“Humans are incredibly visual and powerful, moving images help us find meaning… [and] video helps capture and contextualize the world around us.”
Dan Patterson
Image Courtesy of Freepik
Man has been using sight for a very long time; this means that his sight has complexly evolved to help him adapt better to his environment. This attributes to why videos easily grab people's attention. In addition, videos have the power to influence; intentionally or unintentionally since they appeal to one of the most primitive organs, the eye. Brands are discovering video's ability to influence and they are putting it to use.
Video marketing is a form of digital marketing that uses video content to promote or market a brand, product, or service. Video marketing has many advantages. It can be shared quickly with friends and family, and it creates better conversions as compared to other digital marketing methods. Its growth has been significant in the last few years.
In 2021, digital video advertising was expected to attract 80.1 billion U.S. dollars in spending worldwide and the source also projected that the expenditure would increase to 120 billion by 2024. In the U.S., the spending is forecasted to increase from 11.24 to 12.66 billion in the same period. Also, consumers’ preferences for watching videos on mobile devices and desktops are increasing and social networking websites, like Tiktok, Instagram and Facebook are becoming increasingly popular video platforms.
2021 has been a full-on video revolution year for marketers. According to Wyzowl, 86% of businesses have started using video content marketing. Out of those 92% of businesses feel video marketing is an important part of their strategy. Video is progressing rapidly and will reach new heights sooner than we think. This trend is fueled by 83% of businesses believing that video marketing gives them a good return on investments. And with consumers spending an average of 19 hours online these numbers are expected to go up.
If you're here, it’s because you know the importance of video marketing. Brands can no longer get by using written content and images alone — nowadays, that’s uninteresting and unengaging for consumers who are inundated with live streaming, interactive 360 videos, augmented reality, and more.
Image courtesy of Freepik
In the United States, digital video marketing is a $135 billion industry. That means brands everywhere are realizing the value of video and investing in its creation and distribution and videos excel at giving customers a really up-close look at a product, service, or even an influencer or teacher.
Here are 5 compelling benefits of incorporating video marketing in your next campaign.
- Video help influence buying decisions. Video helps your audience better understand why they need your product or service. Many explainer videos focus on a fictional journey of the company's core buyer persona who has a problem. This person overcomes the issue by adopting or buying the business's solution.
- Video boosts conversion rates. Video hasn't only transformed how businesses market and consumers shop; it has also revolutionized how salespeople connect with and convert prospects and how service teams support and delight customers. In short, video is amazingly useful throughout the entire flywheel — not just to heighten brand awareness.
- Video builds trust and credibility. Video is the perfect way to create a personality for your company and your brand by enabling you to connect with your viewers/ customers and earn their trust. The more videos you have to help educate and inform your customers, the more you will build on that foundation of trust which translates into sales. In fact, according to WYZOWL, 94% of marketers say using video content has helped increase user understanding of a product or service. To this end, marketers in many fields (perhaps not all) need to approach audiences with a value-based offer instead of a “sale.”
- Video marketing improves SEO. Search engines are looking for content that actually engages viewers. Nothing entices more numerous and longer page views quite like video. Websites see a search engine boost when they add video because it increases their page quality and the time visitors spend on the page. Not only that, YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google. If you put your video on YouTube plus your website, your visibility and opportunity to appear on search is greatly increased.
- Video Can Improve Your Email Marketing Performance. Getting someone to open your email in this day and age where we all get bombarded with various junk and promotion mail from brands we never even heard of is an increasing challenge. Video content can help reduce unsubscribe rates. According to Brainshark, simply using “video” in the subject line helps decrease unsubscribes by 26% and increases click-through rates by 65% and open rates by 19%
Video marketing can be a bit overwhelming at first, but with a little practice and patience, you can easily produce high-quality video content that is unique to your brand. At Impact Africa Network, we are building people-centric businesses and as the video team, we are committed to creating value-based videos for each of these businesses. Here, we have a space where we can bounce ideas on how African Startups can set sail in this vast sea of video marketing.
Are you ready to dive into this world of video marketing? If your answer is yes, then 1…..2….3…..Action! Let’s start filming!
