So you’ve decided to start a video marketing strategy. You’ve made the right decision. As time goes on, video has moved from being one component of digital marketing to a channel so vital that it deserves its own strategy altogether. Daunting? It doesn’t have to be. This is the first of 5 blog posts to help you build a video marketing strategy. But first things first – you need to understand how video works.
Why Videos Influence Customers
There’s a reason video is so popular and why it will continue to dominate the Web in the near future. It has to do with the way people perceive video. Consumers are overwhelmed with content—the average person is exposed to an equivalent of 174 newspapers full of information each day and remembers only 20 percent of what they’ve read. As a marketer who is trying to connect with customers, those odds aren’t good enough. In contrast, people retain 58 percent more information when auditory and visual senses are stimulated compared to just the auditory sense (like in the case of reading). It’s not just a matter of preference, but how the brain processes information presented in video format. Using video provides more channels for information to be processed in the brain and more opportunities to make connections with past experiences. Combined with storytelling and metaphor, video packs a punch that gives you the ability to make an impression in a short amount of time.
Building a Case for Video
According to Cisco, 79 percent of all Internet traffic in 2018 will be related to video, up from 66 percent in 2013. Yes, you read that right. Videos will soon dominate the Web, even more than they do today. Video marketing is crucial to your company’s growth as your audience becomes more dependent and expectant of video to do the heavy lifting when they land on your website. According to Invido, 65% of viewers watch more than 3⁄4 of each video consumed. You guessed it, that far outweighs the percentage of text content consumed on a website. There are countless stats and figures building the case for video. You might need to get buy-in from colleagues and supervisors to develop your budget. Feel free to use stats from this infographic:
Strategy Step 1: Understand what you’re hoping to achieve with video and write it down!
At some point in the journey of familiarizing themselves with video, every marketer asks themselves, “where do I begin?” A good starting point is having clear goals of what you want to achieve with video. Typically, marketers are seeking to maximize their marketing and sales goals. Is there a specific metric you’re looking to increase like conversions or engagement? Measurable results are the best way to assess the success of your video strategy. Consider this first and foremost before committing to your goal. Other use cases for video include training employees or assisting a customer with FAQ’s – there is no shortage of ways you can incorporate video into your marketing arsenal. Keep in mind that other departments might be looking to create video too. Does it make sense to collaborate and build a strategy together?
Stay tuned for the next post in this series. You’ll learn about important metrics and the tools to measure them.
