Why Use Video For Marketing?

» Embedded video content can increase website traffic by up to 55%
» Videos posted on Facebook increase viewer engagement with brand pages by 33%
» 92% of mobile video viewers will share videos with others
» A post with embedded video will draw 3 times more inbound links.

How to make the best of online video for marketing?

» Use a creative “hook” in the first 10 seconds
» Appeal to universal emotions
» Stay in touch via social media
» Product quality content on a regular schedule

Tip: Remember to include a call to action! Are you using online videos in your marketing efforts?

by Prestige Marketing Published in Infographic, Online Marketing Strategy, Videos

You’ve probably heard the above statement before. But I want to show you some evidence for why video, video production and especially video testimonials are a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. There are have four points to illustrate this, so let’s get started.
•First, lets start with video in general. According to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners, 30% learn by hearing and the remaining 5% learn by doing. So right off the bat video pretty much covers 95% of learning styles in that it combines visual and audible learning.
•Second, lets address testimonials in general. Entrepreneur.com posted an article by Derek Gehl, an internet marketing expert with years of experience, on how to effectively use testimonials. Derek laid out the three reasons why testimonials are so effective. Testimonials build trust, aren’t “salesy” and most importantly they overcome skepticism. You have probably heard the phrase “People will buy from those that they know, like and trust”. When you can overcome skepticism, build trust and do so in a way that doesn’t sound like a sales pitch, you will have a stronger relationship with your clients and customers.
•Third, Kim Kardashian uses them. Ok, not exactly Kim, but the company that she helped launch in March of 2009 called ShoeDazzle. ShoeDazzle is a shoe delivery service that for only $39.95 per month ships high fashion shoes, bags and accessories to women monthly. ShoeDazzle solicited it’s most loyal customers via Facebook and email to submit a video about what surprised them the most about ShoeDazzle. The results were pretty incredible, with over 70,000 videos being viewed online, leading to 1,000 member sign-ups (FYI, that is a gross of $39,950) and their website traffic in the month of March following the campaign increased to 2.4 million monthly visitors compared to 956,000 only two months prior. You can read more about this from the original article by Inc.com
•Fourth, they just work. A personal recommendation from a current or past customer is extremely powerful.

HSMAI’s MEET National Walter E. Washington Convention Center ~ Washington, D.C. September 5-6, 2012

So who needs a new video to promote their events?

•According to a comScore study, released in February 2011, 82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online.

•Viewers watched 75% more videos online in December 2010 than December 2008.

•In a 2010 report from Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic is currently video. By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video.

•According to comScore Video Metrix, in February 2011 the total U.S. unique video viewers on the Internet was 169,646 with an average of 816.4 minutes per viewer.

…And getting  the projects started can be equally overwhelming. At Bottomline Video & Creative Group, we can ease your inhibitions about video . . . educate you about the process . . . steer you away from potential pitfalls and guide you to a successful project. We speak to hundreds of attendees at tradeshows and conventions, inside board rooms and individually about these very issues. We’ve been an integral component to companies in the development of online training programs that have netted over $250,000 it it’s first year of use, we’ve produced industry safety videos that have become the staple in thier respective industries, we’ve provided direction for educational materials in producing content for students across the United States and abroad and we’ve also produced promotional videos to assist in raising awareness and monies for non-profits and associations. It takes work but the end result is powerful.

Most who seek to produce a video aren’t sure where to begin, what it would cost, the work involved or even the process. We’ve come across countless numbers of organizations who’ve jumped feet first into the video arena only to discovered that its either too expensive of a proposition or they’ve tried the lower cost or budget route with the end product not living up to thier expectations. In either instance, it becomes an extremely tough sell the next time the thought of video arises in that organization.

We take great pride in listening to cleint’s needs and offering cost effective ideas while providing quality in the final product. If we can be of any assistance in presenting at your next conference, meeting or tradeshow . . .please don’t hesitate to give us a call or drop us an email. Effective, quality video doesn’t have to crush your bottom line.

Knowing the video’s purpose is critical because it dictates:

• where the video will be hosted
• what kind of call to action you put in your video
• your distribution strategy
• how your content is presented

Knowing your videos intended purpose also serves as a lens and increases the chance that you’ll get every single one of your intended videos in front of the right section of your audience.

Although there are many different types of video you can make, from the point of view of intended purpose it boils down to just three choices.

Three Types Of Video From The Perspective Of Purpose

The end result – the purpose – of your videos should fall into one of these three categories:

1. To attract people to your website.
2. To persuade people to buy your products or services.
3. To help people who’ve brought your products or services actually use them.

These three types of video correspond to the three stages of the Sales Cycle: attraction, conversion, consumption.

The Attraction Video

The Attraction Video is the video equivalent of a blog post – it’s something that you send out into the big wide world and its job is to send traffic to your website.

You want to get as many eyeballs on an attraction video as possible – so it gets posted to YouTube, to your blog or website, in Forum answers, on other people’s blogs or websites, in iTunes.  Basically anywhere you can post it where your audience might find it.

The purpose of the Attraction Video is to get people to your website – so the Call To Action should reflect that.  You should direct people to go to your website – and give them a compelling reason why they should.

The actual content of the Attraction Video should serve the purpose of attraction – whilst there are several ways to do this, a great way is to provide solutions and/or information to your target market.

Get your attraction video strategy right and your videos will send targetted traffic to your website 24/7.  When using video in Content Marketing, the attraction video is the video type you will make the most of.

The Conversion Video

The Conversion Video is a sales video.  It’s the kind of video you send your subscribers to when you’ve got a product or service to sell.  The copyrighting ‘goo-roos’ all claim that good Sales Videos outperform good Sales Letters by a factor of anywhere from twice as much to ten times as much. The Call To Action in a Conversion Video is simple – it’s buy my stuff!

Conversion Videos done right have the potential to increase your sales – the production values and time invested in making these videos should dwarf the values and efforts spent on either attraction videos or Consumption videos.

The Consumption Video

The Consumption Video is designed to assist those folk from your tribe who’ve brought your product or service to actually use it.

The easy way to create Consumption Videos is look at the FAQs you get for every product or service that you sell.  Answer each one with a video – live action or screencast or hybrid of the two – and you have consumption videos.  And you’ll stand out from your competition because few people do it.

If you sell any kind of software and/or plug ins Consumption Videos are an absolute must.

The Call To Action for a Consumption Video is to send people to a central page where they can access more videos that address common problems.

Summary

So before you create your next video ask yourself the question:

What is the purpose of the video I’m making?

Once you know what purpose you want to fill, it clarifies the whole video making process and makes your finished video serve your business more effectively.

(Content borrowed from Paul Wolfe)

Video is just much easier to syndicate and the purpose of syndication is to try and get the video and your message or product in front of as many eyeballs as possible.  Here are a few of the syndication possibilities:

• Post video to YouTube
• Embed a link on Facebook Fan page.
• Embed a link on OTHER PEOPLE’S Facebook pages
• Embed video on your website
• Get other people to embed your video on their websites
• Post video to iTunes as video podcast

Although video is established, in most market areas there are still few people using video effectively. Don’t be part of the 95% who are too afraid or too lazy or too overwhelmed to do video.  Be part of the 5% who create significant competitive advantage for themselves and their online businesses.

Video is a great tool to put into your content marketing arsenal. Here are a few distinct advantages video has over traditional (i.e. written) content:

1. Video can be syndicated more easily
2. Video establishes your personality (and brand) faster
3. Using video differentiates you from the competition
4. Two words: Video testimonials.
5. Video plays better on mobile devices.

(Shared content from Paul Wolfe)