What is Video Marketing: Guide

Video marketing is the way to promote products and services, raise brand awareness, and increase engagement by using video materials.

In the article, we explain why video marketing is effective and how to build a successful strategy, provide its statistics, benefits, and types, give effective video marketing ideas, and examples.

Why is video marketing effective?

Video content has become a trend in the recent few years. More and more businesses start to produce videos to increase customer engagement. We explain why they are so effective in this section.

Firstly, videos drive engagement on social media. They are more popular than any other type of content, such as photos, texts, etc. In the recent study by Biteable, video content got 480% more clicks, was 497% cheaper per click, and cost 280% less per lead.

Secondly, according to HubSpot Research, more than 50% of customers want to see videos from brands more than any other type of content. People watch videos to discover the best-selling products and their features. Potential clients want to know how the product works and how to use it. Consequently, video is the best type of content to help people make buying decisions.

Thirdly, compared with the effectiveness of videos, their production now is relatively cheap. Some brands create videos using only smartphones.

To sum up, we can say that video is one of the most cost-effective types of content nowadays. We provide some statistics and prove this statement in the next section.

Video Marketing Statistics

To calculate the effectiveness of every content type, marketers analyze lots of metrics. Below are the most up-to-date statistics for 2021 for you to go into 2022 with the most relevant content.

According to the study of Lemonlight:

• 99% of users enjoy watching videos from brands online;
• 94% of people stated that watching a video has helped them to make a buying decision;
• 70% of respondents share 1-4 videos every month across different marketing channels;
• If users had to choose one social media to distribute videos, 26% would choose LinkedIn, 25% — Facebook, and 24% — YouTube;
• Also, 98% of marketers stated that video would play an important role in the next years, and 81% of them are going to include videos in their marketing strategy;

There was also research by Wyzowl in which marketers has found that:

• 78 % of marketers say videos have directly helped increase sales, and 86 % also say that videos increased traffic to their website;
• YouTube was the most popular platform for marketers to post videos, the second one was Facebook, and the third one — LinkedIn;
• video content consumption will increase to 240 exabytes every month in 2022.

A trend on using video marketing will increase in the next future years. Discover its 5 powerful benefits in the next section.

5 Powerful Benefits of Video Marketing

Lemonlight states that 99% of respondents enjoy watching video content from brands online so using video marketing to promote your product may grow your revenue significantly. We explain why it is so and provide the benefits of video marketing in this section.

1. It helps customers make buying decisions. Market research is an important part of the customer journey. According to HubSpot, 97% of users say that video helps them increase user understanding of a certain product. Animoto Blog discovered that 64% of customers are more likely to buy after watching a video.
2. It helps rank higher in search and attract more traffic. The amount of time that people spend on your website influences ranking on the search engine results. According to Forbes, internet users spend 88% more time on websites that contain video. Moreover, websites with video content are 50 times more likely to reach the first page in Google, states Forrester. Additionally, video helps increase organic traffic from SERPs by 157%.
3. It allows you to reach the decision-makers. Forbes states that 75% of managers watch videos connected with their work every week, and 54% of senior executives share them with their colleagues. Additionally, according to the Seattle web search, 59% of them prefer video over text and pictures content if they have a choice.
4. It increases the effectiveness of your email campaigns. ToolBox states that you can increase click rates up to 300% by adding videos to your emails. Use the word video in the subject line to raise open rates by 19%, click-through rates by 65%, and reduce unsubscribes by 26%, states Animoto Blog. If you are looking for the cutting-edge service for your successful email campaigns, SendPulse provides an amazing range of opportunities. Moreover, you can send up to 15,000 emails for free.
5. It helps grow revenue. According to HubSpot, companies that use video marketing are growing revenue 49% faster from year to year. Customers are 27.4 times more likely to click-through online video in the ad than through the standard banner, states MyCustomer. Additionally, 74% of B2B marketers are sure that video converts leads better than any other type of content, states Instapage blog.

Now you know the main benefits of video marketing. Let’s go further and highlight the most important types of video marketing.

5 Types of Video Marketing

You can find many typologies of video marketing on the Internet. However, most of them are quite difficult to understand. Below we provide 6 types of video marketing that are easy to use for different businesses.

1. Commercials. The main aim of such videos is to attract attention to a certain product, highlight its best features and persuade people to buy it. Commercials are usually short, attention-grabbing, and easy to remember. They concentrate on a few competitive advantages of the product and finish with a strong call to action. Some of such videos are called ‘spots’. Their peculiarity is that they tell the story within a relatively short time and suit any platform.
2. Social media videos. Businesses create them to publish on social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Linkedln, etc. Their aims can be different: to sell a certain product by using targeted advertising; to increase brand engagement; to raise brand awareness among potential customers; etc. Such videos are also short and dynamic. Note that every platform has certain peculiarities, so it might be good to discover more about them before starting video production.
3. Company culture videos. This video aims to promote your brand, increase people’s loyalty or attract potential employees. This type includes behind-the-scenes videos, videos about the company’s values, documentaries about the brand, reviews from current employees about work in the company, etc.
4. Explainer videos. If you have a complex product, it might be a good idea to describe its features with a video. Brands typically use them to build trust with the audience and establish themselves as the experts in the sphere. You can make such videos short and engaging, and place them on your company’s website to increase the time users spend on it.
5. Testimonials. Such videos show past or current satisfied customers talking about their positive experience using your product or service. According to Zendesk Blog, 90% of users state that online reviews influence their buying decisions. Testimonials can help you push people from the consideration stage to buying. Moreover, it is a great way to show current customers how you appreciate them. You can also place them on your website or use these videos to promote your brand on social media.

