As mentioned in the previous blog, the Age of Information has forced us to adapt to new methods in order to produce and obtain extensive amounts of information. We will focus specifically on how this has brought video to the forefront when it comes to product and service marketing.

The Science Behind Producing Quality Video Content

Technological advances have allowed powerful innovative companies to gear businesses towards being more effective by producing quality content for their prospects to consume. This explains why most businesses have begun generating more visual content as opposed to text. It has been proven through Forrester Research that “it is 50x easier to achieve a page 1 ranking on Google with video”.  This push towards visual marketing makes sense because studies have shown that most people are visual learners. According to Zabisco “90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text”.

Exercise plays a vital role in maintaining brain health @A Health Blog

This must be why we are naturally more attracted to videos as opposed to text, specially when it comes to learning about products and services. Ask yourself, how often do you read product manuals or business flyers? The answer is probably close to never. Why? Because they tend to be either too lengthy or difficult to comprehend, especially if they lack visuals. Ain’t nobody got time for that! This is why many people turn to video.

IMG_6874.jpg @Colin Brown

But how useful is video exactly? Brainshark states that “the information retained in one minute of online video is equal to about 1.8 million written words”! Let that sink in for a minute. That is a lot of information obtained in a short amount of time! Who doesn’t love saving time? But more importantly, videos help customers effectively retain the information you provide them better than other mediums. Insivia Reports claims that “viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it”. Do you want people to remember your brand or service? Perhaps you should look into making a video.

Video as a Hook  

In this busy internet world people are all about getting information quickly and being entertained which is why educational creative videos are perfect for businesses. They truly can cause miracles, but only if you do them right. Quality is extremely important. The average amount of time a viewer gives you to grab their attention is 10 seconds according to Visible Measures. This is a very small window of opportunity which is why you need to put in as much effort possible to make it spectacular from the very beginning. Think of your first video as a teaser. It might sound easy because it should be short but it is not. Every second counts which means that you really need to be very selective when it comes to the information you include. You can’t include everything about your product and service, but the viewer should be able to grasp a basic understanding of your business through it. Check out this Geico example below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSpGEjdIN1Y

Elevator: Unskippable – GEICO (Extended Cut) @Geico Insurance

Moreover, apart from making it informative it must be entertaining. It might seem secondary to most but this element might even be more important than the first. Unruly states that “enjoyment of video ads increase purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%.” Trust, when a video starts playing it’s already hard for most viewers not to look away. Now, if your video evokes an emotion within the viewer there is no doubt many will grow curious and go on to click to your site to find out more. It can be a lot of work, but it is worth it.  If you are successful there is a “75% chance that the viewer will visit your website after viewing a video”. A short ad or even an introductory business video sent out through e-mail to potential prospects should do the trick.

Educational Time Saver and Confidence Booster

Once you have guided a potential prospect to your site, it is important to keep them there by providing the viewer with more useful information through video. Why? According to ComScore, “visitors who view videos stay on the site an average of 2 minutes longer”. Again, people are all about getting information quickly and saving time which is why they will often be willing to watch videos as opposed to having to read lengthy specifics about your service or product.

It Looks Insoluble @David Goehring

How many people have bought the wrong thing because they misunderstood or overlooked critical information while reading about it? Wouldn’t it be helpful to provided with visuals for people to obtaining a thorough understanding of which products or services work best for them, before they were bought? Of course! This is why videos are so popular with consumers. DigitalSherpa attests that “videos increase people’s understanding of your product or service by 74%” making videos extremely valuable for potential buyers.

Establishing a Great Business Front and Providing the Best Customer Service

Furthermore, to excel as a business it is critical to put in the effort and time to build great customer relations. People naturally want to get to know more about a business in order to build trust. It’s hard enough to do this in person so how do you go about building great customer relations with people online? Through videos! Why?

Blue Robot @Peyri Herrera

People are simply more comfortable knowing that there is actually a human being behind the computer and videos can truly aid in building a sense of personality. By giving businesses a voice they are better able to communicate their story. Moreover, putting out information about services or products creates a strong sense of credibility and safety. Internet Retailer Reports that “visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy” because videos make “them more confident in their online purchase decisions”. Videos increase a customer’s sense of trust because they tend to imply that businesses have nothing to hide about their services or products. You wouldn’t hide a good thing, if it was legit you wouldn’t be afraid to share it with the whole world!

From a strategic stand point though, by making helpful videos that teach prospects more about your services or products, you are not only making the consumer’s life easier but more importantly your own. Say for example that a business does not have a video and that their site does not thoroughly cover enough information to answer a prospect’s inquiries. This could create major issues for your business. You either make customers miserable by leaving them to their own devices or worse, you sell them something they did not need in the first place. What happens then? Angry people give you negative reviews and hurt your business.

customer service assistant on phone 2 @CWCS Managed Hosting

Why not avoid this altogether from the beginning? All you need to do is make creative, honest, and helpful videos that make clear what products and services your business provides. This will make it easier for you to attract the correct audience, the one that will actually want to learn more about your business and explore your website. If it is not what they need, they will be grateful towards you for not wasting their time and vice versa. It’s a win-win situation for all.

Marketing, Sharing and Virility Potential

Videos are easy to share and therefore very convenient and effective for marketing purposes. In fact if you don’t have an online business video by now there is no doubt that you are at a huge disadvantage. According to Outbrain, “87% of online marketers use video content” already to promote their businesses. Why? Because as discussed before, videos are a quick and entertaining way to learn about something. People are now fully aware of how valuable and effective videos are, which is why so many people are willing to contribute knowledge through this medium. Consequently, this has greatly increased online video content resulting in, “a third of all online activity [being] spent watching video“. It is no surprise then that after Google, “YouTube [has become] the number two search engine in the world”.

My Life… @Cayden Crawford

Inevitably, technological advances have been made to obtain, guard, organize and share these massive amounts of informative content. Increased speed and convenience capabilities have made it that much easier to spread the word through the act of sharing. For instance, the internet itself has grown a lot quicker overtime. Fortunately, those dial-up login days are far behind us. Now we can watch most videos conveniently through our phones while doing just about anything. As discussed in the last blog, smartphones are currently the most widely used medium. Moreover, Invodo Reports states that “92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others”. Therefore, if you are looking to grow your business, mobile-device friendly videos should be your number one priority.

With this in mind, it is critical to make sure that all the marketing platforms you use to insert your video are mobile-friendly. But do videos excel in all platforms? Take a look at the statistics below:

New camera: Mamiya RB67 @55Laney69 Filtered

Again, because videos are so entertaining and quick to convey information, they are “1200% more [likely] than links and text combined” to be shared, which highly increases virility potential. Just imagine what a viral video could do for your business! The possibility for growth is exponential.

You might still be thinking that making a video is too expensive or too much effort, but honestly it is one of the best tactics to grow your business. Let’s do a quick review:

So what are you waiting for? Go out there, get creative and have fun making a video for your business!

Blog Cover Image: Video Shoot – Kaleidico Digital Marketing @Bill Rice