Video Marketing - How It's Influencing Your Business

Dustin Ford

September 25, 2016

Video Marketing – How It’s Influencing Your Business

Video is no longer and up-and-coming marketing tactic. It’s here, and 2016 has been declared the year of video, as more and more businesses are using its power to create more influence for their brands. And, if done right, to connect with their customers and form a different kind of bond that other strategies cannot achieve. It’s a tool of the present that all companies with high ambitions use and should fully understand.

The power of video starts with your business’s presentation. If you use it right, it has tremendous potential of offering your company credibility and trust. It’s an essential tool that can attract more viewers and the attention of search engines. After you understand its benefits, you should know that you’re wielding the most power digital marketing tool there is.

Targeting The Modern Customer

Times have changed, and one major advantage of video is that it has great availability today. It’s accessible on smartphones and tablets, no longer limited to the screen of a computer or TV. We are moving into a new era, where everything is digitized, and a majority of the population has access to modern devices. That is why video is now an incredible tool to use and its positive influence on your business should be felt. The internet is an influential medium, consistently used by the younger demographic.

The typical user has access to the internet and, commonly, to social media. It’s now possible to use video throughout all channels and witness its significant increase in power. According to Nicola Mendelsohn, the Facebook head of operations in Europe and Africa, the death of the written word is imminent in favor of video blooming into a new life. That implies tremendous potential. Your business’ name reaches today’s average internet user, millennials, and the younger crowd through video, powered by social media.

The platforms you use are important, ranging from the popular Facebook to the lesser-used Snapchat, and the tool at your disposal, video, is gaining you followers, viewers, shares, and likes. Not to mention that you are presenting and selling your product or services to even the laziest of buyers. No one reads all descriptions and terms of use with sharp focus anymore. They are boring, while videos are more persuasive due to their entertainment factor.

Reaching your Audience On an Emotional Level

Profits are important, whether you are using a blog or a website to promote your content. There is no doubt that conversion should be of high priority, but it’s vital to understand how to achieve it. Video allows you to reach out to your audience and touch them in a different way. You can appeal to their emotions by using audio and visual cues. Pictures and text are not enough. You can’t read gestures, convey the tone of voice, or correctly interpret body language. You need something more powerful, and that’s where the effectiveness of video comes in.

It’s more persuasive and the best technology to trigger emotional input from the viewer. You have the entirety of their attention, eyes, and ears. That means that for the length of the video, their focus is on your business and what you’re trying to say. It’s the perfect means of both explaining large amounts of information and telling a story at the same time. That is essentially the ideal blend of rational and emotional, both checked off in one fell swoop. You can engage your audience and turn them into active participants if you are using it to its maximum capability.

You may not feel the influence of video on your business directly, but your customers can tell. It can help you reach all of their senses and make them relate to your company. Shared values are what keeps a client loyal long-term. If you are careful, you can use more than visual and auditory senses. You can take advantage of those to further trigger a kinesthetic feel by conveying a familiar touch, such as the breeze of the wind, or even olfactory, like the smell of freshly cut grass. Through video, you can speak to your audience for a few minutes.

Increasing Your Credibility

Edgar Allan Poe once wrote, “Believe nothing you hear and only one half that you see.” It’s a surprisingly fitting quote for today’s digital world where everything can be faked, and most things are questioned. With the advancement of technology and incredible image-editing tools, the credibility of the internet as a whole is shattered. However, video is the least affected, and it has subconsciously gained the trust of viewers beyond all others. There is something about it that create a stronger connection.

By creating videos and using them in your marketing strategy, you are effectively building more credibility for your company. People want that interaction, to put a face on the voice, and see rather than just read. Videos have the ability to improve your influence on the market because you are reinforcing your information with visuals and creating the closest thing to eye contact as possible. If you establish it well, you are forging a bond and starting to develop a relationship with the audience. Never underestimate the power and importance of eye contact, even if it’s virtual.

Many consumers these days are afraid to make an online purchase based on pictures due to the fear of being cheated. By adding a video, they respond in a more positive manner. Your business becomes more credible and dedicated to its clients.

Gaining Greater Visibility

Simply put, videos can be posted directly on YouTube, and the platform is the world’s second largest search engine. Even better, its owner is the same company who handles the world’s biggest search engine. That means your visibility is increased tenfold through videos. Among all networking platforms, YouTube is perhaps the most misunderstood because it has become a website commonly known for entertainment. However, it’s not. It’s just as viable for business, and it will continue its upward surge. In 2015, online video content held 64% of internet traffic, and the rates are expected to rise to 79% by 2018.

It has the incredible potential of getting your brand’s name out there and increase your visibility in the eyes of online users. The name in itself has power. Simply by using the word “video” in an email title actually increases the click-through rates by 65% and open rates by 19%. One important factor to remember is that where you post it matters. If the video is on your website, it will generate more traffic. If it’s on YouTube, the traffic will go to them. However, you will boost your visibility tremendously and quickly. So, ultimately, it’s up to you where you place it, what your priorities are, or if you just use both means of promoting your content.

Not Just Telling, But Showing

The above video is one of 5 that Joshua Nite curated for his article “You Ought to Be in Pictures: 5 Amazingly Successful Brand Video Marketing Campaigns“

While all videos have, at their heart, the purpose of communication, not all center around a message. Some focus on information and providing viewers with all the details most do not have the time or don’t want to read. Others prefer allegory. Time-efficiency and capabilities of educating users is where video excels far above other types of content. A whopping 98% of internet users claim that they have watched an explainer video about a product or service when considering a purchase.

That means that nearly every single customer you have is looking at your video with the aim in mind of understanding more about it. Why they should pick it, how it works, how it benefits them, and how they can use it. Through video, you get not only the opportunity to tell people about your business but genuinely show it to them. It has excellent abilities to educate the public. That, in turn, enhances your credibility and likeability factor in the eyes of the average consumer. And that’s beyond the fact that you have the opportunity to explain how your product came to life.

You can educate, instruct, and explain in the most skillful and efficient way through this format. Most importantly, people are more likely to share a video. The picture or description of a product or service can only do so much. Video adds another layer to your company.

Making Google Love Your Business

Whether you are posting it on a blog, YouTube, or social media, video has an excellent way to boost your traffic. Search engines in general and Google in particular love them. In fact, 70% of the content in the top 100 search listings on the platforms contain video. That says something crucial to know and remember when you are developing your marketing strategy. While SEO algorithms keep changing, and there is no surefire way to get on the allotted first page of Google, video can certainly help.

The perfect formula of how is still a mystery, but the logic behind is eternal: videos are more engaging for users, and if users like it, then Google will like it. That offers the search engine extra incentive to place your business higher toward the top of pages. One added benefit is that videos, which ideally last between 1-2 minutes, keep visitors longer on your site. The more they linger on your website, the better Google understand that users are enjoying your content. That also benefits your site’s ranking.

By using videos, it’s near impossible not to see the beneficial influence it has on your business. At this moment, 69% of business professionals have already used it in their digital marketing campaigns, and the rest 31% plan to do the same in the future.

Video marketing has the capability of breathing life into your business in a way that far surpasses images and text. Its positive impact needs to be well understood and nurtured further so that you can connect with your customers in an excellent and beneficial way.

Image source: Copyright: ‘http://www.123rf.com/profile_kettaphoto‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

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