Last updated 7/9/2020

Video marketing uses video to promote your product or services by increasing engagement on your digital and social channels. As we navigate the “new normal,” post-COVID-19, revisit your marketing strategy and ensure your tactics include video marketing.

Video is no longer something that you experiment with on social media from time to time; it is a “must” for your promotion toolbox. Video builds trust with customers while keeping them entertained. For businesses, video speeds up the sales cycle, delivering a huge return on investment (ROI) by bringing your brand to life and capturing your customers’ attention like no other medium. Online videos will account for 82% of all Internet traffic by 2022, according to the Cisco Annual Internet Report.

Although many marketing budgets have been cut or greatly reduced post-COVID-19, the good news is that video’s ability to influence your target market is unbeatable. It can increase conversions by up to 80%. In fact, video marketing is the highest converting form of marketing! And more good news is—the simpler and more conversational your video is, the more authentic it will come across. Typically, videos that are short—30 seconds to two minutes have the highest engagement. They should also be informative and entertaining, aim to evoke an emotion and include a call to action. And of course, don’t overlook the importance of audio quality.

The two main components of digital marketing are traffic and conversion. Video produces both!

Video marketing not only has been proven to build brand awareness and generate traffic from search engines and video sites, but on social media sites as well. Promote your video on your social media platforms to increase social sharing. Presenting key information will help you hook and quickly draw in the user. Social videos that tend to get the most engagement and shares are short, to the point and provide quality content that is entertaining.

Bitable shared the following video marketing statistics from around the web, which prove that video marketing, coupled with other marketing tactics like social media and email marketing, produce compelling results:

• Video increases organic search traffic on a website by 157%.
• Ninety-seven percent of marketers say video has helped users gain a better understanding of their products and services.
• Fifty-two percent of marketers say video is the type of content with the best ROI.
• Adding video to your emails can increase click rates by 300%.
• Sixty-four percent of consumers will make a purchase, after watching branded videos on social platforms.
• Video is expected to make up 82% of Internet traffic by 2021.

If these statistics aren’t getting you excited yet, the following are video marketing benefits:

• Connection–With the advances in technology and the ability to connect with your audience while showing some personality and emotion to convey a message, video allows you to be in front of your target audience, displaying your credibility and thought leadership.
• Time and Territory–The Internet has taken every local business and made it global. Advances in automation and personalization have pushed the global marketing further. The ability to create separate marketing and sales messages for micro target audiences allows savvy marketers to communicate with prospects 24/7/365.
• Search Engine Optimization–YouTube has emerged as the second most popular website, right behind its parent company Google. Google loves YouTube videos, so it ranks them extremely high in search results. A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google, if it includes video. With search engine optimization (SEO) so difficult, it’s much easier to show up in YouTube for specific search phrases than Google.
• Conversion Rate Optimization–Adding video to your digital marketing strategy and specifically adding it to key conversion pages on your website attach 300 percent more traffic and help nurture leads.

Cut through the noise and deliver videos that will entice your target audience:

1. Build a video marketing strategy

In our interpersonal digital world, video is one of the best ways to show your customers what’s happening behind the scenes, providing a real glimpse into your business while capturing a wide audience. When incorporating video into your strategy, the key is to think beyond your product and profit. Start by revisiting your marketing plan.

Think about the different stages of the buyer’s journey and the intent behind the video. When you begin with the end in mind, it is much easier to determine the style, content and distribution of the video. Carefully consider the type of video and content, based on your objectives and target audience. Video marketing requires a keen understanding of human psychology to create emotionally charged videos that will provoke an action.

Always start by asking: What impact do you want to have on your audience?

Some examples include explainer videos, product videos, case studies, testimonials, storytelling videos, brand videos, vlogs and live video. A video marketing ideas infographic, posted by PR Daily, offers content suggestions such as product reviews with customer testimonials, helpful tips to show off expertise and build credibility, vlogs to bring content to life and tutorials to better explain a product or service.

To build traffic from video marketing, you’ll need to include strategies for both search and social traffic. Understanding SEO and key phrase research is paramount to generating traffic with video. For search engines, be sure to include targeted key phrases in your title, tags and description. YouTube can be a major source of traffic alone, between optimizing for key phrases, showing up in related searches and building your audience on the platform.

