In an era of stiff competition, business corporations all across the globe have been investing top dollars to devise innovative ways to improve their overall sales funnel. While a plethora of digital marketing tools have been dominating the markets since the last decade, more and more corporations worldwide are gradually realizing the infinite possibilities that video marketing campaigns could offer.
An interesting video has substantially more power to engage viewers and establish an impactful emotional bonding with viewers. Apart from the legendary video platforms such as YouTube, even other major social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have seen astounding rise in video posts and tweets.
And yes, while readers tend to skip long monotonous static text content, embedded videos on the landing page could increase conversion rate by 80%, according to Forbes.
The Advent of Smartphones and Affordable Data Plans
Do you use a smartphone? Well, we all use smartphones. Frankly, the smartphone revolution has benefited small scale business owners the most. A local coffee chain or carpet cleaning company have been using video marketing to reach out to a greater audience, beyond the immediate locality. Here’s how?
The staggering growth of the smartphone industry and the introduction of very affordable data plans all across the world.
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People Love Watching Short Videos – Almost Any Time
Unlike the usual laptops and desktop PCs, a smartphone or tablet is handy and highly portable. Leisure, travel, work, vacation or at home, people usually use their smartphones to remain “globally connected” on Social and professional media.
Last year, Facebook announced that its video viewership has doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion views per day in just seven odd months. And according to Forbes, a whopping 80% of all Internet traffic would comprise of videos in the year 2019. The figure is expected to increase 2018 onwards. Well-made videos are fun to watch, easy to understand and subtler on the brain.
Video Marketing is the Future: Top 5 Reasons
#1. A Stronger Sales Funnel
Well, the objective of any business owner is to improve the sales funnel, onboard more customers and earn more money. Simple!!
Also See – 7 Top Ways To Use Video On Your Blog That Will Get People Talking
Video Marketing campaigns are known to have multi-layered impacts on your sales funnel. A variety of video campaigns could be used by business owners to target demographics and associated markets. For example:
- Educating the viewer (How-To and DIY videos)
- Entertaining the viewer (Storytelling videos)
- Assuring the viewer (Expert interviews and customer testimonial videos)
- Increasing brand awareness among viewer (Explainer product videos)
Videos have been playing a major role in establishing a level of brand credibility. A landing page video showcasing key product features and services offered has been found to increase conversion rate by almost 80%. Ads, promos, web series and video blogs are few of the most trending marketing channels that have been engaging customers all over the social space.
Animation schools and specialized classes usually help small and medium scale business owners understand and master the skills needed to design great animated videos perfect for marketing campaigns.
Remember, existing customers could influence new customers
Expert interviews and customer testimonial videos featuring real customers act as potential triggers while making purchase decisions. In fact, 96% customers in the Asian markets find videos very helpful while purchasing products through online B2C websites.
#2. Low-Cost Automatic Organic Marketing
Let’s reiterate yet again – Existing customers could influence new customers.
Yes, videos are shared and re-tweeted more often on social media, at least far more than static text contents.
If a well-made video manages to go viral on social media, the self-sustained organic marketing footprint it generates could easily outnumber traditional digital campaigns such as emails and SEO.
Customers simply share and re-tweet the video with their social groups, leading to an astounding global reach without any marketing costs incurred by the business owner. 500 million people are watching videos on Facebook daily and viewers are four times more likely to watch a product video rather than read about it.
Did your local garment store just go super viral online?
Your local retail store just invested in created expert-standard web based video blogs featuring a celebrity, quaint locations and an appealing theme. The millennial generation loved the video and it went viral on social platforms such as Snapchat and Twitter.
#3. An Opportunity for Small and Medium Business Owners
Big corporations usually have a fiscal budget allocated towards aggressive marketing plans including Video campaigns. However, small business startups might struggle to invest even a fraction of such mammoth budget. Courses in animation could help businesses with skewed budgets design their own video without having to hire video experts available at high costs.
Simple video blogs could be the answer. A basic smartphone or a regular camcorder could be used to shoot a ‘warm’ and personalized video. A plethora of video editing tools could be used to churn out an ‘almost-professional’ video worthy enough to develop a relationship with the target audience.
Most other digital channels such as email campaigns, SEO, Google AdWords, Business Listing, Analytics, etc. require expert strategies and therefore demands expert intervention. For corporations with flexible budgets, videos could obviously involve HD Cameras, shooting directors, script writers, strong editing team and larger video seeding capabilities.
A product demo or simple explainer video could be far more impactful in explaining a product than a text based instruction. Remember, approximately 81% online customers turn to word-of-mouth when making purchase decisions.
#4. In-Person and Interactive Videos are in Vogue
While making a purchase decision, viewers prefer taking inputs from real-customers and experts who would presumably provide realistic and factual information rather than camouflaged sales content.
- Interactive video sessions and live-chats with real customers and product experts therefore instills a sense of confidence among buyers.
- Testimonial Videos could act as brand advocates.
- Review videos on popular products, websites, tools and almost anything could get you substantial hits on and off your website.
- Animations are popular among kids and certain millennial groups. According to Forrester, a one-minute video is roughly worth 1.8 million words of text in terms of the communication impact.
#5. The Search Engines Love Videos
Worried about your Website page ranks? Engaging videos allow site visitors to stay back longer on the web page. The longer exposure time ‘convinces’ the search engine crawlers that your site content is good.
Google’s search and indexing algorithms have been evolving in terms of the underlying complexities. The search results now provide a “blended” approach showcasing videos and images at the top and pushing down the traditional web pages. So, a video content is 53 times more likely to feature on the first page of the search result as compared to text contents.
- Google seems fairly lenient when it comes to video contents. From actual videos to animated PowerPoint presentations and screen captures, all of it qualifies.
- The metadata and title are what determines how you want Google to ‘see’ your video content.
- A long tail and specific title always boosts Video SEO. Example, a video titled ‘fruits benefit’ is obviously weak as compared to ‘medical benefits of lemons.’
- Google crawlers discover and index web content. However, for video content, the best way is to feature in Google’s ‘blended’ search results are using the ‘video sitemap’.
Conclusion
Video Marketing has been forcing market experts all around the world to re-think their marketing strategies. Consumers prefer videos, use videos, share videos and remember videos. With videos becoming affordable and accessible to local business owners, video marketing is here to stay and rule.