There are many ways to entice consumers to buy a product. You can write detailed descriptions, allow customer reviews, and include high-quality images.
However, few marketing techniques will show off your products or boost conversions as much as professionally made videos can. Many people will prefer simply watching something rather than reading paragraph upon paragraph about why they should buy something.
Nearly five billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day. It’s one of the most popular social media platforms, and if your company doesn’t already, then you need to have a presence. You can incorporate video into your marketing strategy with ease. Your customers can see first-hand why they should buy from you, and you may just end up seeing higher conversion rates.
The pillars of a successful video marketing strategy
According to a recent survey conducted by BrainStation, 77% of businesses are actively involved in digitally transforming their marketing campaigns. Video can be the central element of your own company’s marketing digital transformation, but only if you know how to do it. This ultimately comes down to understanding what the main pillars of video marketing are.
The main pillars behind every great video marketing plan are to engage, educate, convert, and stay organized. As you develop your business’ plan, you want to make sure any videos you create abide by those principles.
First, you need to engage the viewer. You want to entertain your viewers and people have a lot of options of what websites they can visit and what videos they can watch, so give people a reason to check out your content.
Additionally, creating fun videos people actually want to watch is a great way to boost morale and have more fun at work. The people in charge of the videos should have fun, and they will enjoy a day when they don’t have to deal with emails and meetings every hour.
Secondly, you need to focus on education. Making a fun video is great, but when it comes to marketing, the goal is to convince a consumer to buy something. That means teaching them about your company’s services and how someone would benefit from buying from you.
Next, you should focus on conversion, which is typically the most overlooked pillar. Marketers will focus on making a video entertaining and educational, but then what do you want the viewer to do once the video is complete?
You may want people to visit your website, subscribe to your channel, or download software. It doesn’t matter what you want viewers to do, you need to make it abundantly clear within the video itself. It’s also a great idea to include pertinent links within the video description so that people can easily find the next step of your conversion process.
Finally, it’s important to focus on organization. While video organization may seem boring, the truth is it can help save your project. Video format files are quite large, and you’ll quickly run out of space if you only store them on your internal hard drive.
Instead, you should focus on storing your videos either on external hard drives, or even better yet, in the cloud. The most popular cloud video storage services such as pCloud or Sync offer a number of beneficial features including unlimited file sizes for storage, consistent backups. and strong security.
What other companies have found to be successful
You may think you’re ready to head off to the races once you get your video recording equipment. However, there is still one more factor to consider before making videos, and that’s whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization.
What generally works for B2C organizations are videos that are fun and engaging. They’re selling to an individual, usually in a specific demographic, and video content serves that niche.
B2B videos tend to focus on the educational aspect more so than engagement. That doesn’t mean you should avoid having any fun whatsoever, but you need to provide more value to another business than just an individual. If well executed, video marketing can ultimately be one of the best ways to improve your overall B2B outreach marketing strategy. Focus on your videos actually providing value and you’ll be in a good position.
There are several ways you can accomplish this. For starters, you should focus on creating timely content. A video about how you’ve adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic and how you’re still offering your services would be a great option because it shows other companies that you’re up-and-running and providing value.
Businesses also don’t want to overlook the impact of incorporating videos with email marketing. An email campaign is a cost-effective measure that has been shown to have an adoption rate of about 88%, so if you don’t currently send emails, now is the time to start.
Research indicates that having the word “video” in your email’s subject line alone can boost open rates by up to 19%. Both B2B and B2C businesses have something to gain by making video a more prominent aspect of their marketing campaigns.
Current trends to incorporating into your next video marketing strategy
Trends come and go. You may not have seen a pair of parachute pants for decades, but when it comes to marketing trends, ideas tend to have a bit more staying power. Several intriguing strategies have permeated over the last few years, and while they will evolve over time, it’s best to get a firm handle on them now so that you’re prepared for what the future holds.
One type of video that’s doing well, particularly on Facebook, is the silent video. As people scroll through their Facebook feeds, they come across videos that don’t have sound unless they click on an icon. But many people keep the sound off because they don’t want to listen to a video as they’re waiting in line.
You may still want to add captions so that people can follow along. But a great strategy involves creating videos that consumers can follow even without sound. You don’t need people talking about things that don’t concern the business. Just focus on the product and let it speak for itself.
Another interesting phenomenon currently taking place within the online ad space is the idea of stories coming to the forefront. With a commercial, people know they’re being sold something. That’s why vloggers and other personalities have begun selling products by simply showing how it comes into play in their everyday lives.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even Medium allow people to share snippets of their lives for all to see. Products naturally play a role in your day-to-day life, so seeing someone mention a business through a story feels more authentic. People’s guards are down, so they’re not as concerned with being sold something.
This type of content can work to your advantage as a business owner. When it comes to vlogs, consumers aren’t as concerned with quality. Most vloggers simply post videos they filmed on their own smartphones, so you could create content with the phone you already have and natural lighting, and people will be onboard.
The final trend video marketers have their eye on is the idea of “shoppable” ads. Video ads have already begun incorporating links directly within the video people can click on and go directly to pay to buy the product.
In June of 2020, YouTube announced it would launch a new shoppable ad format that would make it easier for brands to link their Google Merchant Center accounts directly within the video. People can hover on a piece of clothing, appliance, or food item within the video and see a link come up. The options with this new technology are limitless and exciting for business owners who want to streamline the shopping process for consumers.
The optimization of videos for search engines
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of customizing a piece of content so that it performs well when people search that topic on Google and other search engines. Your business may have a strong social media following, but you can still benefit immensely from organic traffic.
Behind Google, YouTube is the largest search engine in the world. That means you need to add keywords to your tags, titles, and descriptions so that people can find your videos easily.
One tip for getting ahead of the competition involves renaming the video files you upload to also include keywords. You should change the file from something like “343258.mov” to something relevant to your company.
In the event you post videos directly to YouTube, then you want to include the link to the product page within the first line of the description. This makes it far more likely viewers will actually visit your website and not just click away once the video ends.
It’s also recommended to include other relevant links. Many videos you find include links to the company’s social media pages. The idea is you want to make it as easy as possible for potential customers to learn more about what you have to offer.
Insider insights into creating a first-class video marketing campaign
Many first-time video marketers think they only need to rely on YouTube. While it’s a good idea to have a presence on the social media platform, you’ll still need the best video hosting platform so that you can incorporate videos into other areas of the web. This is particularly important considering how YouTube has begun cracking down harder on channels.
Some of the best video hosting platforms you can utilize include:
- Cincopa
- TVPage
- Wistia
- TwentyThree
- SproutVideo
Ultimately, the platform you use is a minor detail. It all comes down to the actual content, which can have stellar results. After all, 94% of internet marketers say that videos helped increase user understanding of the company’s products or services.
And that kind of conversion rate is just one of the many benefits you’ll receive once you pursue video marketing in earnest. Another major advantage is that search engines love videos. If you place the video on YouTube in addition to your website, there’s a greater chance it will rank on Google, provided you follow proper SEO practices.
Videos also build a level of trust with your consumers, regardless if those consumers are individuals or other businesses. In today’s digital age, it really helps to show there are human beings working for a business. Your video gives you a chance to show off your company culture, and consumers will feel like they know your company a little better.
Conclusion
Videos certainly require a lot of work, but the payoff can be outstanding. Chances are your employees’ iPhones come with high quality cameras to film, and with some basic audio equipment, you can get to work making videos in no time. But videos are just one facet of an effective marketing campaign. With a multi-pronged approach, you should start to see conversion rates you want.