Investing In Video Marketing? This Is What You Need To Know

Have you heard that a picture is worth a thousand words? Now picture how many words a video worth! Something every business or entrepreneur must know is the fact that: if you are not yet into video marketing, be sure your competitors are, and they are already beating you.

Moreover, it is not that bad, it is never too late to begin but better sooner than later. Keep in mind that around 60% of brands have included video marketing in social media (especially but not only YouTube) in order to reach customers. However, why videos? Why not traditional advertising manners such as texts, images or shorts videos on TV? Well, that’s kind of old and not much effective when compared to the huge power a good video can have on the Internet.

As everyone in this world has noticed, the way of selling has changed a lot, not only speaking about the ways wherein we used to see advertisement but the type of advertisement too. From a couple of years, we have been noticing the huge growth content has had in digital marketing; marketers are not only focused on the art of selling but in offering customers valuable content to engage them with the brand.

Content is a key element

In these days, marketers had to design a brand new way to advertise, people got bored of classic advertising where brands were only interested in getting money from their customers and no more. Moreover, it works differently nowadays, brands and businesses have realized how important clients are and they decided to bring them more than products and services, this is how the content marketing born.

Brands began to create valuable content aiming to serve people with useful information but why? By using content marketing, potential customers do not have the feeling that they are being taken into account just for the selling process; actually, what brands want is to establish a long and close relationship among them and their customers which was not possible through the antique way of selling - buying.

The use of useful information goes further than simply advertising products or services. Content plays with illusion, emotions, thoughts, and feelings of current and potential customers. By using content, the advertisement is less aggressive as the brand is not directly saying to clients that they have to buy from them but being strong enough to make them feel like they need the product.

The main purpose of content marketing is creating the sensation of necessity. A few years ago, the necessity was mainly seen in brands: they needed to sell; now they show people why they need to buy from them.

However, in content marketing, there is a variety of available options, from e-mailing to blog posting for written information, the usage of customized images and infographics that combines cartoons, humor, and information when speaking aboutvisual content, and videos that combine both images and valuable info.

Video content is on top

Even though all those techniques mentioned before are very effective, the one that has shown more impact is video content. Actually, Matt Bowman argues that 87% of marketers count video content as their main option when creating digital marketing strategies.

Using content videos enables the brand to be in touch with their clients, to establish valuable relationships, it also gives the brand a face, makes it more human and the sensation it is closer to clients, among other important features that make videos an acute decision to advertise.

In case you still wondering how many words a video is worth, based on James Mcquivey’s opinion the amount is around 1.8million words, you did not expect that, right? And, that number is not based on an entire video, yet around a minute of video, just amazing.

Another good form to be aware of the enormous impact content videos has had in the way brands used to sell is the way social media has had to adapt themselves in order to not be left behind. For example, YouTube is from its beginning a platform designed for videos but Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram were not.

Moreover, people are able to upload, watch and share videos on those platforms nowadays which means developers understood the power videos have and they decided to include them before getting out-dated.

On the other hand, not all videos work in the same way. There is a wide range of styles or forms to include content through videos; it is important to know a couple of details before deciding which one will work better for the brand and the target, but just don’t worry, it will be all explained in here.

Content videos come in many shapes

As mentioned before, the content video has branched itself into different types of content video in oer to rdfit with different topics and to reach to different audiences. It is extremely important to make a deep study of the desired target market in order to know which style may work better for the brand purposes.

However, there are some others that just work perfectly in every case and that is the reason why they are so popular in these days such as storytelling and how to tutorial videos, while live streaming, gaming videos, VR videos and much others are more specific.

Video tutorials

There is by far the cheapest way to impress people and to show how useful and amazing your product is. How to videos are very clever, a few years ago when people were online looking the answer to a question, videos were not the first option but written content. However, in these days how to videos are frequently watched by people who are seeking for the demonstration or process to do something.

Actually, this trend is very reasonable given the fact that videos enable the person to understand better and faster as he or she is able to see and listen the entire process being explained by an expert instead of simply reading where many doubts can be left unsolved.

