“If an image says more than a thousand words, a video says more than a million.”
If you have experimented in any way with digital marketing and have seen your results or analytics, you might have felt like you were trying to gain the attention of a pack of golden retrievers surrounded by a forest full of squirrels. You feel lucky if you get a handful of likes or interactions on a social media post or a few clicks on a banner ad. And even if you followed those leads you might see that many of them only result in your potential customer staying on your website for a few seconds before moving on to their next thing. Fortunately, there is a promising way of appealing to your audience’s limited attention span and communicating much more than you would be able to do through pure text or even a well designed graphic: Online video. It’s important to utilize video to promote your business
There is no better time to take advantage of the most powerful tool in storytelling to reach your customers in an engaging, meaningful, and personal way and to utilize video to promote your business. We have put together 5 reasons why you should start using video to spread your message and take your market by storm:
1. Video captures attention in a way that text cannot
Let me ask you a question: If you had the option between reading a 1000 word essay on a given topic or watching a 2-minute video explaining the same thing, what would you choose?
Our brains process images and sound in magnitudes faster than written words. Watching a video is not much of a different task for your brain than what it’s already doing when you’re watching a presentation at work or listening to your neighbor Steve. It processes audiovisual input and makes sense of it. Watching a video is practically effortless.
Because video is easier to consume and digest, the chances of getting your target audience to stop and listen to your message are much greater. Depending on the method of distribution you choose, viewers may not have the choice but to watch all or part of your advertisement.
2. Video can connect us on an emotional level
Emotions are the biggest factor in how we make day to day decisions. If you don’t feel good about a person you will, if at all possible, avoid contact with them and if you don’t feel excited about a product you probably won’t buy it. According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of purchasing decisions are based on emotions.
Video has the unique ability to use imagery and sound to provoke emotions that are unparalleled to any other medium. If done right a good combination of a powerful story, music, and well-assembled visuals can really pull our heartstrings and lead us to take action whether that’s supporting a good cause or buying a product.
3. Video opens up infinite creative possibilities
Video is an excellent tool to solve the problems keeping your business from taking off and to do so reliably and efficiently.
Are you having trouble creating awareness about your cause? You can create a video showcasing what you do and what you are all about.
Do people have a hard time understanding certain processes of your service? Create an explainer video outlining everything they need to know in a simple and concise fashion.
Maybe your business is already running well but you are wanting to promote a new product. An energetic promotional video will do the trick!
Even within video, there are countless options when it comes to style and approach. You can go the traditional route by setting up a video shoot with actors and a script. Or you could have a documentary-style video based around interviews of you or your customers showing the day to day operations of your business. Or you could have a motion graphic video communicating your message in though animated text and visually engaging graphics. There is no limit to what you can do!
4. Video is an affordable way to market
Long gone are the days where access to quality video production was blocked by huge budgets and expensive equipment. Huge leaps in technology and software have placed tiny high-resolution cameras in our pockets making it possible for anyone to produce video content with the flick of the thumb. Even professional productions have come to the point where a small business owner can afford them.
Video also happens to have some of the best returns on investment, resulting in clickthrough and conversion rates that are through the roof! 90% of consumers say that videos help them make purchasing decisions, and 64% said they were more likely to buy a product after watching a video.
5. Video helps more people find you.
Search engines love videos! Having videos on your website lets your website rank higher when being searched on Google because properly optimized video is seen as high-quality content. This will make your business more visible online which will result in more visitors on your website and thus hopefully more paying customers. Videos are also more likely to be shared online, and if you’re lucky and play your cards right you might just get your fans to distribute your videos for you!
Effective Video = Effective Marketing
Starting to utilize video to promote your business as part of your marketing plan might just be the best thing that could happen to your business, brand, or non-profit. That being said, just like any other efforts done to further your cause, it will only be effective if done right. Fortunately, there are many resources that can teach you how to start producing your own quality video content and chances are there are at least a few creative professionals and marketing agencies in your area that can do a lot of the hard work for you, from helping you come up with engaging content ideas to producing beautiful video that will make your business stand out!
Check out our Google Ads and Geofencing resources and build an integrated digital strategy for your video deliverables.
Have questions about video strategy for your business?