Video marketing is the promotion of a product, service, or brand using videos. According to recent research, by 2022, 82% of user internet traffic will come from watching them. Customers will be able to choose products by watching videos, and video marketing will become the main promotion tool.
Around 51% of all YouTube users go on the platform specifically to obtain new knowledge. This is why educational clips are a solid way to obtain new customers for your company. In this article, we will review ways to use "how-to" clips for promoting your brand.
One professional video can solve a whole range of problems that every entrepreneur has.
Just think about it. If you have a high-quality presentation video, you no longer have to hold individual meetings with each customer or partner, show them your product, adjust to their schedule, interrupt employee's daily responsibilities, etc. Now you can have a video that can answer all of their questions. Just drop the link to them and let the presentation video do all the work for you. It is multi-functional, versatile, and works in any situation. It can educate anyone across the globe, as it can be posted in multiple languages.
Moreover, watching requires less effort and time from a person than studying textual information. Imagine such a situation ‐ you are interested in your client or partner receiving comprehensive and detailed information about all aspects of your company. You can send them all your promotional materials, annual reports, and analytics, but processing this amount of information will take them ages! Or you can simply send a link to your client, which will take them merely 10 minutes to view.
It is the most effective way to start communicating with your audience.
It isn't easy to start communicating with an audience when the business has just started. Nobody knows about your brand yet. Video marketing can remedy this situation. Research shows that it is an effective tool for transforming people's opinions about brands from skeptical or neutral to positive.
It helps “humanize the brand.
It is difficult to “humanize a brand only using text, which is limited in its capabilities. Videos featuring people work wonders ‐ they convey emotions, tell stories, make it clear to the audience what a brand is about.
It has huge potential due to the ever-growing popularity of YouTube.
The number of YouTube users is colossal. This platform attracts over 2 billion monthly users, and this number covers only the registered ones, however, one can freely use this platform even without creating an account, so the true number of users is likely much larger.
Video content improves website SEO performance.
Google owns YouTube, which means a lot to marketers who use video marketing in their business. There is much information on how many more views a site that features clips gets, but this number is usually very impressive. Search engines love videos because they consider them to be high-quality content, so it's important to use them on the homepage of your site.
It's a perfect way to build customer trust and brand loyalty.
It is very difficult to attract customers with just plain text. However, it is easy to build trusting and long-term relationships with the audience using videos. For a start, record and post your brand's story, demo clips of top products, and educate your customers on using your product.
Have you ever watched an educational video? The most likely answer is “yes. Nowadays, for the first in history any person from any part of the world, without having to travel or investing money, can learn almost anything online by simply watching a video. “How-to videos and tutorials are growing increasingly more popular on YouTube, as people seek knowledge and quick solutions online.
Over a decade ago whenever we needed to receive an answer for a burning question, we called a help desk or read a book. However, nowadays, when someone runs into a scenario where they need immediate help, they simply go on Google or YouTube. The latter is a perfect choice in many situations, as clips often offer notions in more easy-to-digest format than simple text. Videos also provide a more visual aid and show other people's hands-on experience, which proves more helpful than just written information or instruction.
This makes educational videos a great tool in business ‐ they can easily reach their target audience, educate them about your company, answer any question they may have about your company and its services, and make yourself appear experienced, helpful, and trustworthy.
1. Content must be useful and interesting, not contain plain advertising.
Customers will find your brand annoying if you overuse self-promotion in videos. Video content should be interesting and educational, not promotional. Try to engage your audience with expert opinions, reviews and simply informative videos. Make sure your content is well scripted. You can write a script yourself or hire a professional writer. Writers are trained to create short engaging texts ‐ may that be promotional, educational, academic, etc. Subjecto.com can give you some examples of good academic writing. Hiring a professional is always a good call since they are educated and trained to create any type of text on a high level.
2. Test different thumbnail formats.
Thumbnail is the first thing a user sees when they come across a video. A proper thumbnail should be intriguing or even provocative. But don't forget that it must also match your content.
Here are some simple tips on thumbnails:
3. Invest in high-quality equipment.
Viewers are becoming more and more demanding to video quality ‐ resolution, sound, editing. Therefore, you should aim for: video resolution of 720p or more, eliminating background noise and adding a good audio track as well as making smooth transitions between frames. Videos should be fun to watch, which will make customers come back for more, making them recall your brand every time they do.
4. Use multiple platforms for promotion.
Video is most effective when advertised on different platforms. Announce upcoming videos on your social media channels and include the most interesting ones in email newsletter. This way your brand will frequently pop up in many people's mailboxes.
5. Interact with your audience.
If your customers have questions about your product, answer them in a video ‐ your viewers will appreciate it. There are multiple advantages to this solution:
6. Make your videos memorable.
Don't just post whatever ‐ make sure that each piece is well-directed, visually pleasing, easy to follow, engaging, and informational. Ensure that your videos stand out and there will be no shortage of viewers, who probably never even heard about your brand before.
7. Stay relevant.
Post often and stick to a schedule. This will keep your brand relevant and customers ‐ invested. By watching more of your videos customers will form deeper connections with your brand.
8. Create product demos.
You can make sure that customers know everything they need about a new product by releasing a demo about its features, describing its benefits and usage. Knowing more about the product, customers will be more inclined to buy it. Also, they will not have a feeling that they are not sure whether the product will meet their needs, as they already know all about it from the video. This way the customers will ultimately be more satisfied with your product, and, by extension, your brand.
9. Be more helpful than competitors.
It's possible that both you and your competitors within the same niche offer a very similar product. If so, what can make your product appear more desirable than the one by your competitor? If your brand is more recognizable and trustworthy, people will likely choose your product. Seeing that you have informative videos about your product will make your company seem more invested in the product and more knowledgeable about it, making you an obvious choice.
10. Use social media.
Repost videos to Instagram and Facebook. Out of ideas for future video? Ask your subscribers what they would like to see in the next video. This way you will be on top of any customer questions and able to address any issues they may have with your product, which leads to better customer satisfaction.
Video is one of the most popular forms of content online. Each of us wants to easily see and hear the content, this is what makes video marketing so popular. Videos are not only fun but also one of the best ways to get closer to your audience and give them a real sense of what you, your business and brand are about.
The main thing to consider is that a video's purpose is not just educating about your product and its advantages, but also sharing philosophy, interesting and valuable information with the audience. The more the audience knows about your brand, the more likely they are to engage with it repeatedly. If you would like to improve your video skills, check out Media Training's filming and editing courses.
by Alison Lee | 13 Nov 24