How do you define video content marketing in easy terms? Well, first of all, “content marketing in its purest form is nothing but the production and online distribution of content that is educational slash informative in nature. The goal of this content is to convert online content consumers into prospects/customers. And also to provide enough information to current customers and convince them to become repeat buyers” (Lyfe Marketing). In that respect, to achieve these goals video content marketing uses live video images and sound to achieve this.
But, as Hubspot notes, “video content, the most powerful, engaging and human communication medium of all, is regularly considered with hindsight.” The question why remains open, since the facts speak for themselves:
- The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video;
- 70% of B2B buyers and researchers watch videos throughout their path to purchase;
- Video viewers are 64% more likely to buy than non-viewers.
Need more convincing? Here’s some more useful information:
- 82% of Twitter users consume video content on the microblogging site.
- 92% of mobile video viewers like to share them with other people.
- 87% of Internet marketers leverage video content to meet their business goals.
Also, these were numbers from a year or two back, and are constantly growing.
“Video content marketing rests on the principle of creating and distributing valuable & consistent video content to your target audience with the aim of attracting, engaging, and converting qualified leads.”
“Like regular content marketing, video content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that puts the wants and needs of buyers first — to ultimately drive more profitable customer action.” (Hubspot, above)
How do you fit video content marketing into your advertising campaign?
If you are currently running a content marketing campaign or are thinking about running one, don’t limit your campaign to just the written word and still images. Video is becoming more and more popular as an effective component of content marketing and for good reason.
Video has become cheaper to produce. Improvements in technology make it easier to access. It can show real-world applications, and it can convey many messages in a short period of time. Consumers are watching more and more videos online, and that number is only going to grow. Video done properly can be a fantastic addition to your content marketing strategy.
Your focus should be on quality. Dull videos with bland voice-over work and graphics that look like they were pulled from a Microsoft PowerPoint template aren’t going to deliver any punches. A guy in a tie droning on in a monotonous voice about statistics and mission statements isn’t going to move product. You will want to aim higher. Much higher.
You’ll want to develop a plan. You’ll need to brainstorm ideas, decide on your goals, and determine what you want your videos to accomplish. Knowing why great video is so important can help you find a starting point for your brainstorming. Here are many of the ways well-produced videos can benefit your content marketing.
The advantages of video content marketing
- A video can say a lot in a short amount of time
Articles and blog posts take time to read. If you don’t hook your reader quickly, they may not finish the piece. Since video is both a visual and aural experience, it is the most efficient means of disseminating information. With video footage, graphics, music, and voice talent at your disposal you can set a mood, show the product in action, tell your customers what problem it solves and convince them to take action in the span of 90 seconds. Beating that kind of efficiency is hard.
Hooking your viewer and keeping their interest is also a concern for videos, but that’s why it is important to produce top-shelf work. Think about what is going to grab a potential customer’s interest.
- It provides a practical showcase for your product or service
‘Show me, don’t tell me.’ The video is the embodiment of that phrase. You can tell people what your product does; you can write about it and show pictures, but to see it in action takes video. But it isn’t just about showing off your product, it’s about showing your product solving a practical problem that a customer can understand.
You can provide advice and show customers how to fix their kitchen sink on their own with the help of your wonderful plumbing product. Show them how their life would be easier or better.
More on the advantages of working with videos
- It can tell people about your company
Even in short videos where you are covering a particular topic, there are ways to give viewers info about your business. The video itself informs them about what type of company you are. The video should reflect the character of the company. The quality of the video, the style of the graphics, the tone of the voice artist, and the usefulness of the information: All of these play a part in how they will ultimately view you. There’s no such thing as a branding video because all videos are branding videos. People will judge your company based on the content you produce.
Before you begin your video project, sit down, and discuss words that describe your company. Throw all of the buzzwords out and use real words that convey emotion. If you decide that your company is honest, hardworking, and courteous, then your videos should reflect that.
- Technology improvements and lower prices
Producing a video used to be an expensive endeavor. It still can be. But thanks to new technology that is more readily available and more people involved in the industry, producing a video is easier and cheaper than ever. Securing a videographer, an editor, a scriptwriter, and a voice artist are straightforward processes and should not put a damper on your content marketing strategy budget. Finding someone either locally or online can be accomplished without much effort. Many companies with a wide enough talent base are producing their own videos. If there is a gap in talent or resources, they can easily outsource to fill that gap.
Now, just because it is easier to make videos doesn’t necessarily mean that producing a great video is any easier. That still takes a lot of preparation and work. Scripts don’t write themselves. Technology isn’t a replacement for the creative process, it just makes it easier to bring your ideas into the real-world.
Multiple platforms and the right voice
- It is easily viewable across multiple platforms
Video is at home on any device from a widescreen desktop monitor down to the newest iPhone. The explosion of the smartphone and tablet markets means that a significant portion of the population is constantly connected to the Internet through that small screen in their hand. Video viewing on devices continues to grow into an ever-larger piece of the video viewing pie. People are glued to their screens and are always looking for something new to view when they are riding the subway or waiting in the dentist’s office.
Planning how you will handle the distribution of your videos is a large part of your overall plan. Make sure they are going out through the right channels.
- You can move mountains with the right voice
Do not underestimate the importance of securing professional voice talent for your videos. Voice actors have the ability to connect with your audience. They can provide an emotional anchor for the piece, and they can be persuasive. With the proper script and voice talent, you can do more than impart information. You can set a mood, elicit an emotional response from the viewer, and convince them to take action. Take your time when searching for voice talent. There is no need to book the first voice artist you come across just to finish the project quickly. Figuring out which voice should represent your brand is an important step in the production process and should be done with great care and consideration.
