Video is a form of media that has taken the digital landscape by storm in recent years. But more like a calm storm on a dry summer day: it’s just what we need. Consumers are gravitating towards video content for entertainment and education, and brands creating videos are seeing better results on their marketing efforts than ever before. Videos are easy to digest and repurpose, which gives brands a greater opportunity to influence and connect with their audience. Being able to understand what video marketing is, why it’s important for both marketers and consumers, how video can be used, and how to build a strategy can help your brand successfully incorporate video into its content mix. Learn about how and why using video might be what your brand needs to keep up with the competition.

What is Video Marketing and Why is it Important?

Video marketing is the use of video to build awareness, attract prospective customers, and/or share information about a brand.

Creating videos is a crucial part of a brand’s marketing strategy for a number of reasons.

  • Producing videos allows a brand to show a more transparent, authentic side that helps build trust with its audience.
  • Videos let brands and consumers connect on an emotional level. Brands can relate to their audience by addressing pain points and showing how they will solve them.
  • By sharing video content, your brand is in front of your audience’s eyes for a longer period of time, increasing brand awareness.

 

How Can Video Be Used?

Video can be used for just about any purpose that written content is used for. The best way to determine what type of video to produce is to look at what stage of the buyer’s journey your audience is in. You might want to create ads to increase brand awareness, or share testimonials to influence prospective customers to convert. Each type of video content has a purpose and can help customers take the action you desire.

Successful video marketing is driven by strategy. On Gravity Group’s Brand Story podcast, we talked with Ken Marcus, Senior Writer at The Martin Agency, who has helped write video scripts for big brands like GEICO. In the episode, he touches on his strategy for writing video scripts. When figuring out how to talk about your products or services, he shares, “This is really important to us as a brand, but how do you connect that with, ‘How does that help me in my life as an audience member? What’s the benefit to me?’”

Advertising

Whether it’s an ad on TV or social media, video ads are a great way to spark emotion in a viewer at a time they may not expect it. This Farmer Focus ad uses engaging visuals to entertain while being informative and giving viewers a clear call to action.

Digital marketing has made video a vital part of the advertising landscape. Companies can run video ads on just about any website, including YouTube, at a comparatively lower cost than traditional placements.

Social Media Marketing

While social media used to be more heavily associated with the younger generations, people of all ages are now using social media platforms in one way or another. Posting video content on social media is a great way for all the different videos your brand creates to get exposure. Long-form videos can be repurposed into bite-sized snippets on social media to entertain, educate, inspire, and engage your audience.

Social media has been one of the most common places people consume video content for some time, but the way people watch videos on social media platforms has recently changed. For example, 85% of viewers are watching Facebook videos with the sound off. This significantly changes how marketers design content, as they now have to add captions before sharing and find other ways to ensure their message passes the mute test.

See how Gravity Group utilizes video on social media with this Instagram reel!

Educational

Many people learn by watching others, so video is a great way to teach people about your brand. Whether it’s an explainer video or informational content about your product or industry, educational videos are great for establishing your brand as thought leaders. When people know your brand and trust the information you provide, it will encourage them to come back for more.

Riddleberger Brothers, Inc. provides different types of educational videos to current and prospective employees. For example, this video teaches about their employee training and development practices to assure employees and customers that they are producing quality products.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

While adding videos to your website doesn’t automatically make your page rank first on Google, videos do have the potential to help you rank higher. If visitors are watching your videos and staying on your page longer, Google recognizes that your site is producing quality content, and in turn, rewards you. Videos posted to YouTube can also help improve SEO by potentially ranking on search engines. Google’s search engine results page (SERP) offers searchers YouTube video content alongside traditional search results, and makes it easy for searchers to find what they’re looking for by highlighting key moments in a video. No matter the topic, video length, or purpose, the search potential by posting videos on YouTube is a great addition to any brand’s marketing strategy.

For example, Gravity Group’s Brand Story podcast is posted in both audio and video formats, so listeners can watch it on our website or YouTube, or just listen on a podcast streaming platform. By creating video versions of our podcast for YouTube, we have a stronger presence on the SERP than if we only posted it on our website.

Testimonials

Word-of-mouth is one of the most trusted ways consumers find products. Through customer testimonial videos, your company can show real people using your products or services in a trustworthy and honest way.

