Forbes quoted Promo.com in an article on the state of online marketing in 2020 here, stating that “[v]ideo has become the most effective form of marketing”. You see, where this article is going. Online video marketing is highly effective, even more so in a global situation, where virtually anything (pun intended) is moved to the digital sphere for reasons of health and safety.
In this brief article, we’re going to have a look at why it is such a vital tool of marketing, what forms it can take, and what to keep in mind. 👀
The most relevant development is the one from general digital marketing to video marketing. This Forbes article is an insightful resource, if you want to understand the development. But let me summarise the main points for you:
Customers have grown tired of being bombarded with pop-ups and ads online. It has become a tool embedded in the routine of going through websites, checking your emails, or even just scrolling through your social media feeds. Everywhere, ‘custom’ ads want you to buy something, use a service, or check out any other awesome feature someone is offering somewhere. You know what I’m talking about, the text you either ignore, or the link you don’t click on.
Online video marketing offers new possibilities of engaging possible customers or clients. Even though ads will often be ignored, it does not change the fact that everyone is constantly online. App Annie has released a 2020 forecast, in which they predict that “consumers will spend 674 billion hours in the Entertainment and Video Player and Editor categories worldwide on Android phones” -- and do bear in mind, that’s just Android Phones. 📲
So, while we see that online engagement is as high as ever, with an average of almost four hours spent on the phone per day, according to Forbes, we also see that marketing has to adapt to the tiresome routines and clichés this is creating. It’s as simple as that, when we have seen enough of something, the market has to come up with new ideas to cater to us. Video marketing is one of such mechanisms. My colleague Kate also recommended it as one of the features for successful marketing, which you can check out here. 👈
So, how can you make sure video marketing is as effective as it can be? 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
A good starting point is taking a look at this infographic from Harvard Business Review (HBR):
In the corresponding article, HBR has written on when and why people pay attention to video ads and I highly recommend checking it out. One possibility that video marketing offers is including a story-line to your marketing: you can create a narrative, a joke, a factor of entertainment in your video. HBR has argued that “entertainment presented after the first exposure of the brand always improves purchases while entertainment presented before the brand always diminishes it”. That’s a never-ending story something to keep in mind. 👤💡
This brings me to the different types of video marketing, which you can check out in more detail in Trevor’s article on our GuidedPR blog. Creating a story is one way to tackle creating a video, which can be employed in most common types of videos including product announcements, brand videos, or testimonials.
What to watch out for 👀
The storyline or entertainment factor is one thing, but you still need to be careful not to fall in the trap of the ads that people just ignore online. This means don’t simply advertise. Modern marketing chooses a focus on expertise rather than advertisement, which means don’t overly promote yourself, but by creating content which displays your insights, you are way more likely to build credibility and attract the interest of possible customers. I have written about the mechanisms of content marketing over here, if you want to have a look. 📚📊
The ways to inform can be just as multifold as the platforms and channels on which you do so: everything from sharing a tutorial, an explanatory or educational brief to more elaborate projects that happen synchronously. These synchronous projects might actually be your new best friends at a time, when most events and conferences are moved online due to COVID, and networking is done digitally.
Try hosting a webinar, invite guest speakers, or share your own insights; try out a livestream. This will actually allow your audience to directly engage with you and build valuable relationships. Later.com offers some tips on setting up an Instagram live for businesses for you to check out here. What I'm saying is, don't be like Villanelle in this snippet (generally, in many ways), but don't underestimate the impact of (live) social media. ⚜️⚜️⚜️
Finally, let’s make something clear: it’s never all rosy, and there are challenges to video marketing. You might need experts and producers to help with video content, but then again collaboration brings out the most marvellous connections and shared expertise is always fruitful and stimulating. Other pitfalls are the mistakes you can make, such as being overly promotional. If you want to read more about what to avoid, have a read of the most common mistakes here.
What to take away from this ❗️
Online video marketing can prove highly effective. You can only grow from the challenge of it and navigating your business through the rocky waters of today’s wild world will prepare you for further challenges. So, get going: 🎥 🎥 🎥!
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About the Author
Sarah is a PR assistant at GuidedPR. She holds a BA hons in English and Comparative Literature and has just moved to London to start her MA in Modern Literature and Culture at King's College London. She's usually busy writing and consuming caffeine. ☕☕☕
Find her on Linkedin here.
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