2. Give blog posts a boost

It’s no secret that the majority of customers prefer watching videos rather than reading. A visual component like a video can significantly boost viewing rates. Embedding a video into your blog post will attract readership and increase conversions, giving you more mileage for your content. Smartly embed video in blog posts as part of your content strategy.

Another way to effectively use video to increase conversions is to incorporate videos on your website. According to Moovly, your business is 53 more times likely to show up first in a Google searches if your website features video. Video leverages influence and persuasion to a greater capacity than the written word and enables you to convey your brand’s personality.

If you currently have an editorial calendar for blog posts or articles that you will be producing, consider repurposing them as videos. It is one of the easiest ways to produce multimedia content and add video to your blogs. Couple that with distributing your videos on sites like YouTube and Vimeo to achieve a broader reach and increase your chances of showing up in search engines.

CMA follows this approach. Once a month, CMA produces a vlog that is branded as Reel Results. Videos feature the firm’s industry thought leaders and are based on one of our new and timely marketing or association management blogs. As a result of adding video to blogs, page time and engagement rates have doubled.

Additionally, CMA recommended this strategy to its client Amerlux, a B2B LED lighting manufacturer. Amerlux added video to previously published blog posts to improve average time spent on a page. Results included a 149% improvement in average time on page.

3. End videos with a strong call to action

If you overlook a call to action (CTA), you’ll leave viewers saying, “so what?” End your video with a strong CTA and tell your audience what to do next. This is often one of the most forgotten, yet simplest components to implement, making the difference between a lead and a conversion.

CTAs are a transition in the buyer’s journey. Consider the following for your next video:

• Type–Text, audio or images
• Action–Register, buy, contact or ask a question (like I do at the end of this blog)
• Placement–Beginning, middle or end

Consumers are conditioned to seek out and follow CTAs. Eliminate the need for them to figure out what the next step is. Instead, facilitate a smooth buying process and tell them what to do next.

Do you want them to subscribe, read your blog or download and e-book? Tell them.

4. Use video on your website to increase conversions

Video is entertaining and visual, yet drastically underused to convert leads. However, a video alone won’t increase conversions. That’s where a talented copywriter comes in. Many websites lack the persuasive writing that turns visitors into prospects. Coupled with effective copywriting, video significantly increases your chances of turning a visitor into a prospect.

In addition to knowing your audience and telling a great story, a few other tips to increase conversions include:

• Creativity—Videos with an artistic, creative flare will standout
• Customization—Select a custom and flattering thumbnail to engage viewers from the first impression
• Optimization—Consider a responsive video player to optimize videos for mobile viewers
• Authenticity—Videos that appear “natural” rather than “salesy” will make a connection with the audience
• Placement—Ensure the video is a prominent element on a landing page, so that it grabs a visitor’s attention

Landing pages are key to driving conversions, since they should be hyper-targeted to a specific audience and key message. Video simply delivers that message faster and in a more persuasive way. With the continuous time crunch, people are looking for the most expedient way possible to get the information they need to decide what to do next. Consumers want to be fed information in a passive way, rather than actively reading and researching. Video delivers that passive learning format.

5. Encourage social sharing and boost traffic

Promote your video on your own social media channels. Providing valuable information will make people want to view and share your video. When it comes to social video marketing, it is important to know your target audience. Increase your social sharing chances by presenting key information that hooks and draws the user in quickly.

Social networks have distinct audiences with varying interests and attention spans. Different types of videos (and lengths) will perform better on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. To achieve the broadest reach and increase your chances of showing up in search engines, distribute your videos on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Users view more than one billion hours of video each day on YouTube!

To boost traffic from social media, you’ll need to develop the mentality of creating consistent, shareable content. Here’s where personality comes into play. This is less about the key phrases you’re using and more about speaking the same language as your target audience. Be sure to infuse either your company’s personality into each video, so it resonates with your target audience.

Perhaps the best thing about video marketing, is that it is easy to do. With an effective digital marketing strategy, it can address all stages of a buyer’s journey. Thus, creating a funnel effect that informs, educates and converts views into fans, subscribers, prospects, leads and customers. Video also has proven to be invaluable from a conversion aspect, having the ability to influence and persuade visitors to move through the buyer’s journey.

Do you need help developing a video marketing strategy? Contact us today, to get the conversation started.