Getting Started with Video Marketing

Canadians are voracious consumers of online video. According to comScore, Canadians watch an average of almost 25 hours of video every month. That translates into about 290 videos per month, or almost 10 every day. Only the British view more than that. At the same time, video is increasingly recognized as a potent marketing tool because it’s so effective at attracting our attention and conveying information.

Here are five good reasons why you should incorporate video into your website and other marketing activities.

Humans love to watch video
Consumer researcher Susan Weinschenk says our brains are hard-wired to pay attention to faces because we see them as gathering points for information and credibility, while the human voice conveys rich information. Weinschenk also says the body language you can capture in a video conveys contagious emotions that make us want to share the videos while the simple fact of movement grabs our attention.

Video makes your website easier to find, and encourages visitors to stay longer
Having video on your website can significantly improve its search engine results. Social Times reports that having a video on the landing page of your website makes it 53 percent more likely to show up on the first page of a Google search. Meanwhile, according to Kiss Metrics, visitors who watch a video are reported to stay twice as long and look through twice as many pages compared with those who do not watch a video.

Video informs the buying process and increases conversions
When consumers are researching products or services they’d like to buy, they find video a useful — and persuasive — part of the process. According to Video Brewery, 90 percent of online shoppers at a major retailer’s website said they find video helpful in making shopping and buying decisions. Meanwhile, 52 percent of shoppers said watching product videos makes them more confident in their online purchase decisions.

A study by Unruly found that people who enjoyed a video were 97 percent more likely to consider purchasing the product featured in the video than those who didn’t. And Unbounce says using video on landing pages can increase conversions by 80 percent.

Videos are memorable and actionable
Online video ads command impressive retention rates. Online video ads command impressive retention rates. The Online Publishers Association says 80 percent of Internet users could recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days. Even better, of that 80 percent, 46 percent took some action after viewing the ad. In fact:

●     26 percent looked for more information about the subject of the video.

●     22 percent visited the website named in the ad.

●     15 percent visited the company represented in the video ad.

●     12 percent purchased the specific product featured in the ad.

Your competitors are likely using video – and having success with it
According to Top Rank Marketing, 70 percent of B2B content marketers use video, and 60 percent of B2B marketers rate it as their most effective content marketing tactic. And a 2013 survey found that about 90 percent of respondents used video for lead-generation purposes, outstripping case studies, white papers and live demos.

The Bottom line: Why aren’t you using video?
So, if your customers love video and video is an unparalleled way to inform, engage and encourage action, why aren’t you using it? It’s probably because you think it’s difficult and expensive. But it doesn’t have to be either. In the next post in this series, I’ll tell you how to cost-effectively shoot your own video.

In the meantime, if you’re not yet using video, what are the reasons stopping you? Share your video hesitations in our comments section below.