There are many ways to market your brand, services, or product. You might use written content, like blogs, social media posts, and articles. You can utilize audio strategies like podcasts and radio spots. And then there are the visual strategies. Visual-based advertising can vary from images on social media to highly produced marketing videos. Out of all of these, one strategy has been proven to have the most impact. It’s also the one that seems to take the most effort.
Yep. You guessed it: Video.
The higher impact of video marketing strategies compared to written content has been proven over and over again. Let’s start with a few stats:
72% of customers would rather learn about a product or service by way of video as opposed to written. (HubSpot)
Video campaigns on LinkedIn have 50% view rates. (LinkedIn)
Videos attract up to 300% more traffic and help nurture leads. (MarketingSherpa)
A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. (Insivia)
Including a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%. (Unbounce)
Nearly 50% of internet users look for videos related to a product or service before visiting a store. (Hubspot)
Think about instruction manuals, learning a new skill, or trying to understand the value and intended use of a product before buying it. Out of all of the options for comprehension, video provides the most holistic and all-encompassing marketing and teaching tool.
We’ve talked about the benefits of adding video to your marketing strategy. Video is highly shareable, generates interest, and drives attention to your brand. Moving even more into the “shareable” concept, videos have a higher chance of going “viral” than written content. Think about video compilations of “Best Ads of the Superbowl,” or similar roundups with embedded videos.
A visually appealing, engaging, and well-produced video can be a powerful tool to help a brand or organization spread their message to wide audiences. While written words still comprise the vast majority of online marketing and content, videos can be exponentially more likely to garner engagement and sharing than written content.
So what’s the holdup? Why aren’t more brands utilizing video in their social media and marketing? The main reason is that video production and usage requires a specialized skill set. While it’s true that good writing can be harder to come by, most teams have at least someone on board who can put together a social media caption, newsletter, or blog post. But video is a whole other ball game, and until you get invested in the process, it can seem overwhelming. From the gear to the shooting to the editing and mixing, putting together even a short promotional video can seem like a daunting task. Why try so hard for a 30-second clip when you can write a 900-word post in a fraction of the time?
We’ll get into some tips and effective strategies for easier video production (or when to hire a team to do it for you) in a future post, but for now, consider the difference in written advertising compared to video marketing.
Professional marketers vastly prefer clients to use video in their marketing strategies. It’s not just the higher engagement for videos versus written content—it’s that written content is a very crowded field these days. Standing out from the crowd both in the content itself and in SEO is getting harder and harder. With over four million blogs published per day, the odds of your written blog or ad generating enough traffic and conversions to make the effort worth it aren’t as great as most people would hope for.
Nearly 75% of respondents to a marketing survey said they would rather learn about products and services from video rather than text-based content. (Buffer Marketing Statistics). Placement of this visual content is critical as well. Like we mentioned in the initial stats, having a video on your landing page as opposed to blocks of text will work wonders for keeping people on your page, learning about your company, and increasing your SEO ranking at the same time.
The first thing people want to know when they visit your webpage is who you are, what you offer, and why you are a good option for them. Scrolling through blocks of text might have been the initial strategy behind introducing consumers to your brand and philosophy, but a video short on the landing page will be more engaging. This also allows for increased comprehension and can get the point across in a visually appealing way and a shorter amount of time.
Written descriptions of your product or service serve a purpose, but video can have an audio explanation while visually displaying people utilizing the product and interacting with the brand and service. It’s a lot easier to capture someone’s attention with an appealing video than it is with blocks of text, and also easier for consumers to connect with even if they aren’t paying full attention. Let’s be real… that’s a lot of us!
While written content and communication is still an incredibly important marketing tool for brands and organizations across the board, there’s no denying that video will help set you apart. From quick introductions to your product and service to appealing visuals to help you stand out, video is the future of marketing.