If you want to take your digital marketing efforts to the next level, you should incorporate video elements across all your digital properties, including your website, paid advertising landing pages, social media platforms, and email campaigns. Because videos can put a face, a voice, and a presence to your company’s name, they can personalize your brand in a way that written copy alone can’t.
Keep reading to learn about six best practices that will improve the results you see from video marketing.
Video Is an Increasingly Critical Digital Marketing Component
Video has consistently proven itself as a game-changer in digital marketing. According to the marketing software company HubSpot:
- 87% of online marketers use video in their advertising
- 83% of those marketers say video gives them a good ROI
- 87% of consumers say they want to see more video from brands in 2019
- 68% of consumers prefer to learn about new products or services through video rather than from text-based articles, infographics, ebooks, or presentations
- Placing video in emails can increase conversions by as much as 300%
- Including video on landing pages can increase conversions by up to 80%
Implement These Video Marketing Best Practices
Creating engaging videos is easier than ever thanks to high-quality, affordable digital cameras and editing software. If you’re ready to invest in video, following these best practices will set you up for success.
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Maintain a Consistent Video Publishing Schedule
You may not have a million YouTube subscribers (yet), but don’t let that make you think maintaining a regular posting schedule isn’t important. Viewers prefer newer content over old, and they’re more likely to watch and follow videos from brands that produce a steady stream of content.
After you’ve sat down with your team to discuss your approach to video and decide what kind of video content you want to feature (client testimonials, FAQs, partner interviews, etc.), set a schedule for when and where you want those videos to be published. Then, stick to it.
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Keep Your Videos Brief
60% of viewers stop watching a video after two minutes. To combat short attention spans, keep your videos brief, direct, and free of complicated jargon. Done right, videos make an emotional impression with viewers and leave them wanting to know more about your company, values, and opportunities. Also, making sure you don’t overwhelm viewers with too much information in one sitting will encourage them to seek additional information from your website, your social media profiles, or your other videos.
Overall, a good rule of thumb is to keep your videos under one minute. Your audience will appreciate it.
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Videos Should Focus on Educating Viewers
You don’t have to give away company or client secrets in your videos. Instead, give prospective customers a taste of the experience they’ll get when they choose your company and your product. Put yourself in the potential client’s shoes and try to imagine what they need to know before they can be persuaded to purchase your product or services.
Videos also provide a great opportunity to not only explain the functionality of your goods or services but to reinforce your value proposition and reiterate why choosing you will be the best choice a prospective customer or client can make. At the end of the video, the viewer should feel empowered to make an informed decision about how they want to engage with your brand.
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Incorporate Testimonials
Reviews are some of the most powerful marketing tools on the internet. Online feedback from existing customers can persuade potential customers like few other types of information. When you use video to highlight positive reviews, potential customers get a perspective on your offerings that they know comes from a real person who may be a lot like them. So, putting satisfied customers on camera is one of the best ways to showcase your strengths, inspire confidence in new leads, and reinforce your value proposition.
While it might be tempting to try and control every variable for a video shoot, what matters is that you choose testimonial subjects who feel comfortable appearing on camera and then let them act naturally. Video subjects should dress professionally, speak candidly, and tell their story truthfully.
RELATED ARTICLE: How to Shoot Great Client Video Testimonials
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Make Sure the Call to Action (CTA) Is Clear and Strong
Sometimes, a project like video creation and editing can involve so many different considerations that the people who work on it forget about the fundamentals. One of the most essential elements of a great marketing video that too often gets overlooked is the presence of a strong call to action (CTA).
Done right, your CTA should support the rest of the video content, and when the viewer is done watching, they should feel inspired to take the next step that you’ve directed them toward. Without a definitive CTA, it won’t matter how great your video is, because your client base won’t come away knowing what action they should take. Including a strong CTA will ensure that your clients visit your website, call you, or download a resource from your website.
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Treat Video as Part of a Holistic Marketing Strategy
Finally, don’t strand your video content on a digital island. Video should supplement marketing initiatives, not stand in for them. You should post video that aligns with other campaigns on your social networks, relevant practice area pages on your website, and landing pages attached to paid search campaigns. A 30-second clip reinforcing the pertinent messaging on any of these pages can make the difference between a window shopper and a dedicated client.
Contact LaFleur to Get Your Videos off the Ground
Video can increase your digital presence and your client roster or customer base. If you’re considering a video campaign, it’s critical to optimize your video so they’re professional, educational, and persuasive. That way, the video you create can supplement your website’s copy, creating a more interactive and memorable experience for your potential customers.
To learn more about our approach to video, web content, and all other aspects of digital marketing, contact LaFleur today by calling us at (888) 222-1512. Our marketing professionals have years of experience capturing, producing, and publishing video content for the web, and we can’t wait to help introduce you and your business to a whole new (video-hungry) audience.
References
Hayes, A. (2019, March 29). The state of video marketing in 2019. HubSpot. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/state-of-video-marketing-new-data