Video Marketing is the future!
Cisco are predicting that by 2019 72% of mobile traffic will be made up of video content.
In 2015, the average adult will watch a total of 39 minutes of mobile video on a daily basis. When you compare this with figures from 2011 which showed adults spend 1 minute per day watching video on tablets and mobile devices, the growth of video marketing over the last few years has been exponential.
What does this mean for your business, well according to a study by Animoto video is no longer for brands and businesses looking to market to millennials (anyone born from 1980’s to 2000’s). This study showed that millennials were 150% more likely to use video to compare products or prices while shopping and 146% more likely to watch a video if it’s available on a company’s site while shopping online. Millenials were also 264% more likely to share videos about a product, service or company while shopping online.
With online video quickly becoming a key means for people to consume information and make their purchasing decisions, small businesses that fail to include it in their marketing mix will suffer the consequences as other forward-thinking businesses push forward. You may be thinking that only big brands that are able to produce these videos with their large budgets and resources however as technology has moved forward, production has become a lot cheaper. If you can get an HD camera and a green screen then you are ready to go. Obviously you will need someone to edit the videos but that is fairly easily done. Before you begin your journey down the video marketing path, it is important to first lay out a plan to determine want you want to accomplish and how you are going to do this. So before you begin you should answer these 5 questions:
1) What do we want to accomplish with our video marketing?
Increase sales, increase social media following, educate market etc? It is important to set goals as it will shape your strategy.
2) What type of video topics will you create?
Explainers, teasers, corporate, promotional? Different targets require different types of videos in order to succeed. You will also need to determine who your audience are and what their wants likes and needs are. Using this information, you will be able to engage people.
3) Establish who is responsible for creating content
This is something the marketing team will ideally take control of, but it is also good to bounce ideas off other people in the business as it will give you a more holistic view of your clients wants and needs.
4) Where are you going to post your content?
Youtube, obviously, but there are other channels that you can use. Social media is a big one because of the ability to share so easily. If you post blogs on any popular sites it can drive up engagement & of course on your own website.
5) How are you going to measure the success of these videos?
Attention span and drop off rates
Click through rates
The total amount of views
How many times videos are tweeted, retweeted, favorited etc
Number of inquiries & source of traffic
These are some examples of good metrics. You want to know that your videos are worth the time and effort so good measuring of results is so important. It will also show you the types of videos that work and allow you to deduce why they have worked, this way you can constantly improve on your video marketing technique.
Video marketing is completely achievable for a small business, but you have to be creative and put out content that is made for the end user and not just for your own gains. The modern day ‘consumer’ doesn’t want to be sold to in the conventional sense, they want your story and then they make their purchasing decisions. Getting a balance between promotional content and creativity is key for video success. So remember, know your audience, know their likes wants and needs, and use the platforms at your disposal to give them what they want!