Now you know the main video types and are ready to choose the best ones for your business. In the next, section we provide some ideas to make your video marketing more effective.

7 Effective Video Marketing Ideas

There is a huge competition between companies that use video marketing nowadays. Below we provide 7 effective ideas to become the best in the market.

1. Develop a posting schedule. It is vital to post videos regularly to increase brand engagement. Think about how often you will do it before the production. You may decide to break one video into a few parts or create a series on a certain topic.
2. Use storytelling. It is essential on social media because people use these platforms to entertain, not to buy something. To encourage users to watch your content, you can tell stories that will be exciting and interesting for the target audience.
3. Include calls to action. If you want to persuade people to do something, tell them about it. Conversion Rate Overview research stated that calls to action have an average conversion rate of 11.04%. Note that mid-roll CTAs have the highest conversion rate — 16.95%, compared with post-roll ones that have 10.98%.
4. Encourage people to post UGC content. You may provide a discount or a pleasant gift for posting videos with your product. Share UGC content on your social media to build trust with potential customers and increase the brand loyalty of existing ones.
5. Use SEO optimization. To reach the top positions in the search, include keywords in the title and description. Use tags to help your content appear in recommendations and related videos. You may also add links to your website and other social media to attract people to the other brand’s social media platforms.
6. Think about video promotion. Cover more audiences using different ways of advertising. You can collaborate with the influencers or use targeted advertising on Facebook — the strategy depends only on the peculiarities of your product.
7. Analyze metrics. Nowadays, most platforms give the opportunity to analyze the performance of your videos. To discover the most popular topics and video types, check analytics regularly. Note that the metrics you use should match the goals. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness, the main metric will be users reached, and if you want to promote your products, the main metric will be revenue.

These ideas can help you attract more customers and promote your business. However, you need a well-defined video marketing strategy to maintain good results. We explain how to create it in the next section.

How to build a video marketing strategy?

Video marketing strategy can help you stand out from your competitors and provide only high-quality content that transmits your brand personality. Below there are simple steps to develop a strong strategy.

1. Define your goals. The first step in your marketing strategy will be defining the main goal of your videos. Decide whether you want to attract new customers, engage existing ones, increase brand awareness or persuade people on a decision stage to buy your products. The methods and techniques you will use are directly related to the goal.
2. Analyze your target audience and competitors. Describe your ideal potential customers, their needs, pains, and interests. Figure out the platforms they use and video types they are interested in to concentrate on them. Then find your direct and indirect competitors, watch video content they produce, and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Combine all pros into your strategy to produce the best videos.
3. Include brand’s personality. Ideally, your company should have a brand platform describing such peculiarities of your company as tone of voice, visual language, brand’s philosophy, etc. Think about the ways to transmit all these elements in your future videos. Show that your brand and its products are special.
4. Develop your story. To persuade people to buy, you should explain why they need your product. Keep it in mind while creating the scenario for your future videos. If you want to use storytelling, highlight the main characters that will align with your target audience, conflict to transmit customer pains, and resolution — how your product solves the problems.
5. Create videos and post them. Collaborate with professional production, creator, or just film video on your own. Concentrate on the quality of the picture and sound. Then mount videos and add some effects on post-production. When everything is ready, post the created content.

Engaging videos can boost your company in the market. In the next section, we provide some inspiring examples to help you produce creative and attention-grabbing content.

4 Examples of Video Marketing

These videos impressed viewers and became amazing examples of unusual video marketing. Watch and read why they are so effective below.

Reebok: 25,915 Days

This video is aimed to show how short our life is. We see running women and the numbers in the background. The final scene shows the room full of newborn babies. We see the message saying “25,915 days in the life of the average human”, and understand that all those numbers were the days left to those women. It helps us feel the transience of life, motivates us to act, value what we have, and choose the best things right now.

Dove: Real Beauty Sketches

Dove describes another important topic: people’s perception and beauty standards. The company asked a few women to describe their faces for the artist to paint without seeing them. Then the same artist painted the same women based on descriptions provided by other people. Obviously, the two pictures of each person were different. Moreover, the second ones were much prettier. Dove showed that we are our worst critics, and it is vital to work on our self-esteem.

Budweiser: Someone Waits for you at Home

This video describes the story of a man who went to drink beer with his friend and left the dog at home. He stated that he would come back soon, but the dog did not wait for the owner. The viewers might suppose that something happened. The next day the man returned and said that he decided not to drive home after drinking the previous night. We understand that nothing bad happened because that man made the right decision, and see how one decision can change a life.

Congrats, now you know why video marketing is so effective and its benefits. You can build a video marketing strategy, produce different types of videos and make them engaging with our ideas. Use all this information to promote your brand and boost it on the market.

Last Updated: 24.05.2022