Marketing in Motion: Online Videos

Video is the rapidly rising star of the digital marketing industry. Youtube receives more than one billion visitors every month, which is more than any other channel apart from Facebook. According to Cisco, by 2019 video will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic. Here in 2015, its prestige in terms of customer attraction is already indisputable.

As ever, the very first question to ask is; is video right for your business? If you don’t do it well, it’s better not to do it. Blindly jumping on the bandwagon often produces rushed and poorly-produced content, which could have the opposite effect of actually damaging public perception of your business. You’ll also need to think about what type of video you’ll produce. If you’re in the culinary business, maybe shoot a quick video of how your food is made. If you’re in the fashion industry then filming a make-up tutorial might be an idea, or if you sell sports equipment consider a demonstration video of one of your most striking products.

It’s worth taking a bit of time to check out the competition, or if you even have any. Have other companies in your industry produced online videos before? If so, take time to evaluate their methods. What are they doing well? What are they failing at? Is there anything they’re missing? Plugging these gaps could be the key to the success or failure of your own videos.

With this in mind, video content can be a fantastic way to communicate with your customers and clients. This can be seen in demonstration and instructional videos especially – having a member of staff gives the company an identifiable face that can be presented to the general public. Giving people a human element to relate to improves the overall user experience, and has long been known to improve online conversion rates.

The videos don’t have to be particularly long – Vine is a video-sharing service which allows users to share six-second long looping video clips. The format is an excellent catalyst for creativity, and everything from the focus on brevity to the characteristic looping allows for some truly original content. Instagram recently launched a similar service, creating another useful online portal to market short-form video content. Google’s Display Networks and corporate email campaigns are other great places to start marketing your video content, whereas Pinterest is an alternative visual-based consideration.

We previously covered ways to save on budget* when creating video content for your business, so don’t let potential cost put you off. A smart-phone paired with a half-decent tripod can produce quality video to rival far more expensive DSLR cameras, and basic free editing software is no challenge to find online.

Always try and be creative with your videos, and don’t be afraid to try out several approaches at first. You don’t have to be an expert filmmaker to successfully employ online video, and like any art form it often takes time to perfect. Keep at it, and you’ll soon reap handsome rewards.