Whether it’s a funny clip on Instagram, a short intro clip in an email, or a video wrap-up from a networking event, video content is one of the most effective ways of capturing and engaging your audience.
From higher rates of information retention to getting more information across in a short space of time, there are many benefits to incorporating video in your marketing strategy. Below, we dig into some of the main perks of investing in video and we share best practices for getting started right away.
1. You can tell a story and communicate a message.
Humans are visual beings. By combining high-quality imagery with premium sound, you can often tell a story better than you can with words alone. You only have to look at the rapid growth of YouTube and TikTok to understand how video is capturing seismic audiences, and that people are more likely to turn to social media videos for their news or to learn about something new than they are to read about it.
It takes just seconds to evoke an emotional response through video and only a couple more to communicate a very simple story. As the human attention span shortens in the digital age, it’s imperative to consider how you can get your message through efficiently and effectively.
As the English language idiom goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so it’s no surprise that taking it a step further with videos allows you to tell a story and communicate a message far quicker than you can with words.
2. You can enhance your marketing efforts.
Content marketing is the future of advertising because consumers in today’s digital age are more knowledgeable about marketing tips and tricks, so traditional sales techniques have a lower success rate.
Digital natives are also clever and won’t invest in your company for just anything, so you must offer them an incentive in the form of value. The value you can give them can be offered in multiple formats - blog posts, videos, images or infographics, podcasts, eBooks, white papers, etc. - and can be either entertainment or information for “free”.
Video is arguably one of the most successful forms by which you can attract an audience and offer them value. It awards you the opportunity to be creative and think outside of the box, which will help in your endeavors to engage your audience, capture attention, and stand out from your competitors. This is crucial when it comes to accelerating your marketing efforts.
What’s more, video content can be shared across multiple platforms. It can be embedded into your landing pages, posted on your social media channels (namely Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter), and can be used in your email marketing campaigns.
Videos are also easy for consumers to “like”, comment on, and share, which will seriously widen your reach and increase your brand awareness and exposure (especially when the video description includes a CTA and a direct link to your website).
3. You can build your brand’s reputation and sell your services.
With video content that is of premium quality, you can better sell your products and increase your brand’s reputation solely through social media.
When it comes to selling your business, association is key. Even if you are not a video production company, if you can produce and share high-quality video content that is informative, well-researched, and unique, you will position your brand as digitally savvy, relevant, and trustworthy. This is because the popularity of video is growing and growing, and online consumers have high standards.
Establishing a strong reputation is important and when done correctly, will help you stand out from your competitors. On the other hand, producing poor quality video content will risk your brand looking amateurish, and unreliable, which will have a negative impact on how consumers perceive your products and services.
How can I get started developing video content?
Many businesses think video is unattainable, either because it’s too expensive, too time-consuming, or all-around too difficult. While a poor-quality video will damage your brand’s reputation, it’s fairly easy to ensure you develop high-quality content. Today, the camera on your smartphone likely captures stunning quality video that can be efficiently transformed into marketing content. Best of all, there are plenty of free editing programs available for you to mess around when creating your video content. Most computers come with an in-built editor program. So unless you are doing something extravagant, the program should be enough to get the job done.
When you’re getting started, keep these best practices in mind:
1. Think of the video like a delivering a pitch. When mood boarding and planning a video, think of it like you would a powerful speech or presentation. Present your audience with a problem that they are facing, and offer them the solution they need (your product or service). Then, build that message into something visually appealing and eye-catching, and pair it with exciting sound effects and music.
Be sure to remember that just like a pitch, the content you present is most important. The great visuals are just a bonus to help your message come through more effectively.
2. Get the style right. Although your business doesn’t have to have any association with video production to administer high quality and exciting videos, the style of the videos you create must be in-line with your business industry and be appropriate for your audience demographic.
For example, if your business is a clothing brand for 20-something females, you can play around with current trends and cultural references. Whereas, if your business is a law firm you would need to take a more corporate angle.
3. Don’t forget about SEO. As with your blog content, you want to ensure search engine optimization is a top consideration. Google can’t interpret images and, unfortunately, can’t interpret videos. While we don’t doubt that Google will roll out an update in the next few years to begin scanning and interpreting visual content better, in the meantime, you have to help the search engine out a bit.
With images, you should always provide alt text. With your video content, be sure to also share a short text description as well as a transcript whenever possible to help your audience and Google understand your content better.
You can also plan to turn each video into a blog post. This allows you to get the best of both worlds by reaping the benefits of both text and video content, plus you’re able to get more runway out of a single idea.
4. Enlist professional help. It is a great idea to capture video footage of any networking events your business holds, as experts that specialize in events video production can turn it into a movie that you can share proudly with your customers and use to guide prospective customers down your sales funnel.
With networking events few and far between now, professionals also have the experience to get creative and think of new ways to engage with your audience through video.
Make sure video is part of your marketing strategy.
Harnessing video marketing is one of the best moves your business can make this year. It can seriously boost your online presence, help you attract more customers, and beat your competitors. And if you don’t have a skilled videographer or editor in-house, enlisting professional help is a great investment.
Start creating your video content strategy today with [Missingletter] (https://missinglettr.com/pricing).
