By Brad Jefferson
Does your company take advantage of online video as a marketing tool? If not, you’re missing a huge opportunity to increase sales and turn customers into fans. Studies show that sites with video perform better than those without. The statistics are staggering: Visitors who watch video stay on a site twice as long and visit twice as many pages as those who don’t. Video allows your business to demonstrate how to use products and show off your advantages in a compelling way. What’s more, quality video can breathe life into your product or service and make it more understandable, desirable and relatable for viewers.
In a world where nearly every business, regardless of industry has an online component, creative video content can set you ahead of the rest of the pack in four major ways:
- Building Brand Awareness. It’s clear that video has reached its tipping point as a standard way to consume content online. In the past year, the time consumers spent watching video online has increased nearly 50 percent. More than six billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube alone (a 50 percent increase from last year). Videos are particularly effective at raising brand awareness as they are 12 times more likely to be shared on social media channels than links and text posts combined. This translates to more opportunities to build brand awareness with each share.
- Bringing in Customers. Seventy three percent of marketers report integrating video with their email marketing efforts increases click-through rates. Studies have also proven that videos in search results have a 41 percent higher click-through rate than plain text. To increase videos in your search results, think about placing customer testimonials, product demos, event recaps, instructional how-to’s and behind-the-scenes looks into your company culture throughout your site. Not only will this increase the engagement on your site, it will also help new customers discover your business.
- Increasing Sales. Video brings your brand to life and can familiarize people with your product in ways that photos or text cannot do on their own. Toy manufacturer Step2 relied on video to give customers a more comprehensive introduction to their products. As a result, the company saw conversion rates increase by 174 percent compared to shoppers who did not view the videos. Video has a profound effect on sales conversions and your company can replicate Step2’s success in its own unique way. If you’re offering tangible products, create a video to demonstrate what they look and feel like in use. If you offer services, a video can provide context around your business by introducing customers via testimonials or by featuring the behind-the-scenes team that makes the service run.
- Creating Customer Loyalty. Videos that tell a story and aren’t overly promotional go a long way in creating a closer connection with customers and increasing interest and support. Video recaps of customer or community events that allow people to relive a shared experience can be a great way to increase loyalty and bring in more customers as they share the video with their friends. A holiday or end-of-year video is a way to say “thank you,” but also a creative way to remind customers of your services and show off your corporate personality and culture.
You’ve probably heard that your company needs video to stay competitive − which is true. But if you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’ve shied away from video as a marketing tool because it traditionally required a significant investment of time and company resources, not to mention being prohibitively expensive to produce for most.
The reality is that video is far more accessible these days − you don’t need a director, professional film crew, editor or script to create a high-quality, professional video. Rather, with online video tools you can engage your prospects and connect with your customers using existing photos, perhaps a couple of video snippets and some creative text set to music.
Now that you know the great benefits it can bring to your business, give your first company video a shot today.
Brad Jefferson is CEO and co-founder of Animoto, an online video creation service.
