Video has become an integral part of almost every online business as part of its marketing strategy. Sure, it’s fun and definitely makes life more interesting, but it also conveys a message better than any other form of written communication.
You’ve probably seen this in action before or witnessed companies producing high-quality video content. It’s a great way to get your message across, show off their products and services, and reach a wider audience because it doesn’t exclude anyone from viewing the information, regardless of their ability to read or whether they can access a computer at that time.
In this article, you’ll find out why video is such an important element in your marketing tool belt. We’ll also show you how it can be easily implemented into your site to increase conversions and ultimately drive more sales. It’s easier than you think, as long as you don’t make any of the common mistakes.
The Case for Video Marketing in Your Business
It’s not just celebrities that are using video marketing to grow their brand and reach a wider audience, increasing sales in the process. Almost every company uses video marketing in some form, including thousands of small businesses.
Here are just a few ways that video marketing can help you:
Gain more visitors to your site, resulting in higher sales. The best way to do this is by building up an audience who will be eager to view the videos you produce. Discover how social media sites like Facebook and YouTube can help you achieve this goal.
Gain the trust of your visitors. Video is a great way to convey information and it’s more personal and entertaining, so people are inclined to view it and hopefully share it with their friends and family. This means that they are more likely to buy from you. Here are some tips on how video can help increase conversions.
Increase sales online or offline! All you have to do is produce a video with the intent of generating interest in whatever you’re selling, whether it’s something your company produces or your product portfolio.
Establish yourself as an expert within your niche. This works really well if you’re into online marketing because video conveys what you know far better than any words can say. And who doesn’t want to hear the opinions of an expert?
Video Marketing for Better Conversions
Start by building your organic audience. The more people you have visiting your site, the greater number of sales you’ll make. You can use social media sites like Facebook and YouTube to help attract visitors to your site. Posting to as many free platforms you can post videos on will give you an audience. Make sure you’re tagging your videos with keywords, giving your videos interesting yet informative titles, and intriguing covers to get people to click on the play button.
Here are a few ways to make sure your content is ready to build an audience:
Create valuable video content. It needs to be valuable information, not just the video equivalent of “selling like an infomercial”. That’s why educational videos are highly effective. Educational videos can range from how-to videos to animated explainer videos and more! As long as the video includes important information, the video content can be considered educational and valuable.
Let people know about it. Once you’ve created your video, get the word out about it by placing links on your blog or website, wherever they’d be more likely to see it. You can also include social media buttons that will allow your visitors to share the video with their friends and followers.
Don’t rule out posting your videos on social media, too! Social media is one of the best places to post your video marketing content as you can get high amounts of views, subscribers to your content, and easily add links to your eCommerce store and any other important links for viewers to click on.
Embed your videos on your current website. E-mail them to your email subscribers. Share your videos more than once, at different times on different days, to make sure you’re getting them in front of as many prospective customers as possible. Different demographics of viewers are online at different times, so sharing at different times throughout the day will boost your visibility.
Provide a call to action. At the end of each video, tell viewers what you want them to do next: whether it’s buying something from your site or subscribing to your blog, any kind of engagement is good for your video marketing strategy. You can also create opt-in forms which they could use to sign up for your newsletter.
Call to action efforts help to drive engagement. With most social media platforms, engagement is everything! The more likes, comments, and shares your video gets, the more likely it is that a social media platform will put your video in front of more people. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok will recommend videos with a large amount of engagement to other people who have engaged with similar content.
Increase your organic viewership. If you’ve been posting regular videos, paid video marketing can get people who have already seen your content to tune in to a new video that might interest them.
Video advertising is a great way to build brand awareness and increase traffic to your site, but it’s consistently changing from one platform to another. Whether you’re paying for video promotion on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, advertising on YouTube, or posting your videos to another site like TikTok, make sure you’re aware of the best practices for whatever platform you choose.
Before you start paying for video views, make sure that your content is optimized for whatever platform it’s on. Each platform has its own specific changes that need to be made in order to get the most views, which will make your content more visible and increase sales.
Give people a reason to subscribe to your channel or blog. Once someone has subscribed, they’ll want to see more content from you, so they are more likely to buy and share your videos and posts via social media. You can also use video marketing as an incentive to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter or join your email list.
You can film a series of videos that are related, give updates on specific topics, and provide your subscribers with much more content, sales, and information when they subscribe. You don’t want them to forget about your channel or have a reason to unsubscribe. You also want them to share your content with other people.
Not sure what kind of video content you should be creating? You can check out our previous blog post that describes the best video types for different industries here.
Paid vs. Free Video Marketing
While you can post marketing videos completely free on social media platforms, on your company’s website, and embed your videos within emails, there are so many benefits to investing in paid video marketing. While it will take more time and money than doing everything for free, the end result is a much higher return on your investment. Here’s how:
Create videos that speak directly to your audience. Paid advertising can get your videos in front of more people who are already interested in what you have to say.
Think about who your target audience is and where you’ll be posting your videos. The more specific you are about your audience, the easier it will be to find people who would be interested in what you have to say. For example, a video marketing campaign for a pediatric dentist may want to focus specifically on parents of children, rather than all adults.
You can offer discounts and coupons as enticements for viewers to watch your content. Giveaways, too, create a lot of engagement, though it usually only has short-term results.
Boost your visibility online. Whether you want to increase viewership or search engine optimization, paid advertising can get you where you need to be! Think about who your target audience is and where they are most likely to be online. Knowing your target audience, what they want to see, and where they’re the most likely to view it is your most important asset. Knowing what platforms to pay for vs. platforms that either don’t need the visibility as much or aren’t where your target audience is hanging out online will optimize how you spend your video marketing budget.
Boost video rankings on YouTube and other video sites. If you pay for viewership, search engines like Google will be more likely to display your videos when someone searches for information related to the products or services that you offer.
Before you pay for it, though, it’s best to consider the current searchability of your video. Making sure your title contains important keywords, that your cover photo is enticing enough that people will want to click on it, and that the description is factual and also contains keywords needs to be your top priority. This will only increase your views and searchability as you pay for optimization as well.
Reach more viewers in other countries. Why do you want to reach people in other countries? To increase your potential customer base, of course! Many people in the United States already use YouTube and TikTok, but video marketing is quickly growing around the world, too! Paid video marketing can help you get your videos in front of potential customers who are based in different countries.
Don’t forget about paid social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook ads! You can target your audience by location, age, interests, preferences, and even videos they’ve already watched. It’s a great tool that will help you target a specific audience.
However, you can also use this feature to see how your video is doing with other audiences. If your video content is resonating with an audience you aren’t targeting, but you’re getting a good amount of sales out of them, be flexible and change your marketing strategy to include them!
You might find that while you begin with a target audience of 20-something women in the United States, you might have an audience that spends more money with you with 30-somethings of all genders in the United Kingdom, for example. Don’t be afraid to adapt your marketing strategy as you go- the more you learn about your audience and customers, the more you can tap into that market and sell more.
There are so many benefits to investing in paid video marketing, and it’s important to not ignore it even if your organic engagements are doing well. While it will take more time and money than doing everything for free, the end result is a much higher return on your investment. Don’t let the cost of video marketing stop you from using this powerful tool! Even when it’s not free, the return on your investment is worth its weight in gold.
When you’re ready to get started with video marketing, C&I Studios offers video production services, among other services to up your marketing strategy, to businesses of all sizes, types, and backgrounds.
If you’re ready to create amazing video marketing content with us or have any questions, please contact C&I Studios and we’ll get the ball rolling!