It's no secret that video is an exceptionally popular medium in the marketing world today. Video advertising (including video pre-roll, OTT and CTV video, and Video Blogs) offers the ability to share rich information with customers and prospects and can help cultivate a lasting relationship with them. For these and many other reasons, experts recommend that every business have a video marketing strategy.
Why You Need Video in Your Marketing
Are you currently using video as a critical component in your marketing plan? If so, you're part of the 92% of marketers who, according to one survey, stated that video is an essential part of their strategy. Moreover, 86% of video marketers say this medium is effective at generating leads, and 81% feel that it has a direct, positive impact on sales.
Video marketing has an incredible ROI due to its popularity and how modern consumers assimilate information. And the great thing about video is how versatile it is about different platforms: you can publish videos to your company website, use video content for social media channels like YouTube, and develop ads for OTT services like Hulu and Roku.
Here are some other key reasons why video is so crucial to successful marketing:
Video Improves Your SEO Ranking
Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the most significant marketing "battlefields" for growing companies. Of course, Google remains the powerhouse among search engines, fielding over 6 billion searches each day. The good news is that a strong video presence can help improve your ranking on Google and other search engines.
For example, when you post a new video to YouTube, you can optimize its title for specific keywords and key phrases that align with your target user's intent. "The Basics of Home Improvement in 5 Easy Steps" is an example of how your title can aid Google in accurately indexing your content and matching it to search intent (in this case, the keywords would be "home improvement," "basics," and "easy"). Of course, publishing helpful, value-adding content will also increase your SEO authority (through shares, backlinks, and views).
Video Can Provide a Rich Amount of Information
One of the most significant advantages of video is its capacity for sharing a lot of information in a short amount of time — both through visual and auditory means. For instance, if you're explaining how a product works, you can do so conversationally, show diagrams and animations to highlight the main points, and keep everything brief so that viewers don't lose interest.
Video Captures Attention with Less Effort
Video is the fastest-growing medium online, and it's easy to see why. The motion of the video catches the attention of users quickly, especially compared to still images or text.
A well-crafted ad can quickly grab the attention of its viewers and convey its message well before people begin to lose interest. Plus, some video content will reach a "captive audience" — e.g., OTT consumers who aren't necessarily able to skip ads on specific platforms, like Hulu + TV or, increasingly, YouTube.
Share Video Easily on Social Media
Speaking of YouTube, each user is only a couple of clicks away from sharing any video with family and friends. Distributing your video content on social media is a straightforward way to generate buzz around your message. Who knows? You may even score a viral video one day!
Video Builds Trust and Ongoing Relationships
Many people today find it hard to trust faceless, monolithic corporations. However, what if you "put a face" to your company through video ads and other visual content? You'll likely build trust among your target consumers and slowly be able to forge lasting relationships with them. Not only will your use of visual content yield 94% more views than content without imagery, but those views will be of higher quality in terms of engagement.
Continue to Leverage Video to Grow Your Brand
There are several compelling reasons to implement video marketing as an essential part of your overall strategy. Video will help you to:
- Improve your SEO ranking
- Convey a rich amount of information in a short time frame
- Capture consumer attention with minimal effort
- Become more visible on social media
- Develop trusting, long-lasting customer relationships
Video is already extremely popular, but it continues to grow as a marketing medium year after year. As you establish and continue to strengthen your video presence across several online platforms (perhaps with the help of an experienced media partner), your engagement rates will rise, your sales will increase, and your brand will experience exceptional growth.
Written by Emily Wideman
Emily Wideman is a Regional Sales Manager for Federated Digital Solutions. Emily has over 20 years in media marketing as both a leader and a marketing consultant. She has experience in advertising sales, broadcast TV and radio as well as sales management. Her passion for helping local businesses solve their marketing challenges is what drives her. The marketing experience Emily brings to the digital world allows her to not only be a consultant on digital but also a consultant with all her clients marketing needs.