In addition, how to videos are considerably cheap to be produced, as they do not need to be extremely fancy, all you need is the product, a person and an appealing explanation of what the product can do for people, this is when the selling techniques must be applied, be aware that this style of marketing claims for necessity and emotions to reach the selling goal.

Inside this category, we can find a wide variety of branches, from demo videos to how to… videos, expert explanation, influencers using the product or service, testimonialvideos and much more.

Live Streaming

This modality has gained ground so quickly that different platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat have decided to follow YouTube steps and include streaming services in their apps. By doing live videos, customers feel like they are close to the brand as they are able to interact in real time with people that represent the business or brand.

This type of videos leads to create more engagement among brand and customers and also promotes the buying intention and loyalty. Live streaming videos support a wide range of topics which means a lot of brands with different identities and targeted markets can use them as an effective content marketing.

Event videos

There is also an acute way to include customers in the brand’s events. For example, it is frequently used in fashion, makeup, technology, and much more areas. Also, these videos can work both in real-time connection or be uploaded later. In there, the brand is able to show the behind the scenes of their events which helps clients to get to know better the brand, the most human it is felt, the more engagement it creates.

Storytelling

Easy to create, cheap to be produced and extremely effective; storytelling videos are almost everywhere and they work together with influencer images. Moreover, they don’t have to be very important people, actually, this type of videos have had as a result the creation of micro-influencers.

In storytelling videos, people share a piece of their lives with viewers; in these stories, they tell something important that want to share with people creating content the target market would like to know. In case you wonder how this short stories can be related with a brand; for example, a young girl telling her story about how she was bullied by having too much acne and how a magic treatment from that brand helped to look better and improve her self-confidence.

Gaming videos

It is breathtaking to see the huge rush this kind of videos has had in little time. With the quick development digital games are having and the incredible popularity virtual reality has in these days, gaming videos are enormously effective in content marketing.

The target for this kind of content is mainly young boys from high school to around 40 years, but not only brands related to gaming can get substantial profits from those videos. Actually, every detail in here matters. For example, a classic gaming videocontains a person in a room with a console or computer (first brand to advertise), playing a particular game (here is another one), using certain gadgets, wearing a nice shirt and watch (yes, clothing too), drinking that coke, and do not forget about theposter on the wall and so on.

Benefits of using content videos in digital marketing

There is a myriad of valuable reasons to justify why this idea is so trendy in these days, nothing can influence this complex world with so much intensity without being really powerful and useful; moreover, there are some features that make content videos something each brand –no matter how big or small it is- must try.

First of all, prices and budgets are extremely important for both starting up a businessor established ones. In business, every penny counts and it is not different in marketing; actually, budgets in marketing are carefully spent as they are supposed to give back a good amount of money (Return On Investment) and content videos do not need huge amounts to be done.

Having a computer, editor programs, a bunch of ideas and time to work in may be enough to create a cool video without spending much money there. Keep in mind that one of the main characteristics of content marketing is the human sensation, that one the customer feels when watching something that can be done by someone next to them.

On the other hand, creating videos can be one of the shortest productions in an advertisement, but they take longer exposed to the audience in comparison with other ways of advertisement. Producing a video is not a long-term task; actually, some of them such as live streaming needs little previous preparation which means lower costs in money and time.

Also, when video succeed in catching people’s attention, it is more likable to engage people in comparison with other types of digital marketing like images or written content. It is said that people read the 50% of each blog they click on but they watch around 75% of each video they play –based on Matt Bowman stats-, extra point for videos!

In addition, videos can deeply influence the buying intention from a potential customer, as researches made by Hubspot have shown that nearly 54% of clients prefer to watch content videos from a brand they support instead of any other type of content. Also, it means those videos really catch the attention of customers and can potentially lead them to take the final decision of buying after watching the brand’s content.

Will content videos keep rocking the advertising world?

The answer is a definitive yes! Content videos have shown to be very effective and not only effective but sustainable too; not for less around 85% of marketers have tried them to boost business to the next level.

Content videos are here to stay long, while the trend is far from disappearing what we can expect to change is the ways it works, maybe in a couple of months or years storytelling will be outdated but some brand new strategies will be on top.

However, there is something we can have for granted and it is the fact that videos are the present and the future of digital and content marketing.