Guest post by Roman Daneghyan.
Video marketing started getting big back in 2009 and really took off beginning in 2017. Online video is huge and is projected to account for more than 80% of the overall Internet traffic by 2022. If you haven’t looked into video creation for your business yet, this is the right time to make video a core element in your content marketing mix.
Video product is now easier and less costly than ever. Over 90% of marketers create video clips with assets they already have. There’s no need to take a professional movie-editing course or break the bank to produce your very first video.
Early video tools were complex and expensive. But today, there are excellent video creation editing tools to help even absolute beginners making professional and compelling videos.
Do your research, then try at least one highly rated application, for example, Renderforest – an affordable online video maker, accessible from any device, with a large number of pre-built templates to get you started. Just choose a story-template, upload your media files, select the colors, sounds, and styles—and Renderforest does the rest.
If you’ve decided to include video content into your content marketing strategy, here are the first steps for creating different types of business videos and incorporating video ads into your business marketing plan.
Introduce Your Brand
Combine the power of audio and visual imagery to introduce company’s people and mission to your audience. Keep it short and catchy to hold the attention of busy prospects with short attention spans through the end of your video. Try to communicate your main message within the first 10 seconds.
See the great example of Dollar Shave Club commercial, an all-time favorite video where a gentleman named Mike masterfully sells simple razors. The storyline is so strong and filled with humor, there is no way you can skip it halfway.
Explain Your Product or Service
What’s better than one video? Two videos! If you have decided to include video content in your marketing strategy, keep going and creating more of them. Show your prospective customers how your products or services work. It’s been shown that 65% of people are visual learners, and 68% say they prefer to learn about a new product by watching a short explainer video.
Give your audience what they’re asking for! Start creating videos showcasing your product features, new additions, accessories, or different services you offer. The more information provided, the more prospects will be convinced they need your product.
A great example is kinops from Kinetic Data, an internal request management platform that enables employees to get needed products and services more efficiently.
Showcase Your Customers
When was the last time you purchased a new product without having a look at the reviews from other customers? There’s nothing more credible than testimonials from customers who have used the product or service in the real world. Film them all and spread the word!
See this review of Hootsuite from the global publishing company Wiley:
Educate Your Customers
Video content is primarily seen as an educational tool for businesses to help increase user understanding of their products. 94% of marketers agree that video has helped increase user understanding of their services.
Select a charismatic employee to stand up in front of the camera and share his or her personal knowledge to educate your audience. If you don’t have a great orator in the company, draw one and create an animated educational video.
Renderforest is great at what they do not only because they have excellent services to offer, but also because they are putting effort into educating their customers on how and why to use their help.
Show How It’s Made
If you want to build customer trust, bring them behind the scenes of your product. This applies not only to physical products but services as well. For example, show a timelapse video of your team working on developing your services and bringing new features to life.
Tasty became famous with its great short recipe clips that went viral. Today it has a fantastic series explaining how those short videos were filmed, in the episodes Behind Tasty.
Appreciate Your Customers
If you make your customers feel important and well taken care of, they will reward you with brand loyalty. Let them know that you have noticed, and thank them. Film it all and show the rest of your audience how much you appreciate the people who use your product or services.
TD banks is a great example of how to reward its customers’ loyalty. When watching, make sure you have tissues handy; that’s how emotional this video is.
This is just a quick introduction to why video is essential for your business, and a few of many ways you can engage and communicate with your potential and current customers. All you need is to start creating your first video, then the second one, and there is no turning back. Start building excitement around your business by integrating video content into your marketing strategy. The right time is now!
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Roman Daneghyan is the Chief Marketing Officer at Renderforest, a content marketing specialist, and an expert in SEO and social media marketing who enjoys sharing the experiences gained working as a marketer and helping other entrepreneurs succeed. His work has been published on blogs and mediums like Crazy Egg, Forbes, Upwork, and ShareThis. Connect with him on Twitter.