For small business owners who are new to the concept, deliver your brand through video marketing content can feel like an intimidating prospect: Not only are there a range of costs to consider, the production and post-production process often appears worryingly complex. However, numerous statistics support the fact that investing in a brand video is more than worthwhile despite these challenges; in fact, doing so may be vital to the growth of your brand and your business. If you’re unsure about whether or not your business truly needs a brand video, consider our 5 reasons below:
- Video marketing is a proven traffic vector. By 2017, video content will account for 69% of all consumer internet traffic, according to a study released by tech giant Cisco. Video-on-demand traffic is expected to increase threefold this year alone. At the same time, Google has committed to including video content in its search results, meaning that video is a valid and valuable part of search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. Google also received sterling feedbacks from advertisers who use Google TrueView, an AdWords for video content. Additionally, Brightcove’s international survey of 2,000 consumers revealed that 76 percent of online shoppers stated video is their favoured medium when it comes to consuming branded content.
- Video content has a better mobile reach. Video content inherently flatters responsive website design as it’s fully scalable and can easily be consumed via any device. Text content, by contrast, is difficult to digest when presented on a small screen (making it less than ideal for mobile websites); most users would vastly prefer to click “play” than scroll through a dozen pages of text. As such, over 50% of video plays now occur on mobile devices.
- Video marketing provides an excellent vehicle for genuine brand communication. Today, the best way to promote your brand is not through conventional advertising techniques, but rather through what is known as “brand communication”: Creating a warm, “human” online presence that consumers can emotionally connect with.
Having a brand video helps businesses to create a sense of direct communication with their customers because video (unlike text) can include numerous nonverbal cues, such as facial expression, tone of voice, eye contact, and body language—all of which have been shown to increase consumer trust. When your customers can see and hear you, they feel as though they are conversing with you and getting to “know” you and your brand; this removes much of the cold, faceless anonymity of the internet and builds a loyal rapport between you and your target market.
- Brand videos are “low risk, high reward.” Though it sounds surprising to many business owners used to putting their most professional face forward on the web, a brand video doesn’t need to have a high production value in order to be effective: A relatively low-cost but innovative, inspirational, and, wait for it, relevant brand video will often out-perform a costly yet bland production. According to a study conducted by Pixability (“The Top 100 Global Brands: Key Lessons for Success on YouTube”) the relatively low production values endemic to most YouTube videos have taught online viewers not to expect “prime time” quality when viewing online video content; instead, what they most wish to find is an insightful, informative core message that suits their context.
Brand videos are also a wise long-term investment: With only a small outlay of resources, your business can produce something that will be viewed thousands or even millions of times. Once your video is complete, all you have to do is sit back and watch the traffic come in. It can also be utilized for digital ads under a video marketing tactic. This movement from display ads to video ads was recorded a 35% YOY growth in 2015 revenue by IAB Canada across all Canadian advertisers.
- Brand videos increase conversion rates. For most consumers, seeing truly is believing: According to a recent survey conducted by Video Rascal, 85 percent of people report that they are more likely to buy a product that’s accompanied by a video. The main reason for this is that videos—owing to their wealth of both visual and verbal content—are excellent at making the objective of a product or service clear.
In summation, video is the magic that brings brands to life, both practically and emotionally speaking. Video has a power to persuade that is currently unrivalled in the online marketplace, providing an essential bridge between businesses and their customer base. Without a brand video, your business will be perceived as static rather than dynamic, distant rather than relatable. In today’s cluttered online marketplace, video provides an edge that businesses cannot afford to lose.
