Introduction
Video marketing has quickly become one of the fastest growing and most successful marketing opportunities for businesses – and it’s easy to see why. Videos are more engaging, easier to remember, and more popular than traditional marketing methods. But don’t take our word for it, check out these eye-popping video marketing statistics:
- 78% of people watch online videos every week
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.
- Nearly 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store.
- 73% of marketers said they’d create more video content if there were no obstacles like time, resources, and budget.
What is Video Marketing?
According to Wistia, a leader in the video community, the definition of video marketing can be defined in two ways: “Marketing with Video” and “Marketing A Video”. The “Marketing with Video” definition revolves around people who are usually trying to sell a product or service and use a video to enhance those efforts – typically by way of explanation. The “Marketing A Video” definition is when people try to build brand awareness through the marketing of a specific video – usually in a viral fashion or nature.
At the end of the day, video marketing includes any video content used by your business in its’ marketing efforts – whether they be promotional, educational, or otherwise. It could be promoting your products, your services, your people, your culture – or just about anything else related to your business. Video marketing can feature refining your sales pitch, streamlining your employee on-boarding, or describing your complex industry. Whatever your marketing pain points you experience, video is a great way to engage your audience.
A few examples of Video Marketing include:
- Company Culture Videos
- Interview / Testimonials Videos
- Promotional Videos
- Internal Corporate Videos
- Instructional Videos
Why Video Marketing Matters
With the rise of social media and self-service online shopping services like Amazon, it’s not a surprise that people want things faster than ever. Obviously, attention spans are shrinking, which increases the importance of grabbing their attention – quickly and effectively. According to a study performed by Microsoft, on average, the attention span of people is now 8 seconds or less. That’s an astounding number – and it’s likely even less when you think about traditional marketing methods. And that’s where video marketing steps in.
Video marketing enables you to capture your audience, engage them in effective ways, and leave a lasting impression. But more than grabbing attention, video can represent your company’s brand in a myriad of ways. The music, the mood, the colors, the message. Viewer is receiving all these things and associating with your brand. Video develops deeper connections with viewers. They see glimpses of your company, your people, and they form relationships with what they see.
Additionally, video marketing matters because it has a significant impact on other pieces of the marketing puzzle. It can supplement your content marketing, email marketing, and advertising efforts. It can even have a profoundly positive impact on your search engine optimization ranking. It’s been well established that Google Loves Video and will rank your web assets higher if you include videos.
Lastly, video marketing matters because it gives you a uniquely effective way to stay in front of your audience. It’s a fantastic communication tool that enables you to proactively stay visible to your clients and customers. Everyone knows that consistency is key in marketing and video helps lay the foundation for communicating a consistent message.
Video Marketing Trends
Transparency
People these days are much better at spotting BS. So the trend? Transparency. Sandwich video created a great example of a video that is both effective and transparent. They take a complex theory and explain it to you simply, like a human would. Transparent videos typically focus less on special effects and more on communicating a precise and clear message.
Adaptability
Video is now more adaptable than ever with entire productions specifically shooting videos that can be used in a variety of formats, on a variety of platforms. We’ve even seen a rise in re-purposing video – both from a cost and effectiveness standpoint. We expect this trend to continue as technology changes and marketing demands video to expand in to other areas.
Silent Videos
Another interesting trend is “Silent Videos”, which are videos created to be played without sound. We can thank social media and social advertising for this trend. It’s become abundantly clear that people do not like autoplaying videos with sound. But the social and advertising giants know how much people like video. So what did they do? They created technology to autoplay silent videos – allowing users to click the video for sound. That changed everything. We’re now seeing more text on screen, with captions. Video marketers now have to take into account that their videos may be watched without sound.
Square Videos
Another trend related to video advertising is the increase in square-sized videos. With the increase in mobile usage, we’ve seen an uptick in vertically oriented video sizes. But now, another size is here. According to Cyberclick, “Compared to horizontal, square footage occupies 78% more space in the Facebook News section and receives a higher percentage of engagement”.
Types of Video Marketing
There are many different types of video marketing – each with a different purpose. Before you start filming, it’s important to define the different types of video marketing so you know what types of videos you should create.
To help define the types of video marketing, it’s helpful to think of areas in your business that have flaws in the way you’re communicating. Below are a few a examples of pain points that you may have felt or might be feeling right now.
- Maybe your customers aren’t seeing enough from you so you need to create a series of short videos to push through social.
- It could be your product/service is really complex so you need to take 2 minutes to describe it in a video so that everybody understands.
- Maybe you need to hire more people for your small business. There’s a gap in how your company is being perceived so a company culture or anthem video can help.
- It could be your customer service desk is getting phone calls nonstop so you need to create a video to help walk viewers through a process.
According to Hubspot, below are the 12 most common types of videos:
- Demo Videos
- Brand Videos
- Event Videos
- Expert Interviews
- Educational or How-To Videos
- Explainer Videos
- Animated Videos
- Case Study and Customer Testimonial Videos
- Live Videos
- 360° & Virtual Reality (VR) Videos
- Augmented Reality (AR) Videos
- Personalized Messages
Now you know how to define the different types of video marketing, how to outline the common pain points, and you have a comprehensive list of the 12 most common types of videos. The next section will explain the different ways to produce video marketing.
Ways to Produce Video Marketing
There are a two primary ways to produce video marketing. You can either do it yourself (DIY) or outsource – which means hiring a freelancer or video marketing agency. How you produce video depends on a few important factors including the type of video, budget, and timeline. Below we’ve outlined some helpful information to guide you in the best way to produce video marketing for your company.
The DIY Approach
This typically works for bigger companies who have the resources to hire an internal video expert, or even department. Another way this approach works is if a small business owner has enough time (yeah right) and expertise to learn how to operate a camera.
The PRO’S:
- Super affordable
- You know your company best so you can communicate clearly
- No waiting around for the next video edit
The CON’S:
- Typically not as professional – people can tell you made it yourself
- Videos work best from a high-level perspective. Most of the time, internal people are too in-the-weeds to see the big picture.
- You’re busy. And creating a video takes time.
The Outsource Approach
This is the more popular route for creating a video but the big question is how to choose an agency. We recommend you do the research. Whether you’re looking for a freelancer or a video marketing agency, it’s important to consider their portfolio and references. You should interview at least 2-3 people to see who feels like a good fit. Don’t be afraid to talk about cost and try to meet in-person if possible.
PRO’S:
- Professional looking video
- Not your responsibility
- Hopefully not too expensive, good ROI
CON’S:
- Chance of being unhappy / bad relationship
- Still takes time to review and explain business
- Can easily over-spend
Examples of Good Video Marketing
It’s always helpful to see good examples of videos that can help provide spark some ideas, give you inspiration, and outline best practices. We’ve featured a couple of our favorite videos (hint hint, we produced them) below for you to watch.
Weekend Walls
Weekend Walls came to us and asked for a short, inspirational piece to show how their product works. The results were 25 million + views on Facebook and 300,000+ views on Youtube.
Their relatively small investment turned into a major marketing tool for the company moving forward.
Streem
Streem wanted a series of videos to help them communicate the benefits of their app to their users. The result was 3 videos that not only communicated their message, but messaging that informed their marketing strategy moving forward.
Other Helpful Resources
- https://wistia.com/learn/marketing/video-marketing-guide
- https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/02/03/video-marketing-the-future-of-content-marketing/
- https://vimeo.com/blog/post/video-marketing-101-guide-entire-video-workflow
- https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-us/blog/5-secrets-super-successful-video-marketing
