Video marketing is the new king on the block among popular marketing channels – not without good reason. You may be familiar with commercials from the television era, which progressed to commercials and ads on the Internet during the current era of web 2.0. By now people have developed a resistance that blinds them automatically to repeat commercials when they recognize that “hey, this is not information I am searching for but an advertisement trying to sell me something I may not need!” Marketing videos on the other hand are power packed with product information, visual description, and sometimes instruction on how to use the product. They come in the form of customer reviews, video landing pages, or streaming videos on websites. Why this can be powerful medium to draw interested buyers into your market base is discussed in this article.
Power of visual communication
The adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” has been proved true in this age of visual displays and merchandizing. Psychologists claim that more than 93% of communication is nonverbal. More than 90% of Internet users prefer watching a video to reading an article and statistics show that 6 out of every 10 customers watch streaming videos that is, almost 60% of your customer base.
On the Internet the average attention span of a user is measured in seconds. What is the best way to arrest the attention of someone who intends to just pass on from your website? Visual videos with a catchy attention grabbing title will do the trick. This is a powerful reason for you to consider introducing a video about your product or business (not necessarily professionally created) onto your website, YouTube, or as a paid for SEO video. You can make the foray into video marketing by making a video for some of the following purposes.
SEO video landing pages: Landing pages are all about concentrated content for the purpose of converting an interested customer into a buyer. Having a video on your landing page conveys the message with impact and can drive decisions that lead to a sale.
YouTube, social video sharing sites, Yahoo! video: To make your video all that you need is a video camera or cell phone, video making software, and a free YouTube account. Is that really simple or what? Your video can also be made by converting your already written article into slides with relevant pictures or graphics while you talk the content, or if you have a new product to market, such as a custom built chicken coop, you can demonstrate it in your own backyard and talk about its great features, how its handy, and other useful tips for aspiring chicken farmers. Top off your video with the link to your website were the actual product can be bought online.
Viral videos: Videos are great viral marketing tools. People love to forward interesting, helpful, or funny videos. Everyone can enjoy the visual medium hence videos are immediately forwarded when they strike a chord. When it comes to no expense marketing, you cannot beat the viral kind.
The Pomegranate phone video (though an expensive one) is an example of how something that does not even exist got such wide coverage the world over that a Wikipedia page was written about it saying, this was part of a place-branding program of the government of Nova Scotia to attract people to come stay and do business there. The website is said to have received more than 1,100,000 visits from 201 countries/territories since its launch on September 2008, and the campaign was considered to be very successful. Now that demonstrates the power of a good concept video.
Streaming videos: Having an introductory video or a product demonstration video right on your website alongside your articles or promos is a great way to gain attention of those who would otherwise pass through without bothering to read through your written content. You can let your in-depth article complement your 15-sec say-it-all video.
You may realize that video marketing is a powerful tool that you should not pass up in your online marketing strategy. This is a great way to say it all in a short span of time. Be imaginative and present the information creatively and you will have the potential of reaching a larger chunk of your customer base at no cost at all, if you plan it right. If you have a marketing budget then it will not be a loss to have your video professionally edited. Put up your videos consistently and watch your web traffic, make sure you have the right conversion tools handy.