The world of marketing is continually evolving and it can be difficult for small and medium businesses to keep up with the trends. One area that can no longer be considered a trend, and should now be a marketing staple, is video marketing. Unfortunately many businesses are missing on this incredibly effective marketing tactic.

Video already accounts for two-thirds of our internet use. This is prediced to increase to 82 percent by 2021. Video social network YouTube is now the second largest search engine on the web.

If this isnt compelling enough for you to include video in your marketing mix, then marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than those who don’t.

Video also improves email marketing results.  By just using the word video in an email subject, it can boost your open rate by 19 percent and increase your click-thru rate by 65 percent.

Furthermore videos on social media people are ten times more likely to engage, embed, share, and comment on video, rather than text or image alone.

Why is video so effective? It allows you to evoke more emotion.  Human beings are visual and respond more to moving images than text or photos alone.  It is an excellent way to tell a story and keep viewers on your site, engaged on your social media accounts and to open and click through on your emails.

It’s not just consumer products and services, all organisations need to get onboard with video marketing.  Business to business companies in particular should include video in their marketing mix. 

Research from forbes.com found that 75 percent of business executives watch work-related videos each week.  And at least half of these share videos with colleagues. 

There are some things you need to consider when you start creating video.  Just like any of your marketing, you need to have a strategy.  Don’t post videos haphazardly but plan your videos to be part of a series or campaign.

The key is to focus on a message you want to share and be authentic to your brand. You must focus on the story – straight product promo videos don’t cut it anymore. Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Videos can be as short as 15 seconds long to hours in length. Marketing videos that get the best engagenent are up to two minutes long.
2. The first ten seconds of your video is crucial. Be up front straight away about your video content.
3. Use captions – 50 percent of video views in social media are watched with no sound.
4. Live video on social media get three times the engagement than traditional video, so find ways to include live video in your social media calendar.
5. You don’t need to pay huge dollars for professionals to do film and edit your videos. Video cameras on the latest phones are usually pretty good quality and there are ample free and paid video editting apps and programs that are easy to use. Check out Filmora Wondershare, Magistro or VideoShop to start.

One thing often overlooked is a call to action.  Tell them what the next step is. Point them to your website, get them to call you for a quote or even provide a coupon for your e-commerce store.

Once you have created your video make sure you share and promote it on social media, newsletter database and your website.

Video can be a powerful way to promote your businessand to stand out from your competitors.  When implemented correctly, a video marketing campaign can help reach new consumers and turn them into loyal customers.

Enjoyed this article? Check out our other Marketing Articles:

Facebook – Brave New World or Business as usual

Strategically plan your marketing

Tips for using Social Media

See all our marketing articles