Take your time when searching for voice talent. There is no need to book the first voice artist you come across. Figuring out which voice should represent your brand is an important step in the production process and should be done with great care and consideration.
Thought leadership and driving traffic for sales
- Establish yourself as a thought leader
How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? It’s not by doing the same thing they are doing. If you can hit on an idea for a series of videos that cover ground in your industry that others haven’t touched, you’re already one step ahead of the competition. Innovating and expanding on ideas makes great subject material for videos. Don’t just be experts on your product, be experts on everything related to it.
If you own a roofing company, don’t just talk about roofs, shingles, and gutters. Energy savings, landscaping, and general home improvements are great subjects to discuss and can all be tied back to roofing.
You could do a series of videos on new ways to use your product that customers may not have considered. Go beyond how-to videos and demonstrations. If you can get the gears turning in your customers’ heads, they will come back for more. Don’t just sell it. Help, lead, and inspire.
- Drive traffic and sales
Videos aren’t meant to exist in a vacuum. Even if they are advice or how-to videos, they should always direct the viewer to take some additional action: Buy this product. Visit our website. Sign up for our email list. How hard or soft you want to sell is up to you, but every video should have some call to action.
You can focus the video on a product, or the product could be secondary to the central theme. When you post videos to YouTube, always be sure to include a link to the product or your website in the video description. Funneling traffic should always be a goal.
Video content marketing and viral distribution
- Greater potential for viral distribution
Going viral can be both a good and a bad thing. A lot of videos go viral because of how horrible they are. If you believe that any publicity is good publicity, then this might not be as much of a concern. Ideally, you’d want your video to go viral for the right reason. Usually, that means it is funny or entertaining. If it isn’t entertaining, it better to be helpful. The ones that get the most love though are the ones that do both. The original Dollar Shave Club video is a good example.
Videos don’t go viral on their own. A large part of that game is getting it in front of the right set of eyes: The tastemaker who will share it with their audience. That person with all of that reach isn’t going to share your video if it is bland and full of corporate speak. You will have to bring it if you want a shot at that kind of success.
With all the possibilities that video content marketing offers, there is still a process of creating such videos that you need to consider. According to Lyfe Marketing (above), there are roughly seven steps in creating a content marketing video:
- Quickly grabbing the attention of the audience
- Delivering Real Value
- Using varied video platforms
- Having a consistent approach
- Insisting on quality
- ‘Optimizing for silence’
- Adding a call for action
A brief rundown on creating video content marketing
Even if you decide to engage professionals like BunnyStudio, you should be involved throughout the process itself. Here’s a brief rundown through the above seven steps.
- Internet users are not exactly known for their patience. They can quickly switch from one content/video to another. Reasons for that can vary from a page loading too slow, or even more so if they don’t find the content interesting enough. Grabbing their attention quickly can keep them watching throughout.
- “Powerful video marketing is all about giving immense value to the viewer in whatever form you choose. Your content strategy should focus on adding value to the lives of your target audience. How you provide this value is subjective. Because what’s valuable for your audience may not be that valuable for a different type of audience.” (Above)
- The quote that rings true for any video content is “Everybody’s on YouTube.” Of course, you should be too. But there are quite a number of other platforms, general or specialized that should have your attention. The more varied present you have, the greater chance your video marketing will work.
- “Consistency plays a big role in making your video stand out from the competition. Why? Because videos are visual, which means you’re not limited in how you present the content. With every video you create, you can help your viewers resonate with your message by being consistent. Your brand’s personality, look, and design matters to a great extent in keeping consistency high.” (Above)
- Don’t take the word quality for granted. Just posting a video on a platform or social media like Facebook, will not do the job by itself. Actually, the quality of videos presented on platforms like YouTube and social media tends to be of very high quality. This is particularly true of video content marketing.
- Most social media tend to auto-play videos without sound. It is then up to the user whether he wants to turn the sound on or not. “The simple reason for the “silent revolution” in the online video world (especially on social media) is that people are increasingly watching videos on their mobile devices.”
- CTA or call to action is an essential part of any content marketing. Video content marketing is no exception. But, there, the CTA process tends to be a bit more complex. “Simply prompting viewers to visit your website or subscribing to your newsletter at the end of the video is usually enough. But if you want to go a step further, you may have a call to action come upright in the middle of the video when the viewer is deeply engrossed in the video.”
Final thoughts
Video can provide a significant boost to your content marketing as well as your company in general. Explore the possibilities. Know what you are getting into and prepare for it accordingly.
Quality takes effort. That’s what people learned the hard way about social media. It took more than creating a Facebook page to maximize that channel’s potential. Doing things right will always require thought and hard work (including fleshing out an actual content marketing strategy and calendar). But doing things right will reap far more rewards than throwing some half-baked video together and uploading it to YouTube.
If you can’t do it right, don’t do it until you can. Wasting time, money, and resources to produce something that will just disappear in the void of the Internet is a terrible idea. Come at it with a well thought out plan. If you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll be amazed at the videos you’ll be able to produce.
To add the finishing touch to your video, check out Bunny Studio’s vast selection of professional voice over artists from around the world… or hop over to our writing section if you’re all set and ready to write the script for your next video! Let us flesh out the writing on your content marketing strategy while you focus on your business!
