Before the days of video marketing, there was a time when the word ‘video’ was mostly associated with home movies, VCRs or had to have the word ‘music’ in front of it to matter. Gen Xers remember when MTV actually played music videos. The channel changed the music industry and made household names out of one-hit wonders like The Buggles and Kajagoogoo.
These days, channels are called platforms, and a music video is easier to find on YouTube than on Music Television. But video continues to do to digital marketing what it did for music 30 years ago: it's changing the game.
A good video can make any company stand out by engaging your audience in ways previously untapped. Here’s a look at why you need to launch or grow your video marketing strategy and how you can build an audience for your brand with video.
According to a recent HubSpot survey, 86% of business professionals are using video marketing. A key reason why video marketing is so important is that there is a large audience for it. Nearly 500 million people watch at least one video each day on Facebook alone.
Video marketing is so important, let’s talk about some ways you can make it work for you.
Your videos will not only help your company be found online, but you will also be able to use them to differentiate and showcase your business in a number of different ways.
One of the easiest paths to break into the video marketing world is to produce explainer videos, tutorial videos or educational videos. They work to show people what types of expertise your company offers and introduce some of your experts to potential customers.
But when producing an educational video, researchers say you should do things like:
A video that offers tips can be simple but extremely effective.
If your company helps people solve problems, you need to tell these testimonial stories. If you're a hospital that saves lives—or changing them—share these successes. Better yet, let your customers tell your story.
A personal story gives you the chance to show potential customers how you work and forges a connection to a peer, telling the story of how your business helped them. The testimonial conveys an allegiance to your company and can show that loyalty appeals to others.
As great as testimonial videos are, sometimes video ads can get the point across without any talking at all. Producing videos without sound is becoming more common and can be powerful.
It’s important to think about how your video will be viewed. Optimizing for mobile is critical.
Sure, a powerful voiceover is great, but some of the most compelling, thumb-stopping videos are those you can watch with the sound turned down (probably at work).
Why? Because you can walk people through your story without ever saying a word. Graphics and music may be all you need. In fact, 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.
Think about all those times you find yourself stopping to watch a video that shows you all of the steps needed to complete a recipe. A few graphics lay out the ingredients, but no sound is required.
Another reason video marketing is so vital is that you may lead someone to your website with a single thumbnail image. Thumbnails are still images pulled from the video that tell the viewer what they are about to watch, at a glance. With every video you produce, you should make sure your thumbnail shows a compelling image rather than a frame of text.
If you’re sharing on social media, write a few key words around your image to provide some context about what the viewer is about to see, and include a link to your website.
Some videos may not need much talking, but a good song and a little natural sound makes for good viewing. Take Volkswagen’s “America” commercial. Set to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's "America," it follows a family’s journey across the country, and across generations, in 90 seconds.
All you do is eavesdrop on a conversation Grandma is having with her grandkids and you have yourself a video you can’t stop watching until the end.
People love being a fly on the wall. A great example is manufactured surveillance camera video to look like we are actually in on something happening. Security company Ring uses this to great effect. The video tells a story without a word (and usually a grainy picture), but we always watch.
And sometimes, you only need a little bit of talking to get your point across or to make your video memorable. Sometimes you can do it in a 10- to a 20-second soundbite. Like the old saying, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ One good sound bite can be worth 30 minutes of emotional content.
Even words spoken decades ago can be repurposed to captivate an audience. Take the last line of basketball coach Jim Valvano’s speech at the 1993 ESPY awards. Valvano was battling terminal cancer as he accepted the inaugural Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. Before he left the podium he reminded everyone, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” Some people call those the seven most powerful words ever spoken. Not only for what he said but how he said it. It can be tough to top good sound, especially in the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ world in which we live. Good soundbites go by fast, but can live with your audience forever.
When using video to convey your message, it does not always have to be long, detailed or packed with eye-popping graphics. Success will lie in matching what you create for the audience you’re trying to reach or the platform you intend to use. That’s where we come in.
Kuno Creative has a team of experienced professionals in video production, as well as SEO and content marketing experts, to help you achieve your marketing goals. A video marketing campaign is much more than video views or how many likes you may get on an Instagram story.
We understand how to establish goals and measure success for video. When you’re creating video content you should always be thinking about your target audience, your call to action and conversion rates. Our team can help you with all facets of your marketing campaign.
If you’re thinking about adding video marketing to your inbound strategy but are not sure where to start, don’t hesitate to contact us at any time.
