If your business isn’t using video yet, you are missing a HUGE opportunity to rank for important keywords. In this article, we discuss the basics of video marketing to help get you started down the right path.
Business marketing is not what it used to be even a year ago, and as with early adopters who launched business websites a decade ago, there is no better time to start including video as part of your online marketing strategy today. Why? Because video is hot, and there is every indication that its influence will continue to grow.
Why video makes sense in a busy culture
The single most important goal of any business is to maximize profits while creating a positive experience for clients. The one surefire way to make this happen is to expand your company’s customer base. But how can your business cut through the noise to grab people’s attention?
For centuries, businesses have tried numerous ways to generate buzz about their services and products in order to get more people to buy them. It used to be all about using print ads in newspapers or phone directories, buying expensive radio and TV spots, and for the last decade or so, marketing has been about harnessing the power and reach of the internet. However, just having a website is no longer enough because everybody is doing it.
It was 15 years ago that we first saw the emergence of banner ads online…you know, those annoying, flashing boxes on the top and sidebar of a website? While they are still in use, most of your customers are immune and blatantly choose to ignore them.
Article marketing is another, newer strategy for generating new clients. This is where online marketing teams generate and post content on your site and elsewhere, but few customers have the patience to read a long article about your business, let alone follow through with the ‘call to action’.
TL;DR (meaning, ‘too long didn’t read’) is a popular term on the Internet nowadays, proving that your potential customers simply don’t have the stamina to read long chunks of texts anymore. The reality is that people are much more interested in ‘seeing’ than they are in ‘reading’. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
In the Internet’s case a video is worth a thousand words, and video marketing is like a megaphone allowing your business to speak over the noise that busy people are trying to avoid.
Some facts about the power of video marketing
A recent study by Cisco estimated that by 2017, 69% of all traffic on the Internet will be targeted towards videos. The ball was set rolling with the advent of YouTube and if you look around now, there are niche videos sites for almost anything you can think of. So a smart business is one that is exploiting this golden opportunity.
It’s not so difficult to see the appeal of video marketing. The fact that YouTube has more than 1 billion users, who watch hundreds of millions of hours of video every day says it all. As well, the amount of time consumers spend on YouTube is up over 50% year-on-year. It is a goldmine of traffic that many businesses are not yet taking advantage of.
This is where it comes back to you, the business owner or marketing professional: In today’s society and economy, there are very few things your customers can’t learn about online, so with that in mind, what are you doing to utilize video as a low-cost form of advertising?
Perhaps you say, “Yes we have a website, and it works great. We offer articles, guides and product information for visitors.” While that is wonderful, every other business as a website too, so you are hardly making the most of your opportunities to build your brand and connect with prospective customers if that’s all you’ve got.
Take the example of product reviews. You could write an in depth review of your product that is 30 pages long and has glossy, high-definition pictures and yet chances are that most of the visitors who visit your site will barely skim through it, not bothering to read each and every word.
On the other hand, there are countless video review channels on YouTube that command massive popularity online. The fact is that people will readily watch something than read about it. If you’re not taking advantage of this then your business is most likely lagging far behind the competition. People often want to see what the product looks like and how it works before they will commit to buying.
If done correctly, a video that goes viral can expose your business to thousands, if not millions, of people. People love to share viral media and its take a single, quality video, for a business to go from obscurity to gaining customers who associate readily with the brand.
But what if you are in a boring business? Well, it is still no excuse, because Blendtec, a kitchen blender manufacturer, launched a YouTube channel in 2006 called ‘Will it blend‘, where they try putting various items inside their blenders. The channel has nearly 800,000 subscribers and over 300 million views. Think they’ve sold some blenders as a result?
The power of video marketing combined with a strategically planned social media campaign provides a business with a very potent mix to help them succeed. In an age of information overload, the video medium is naturally engaging and with the low cost of production involved, there is virtually no excuse as to why a business should not involve video marketing in their overall marketing strategy.
Ask yourself how many times you have clicked on a video on a social media site or YouTube. Starting to see the connection?
Now we are going to share how and why video marketing can change your company’s online presence for the better.
People are visual learners
Did you know that there roughly 4 billion video views per day? How many times have you, yourself clicked on a video on YouTube? Looked for a ‘how to’ video or watched something funny? When you stop and do the math, 78% of Americans watch once a week and just a little over 50% watch at least one video a day.
So, what are you waiting for? What else do you need? Start with short, informational videos about your business, services, or anything relating to your business and commit to building upon it periodically. You can make a video for every product you sell or every service you offer. Another good idea is to do FAQ videos that people can use as a resource, then link from that video to the relevant page on your website where they can contact you about your services or purchase your product.
If you stop and take a look at your competition, how many of them are already utilizing this form of marketing? If they are already on YouTube, then you can see which videos of their have received the most views/comments, and make one that is similar. If they aren’t on YouTube, you’ve just found a diamond mine. There are people who want to see first before they buy and you’ve got a captive market.
Video stands out on local search results
Let’s say for example you own a law firm. A small firm in Florida, but you are in between two of the larger cities, say Jacksonville, and Orlando. That puts you within a 1-2 hours each way, and you’re wanting to expand your practice in the other two cities. Now, you can make a few videos, based on the special areas in which you practice. Let’s say you focus on family law. So you would take the main keywords: Family law, adoption, Divorce, Family support, child support and anything else that a consumer would use to ‘look up’ attorneys in their area. You will title your videos using these keywords, add them in the description section and build from that.
With a properly optimized video (title, description, tags, etc), you can quickly stand out in your local area because your video should rise in search results for those specific terms.
What to say in your video
So once you have decided to take on the challenge and make videos, just think of video marketing as a conversation. So what do you talk about in your videos? Let’s take the above scenario as an example once again. As an attorney you can talk about the strategy or the process one has to follow for a legal adoption, for example. You want to educate, inform and make your call to action. An average video should be anywhere from 3-5-7 minutes. You don’t want to offer all the information, so you will discuss the process, how to contact you and make that personal connection. Making the consumer feel invited and welcome in to your office. Think of video as an introduction to have a more detailed discussion.
If you want help
We offer video SEO as part of our online marketing packages, so if you’d like to discuss your ideas or just bounce a question off of us, click the button below and request a quick, complementary consultation with a member of our team.
Video marketing is a growing field for most businesses, and those who start building their video catalog now will be better positioned to acquire valuable market share in the future.
Get in touch with us at Jacksonville SEOs today to learn why video is a key component of all our client’s online marketing campaigns.