
When done right, video marketing is an excellent way of growing your revenue and taking your business to the next level. But to achieve success, you need to set achievable and measurable goals. Test and iterate until you find a winning formula. A professional video production company can provide you with the expertise and experience to develop quality videos and shareable and engaging concepts. Talk with us to discover how we can help your business.