When producing testimonials, your brand should use real customers and let them tell their true story: their pain points that led to searching for a solution, why they chose your product or service, and what their experience was like  with your brand. This helps your audience get an idea of what their experience will be like if they become your customer.

Sentara RMH Medical Center is a hospital in Harrisonburg, VA, that uses testimonials to tell the story of their dedicated care team and the life-saving care they provide. In this testimonial, they had a real patient tell his moving story of how Sentara saved his life.

For more tips on creating testimonials, check out our blog post, The Key to Making a Great Video Testimonial: Listening.

Live Videos

Hosting live videos is a great way to interact with your audience in real time. Live videos can be used to launch new lines, talk about exclusive products or services, or just chat and get feedback from customers. They allow for two-way communication between a brand and its audience through comments and reactions. YouTube and Facebook Live are the top live streaming platforms, and are platforms where your audience is likely already at.

Another way to utilize live video is hosting webinars. These informational live sessions provide viewers with a lot of information, much of which can be repurposed for your blog, social media, or short-form video content.

Visual Storytelling

Storytelling is becoming an essential part of branding because consumers are starting to treat brands like people. This new-found, humanlike connection is forcing brands to be authentic and gain trust if they want to attract customers.

Professor of Visual Storytelling at the VCU Brand Center, Scott Witthaus, shared with us in an episode of our Brand Story podcast the elements of storytelling he thinks make it so successful. When deciding the direction of your video, he says, “Embrace the problem… You’re not selling a product, you’re selling the solution to a problem. The product will sell itself.” Although learning about a product helps the audience, what they really want is to see how that product will fix a problem they have.

Brand Stories

A common way for brands to use storytelling is with a brand story video. By using video, brands can show off products, services, physical locations, history, and most importantly, emotion.

So, what story is your brand trying to tell? Is it a journey where someone runs into conflict and the resolution is your product, or maybe it’s how your service drives your brand to give back to the community? No matter the occasion,  there is always a story to tell.

This video for Acoustical Sheetmetal Company touches on the company’s values, history, and production process in an entertaining way.

Things to Keep in Mind When Creating Videos

Adding video into your content marketing strategy can take a lot of time and planning. But, the results pay for themselves. Here’s some advice to make your video creation process as smooth as possible:

  • Create a meaningful story with characters and a narrative that’s unique yet relatable to your audience.
  • Technology and trends are always changing. Make sure your team has the resources to keep up.
  • Optimize your YouTube channel. You’ll want to post videos on YouTube so your brand can get the search benefits, so make sure your content is as visible as possible.
  • Ensure strategy is driving your video creation and you’re not just wanting to do what everyone else is doing.

 

So, you’ve decided you want to give video marketing a shot, what now? Deciding whether you want to produce your own videos or outsource the video production often depends on the purpose of the video.

Outsourcing your video content for videos that live on your website, such as a brand story video, is probably a better option to give it more professionalism. When looking to outsource:

  • Research the styles of video that a video producer creates.
  • If you’re not sure on strategy or direction, working with an agency that provides in-house brand, marketing, and video production (like Gravity Group) can be a great start.

On the other hand, filming a video on your smartphone is also a great way to test if producing video content is right for you. Even further along in your video marketing strategy, filming videos in-house for social media stories or TikToks will likely be a great fit since these take less time and commitment.

Preparing to Utilize Video in Your Marketing Strategy

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your video content won’t be created after one strategy session. When planning how to introduce video into your marketing strategy, keep in mind your goals, resources, and who your target audience is.

Different types of videos are meant for different stages of the buyer’s journey, so consider what action your video drives the audience to take. Some of the ways you can incorporate video content into your marketing strategy include:

  • Advertising
  • Education
  • Testimonials
  • Social Media
  • Live Videos
  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  • Storytelling

Lastly, make sure your brand takes time to research which production method is right for you: outsourcing or in-house. Video is a great form of media for both marketers and consumers. If your brand hasn’t produced any video content yet, now is a great time to start!

We provide video services that’ll take your business to the next level. Check out our Video Production Services or Contact Us to learn how Gravity Group can help!

 

* Source 1 HubSpot

* Source 2 bloggingwizard

* Source 3 OBERLO

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