I recently completed a market research report on behalf of a client to determine the trends, usage and effectiveness of videos implemented as part of a marketing strategy employed by small businesses. Through my research, it became evident that video is an ideal medium for small businesses to use to brand storytelling pieces, which can live on a website, social media channels and can be used in press releases and email campaigns. I’ve decided to include my findings of the report as a three-part blog, which I trust you’ll find beneficial if considering implementing a video as part of your marketing strategy.
Whether sharing the brand values, brand origin, or brand mission, video immerses your audience in your story and offers a richer, more nuanced experience than other media. It’s clear that a video content strategy has become a non-negotiable part of modern marketing, helping with everything from building brand awareness, engaging with potential customers, driving traffic to a website, capturing more leads and converting buyers faster.
Videos as a Small Business Marketing Strategy
According to the American Marketing Association, last year, 74% of B2B marketers said that video content converted better than any other medium. In the 2015 B2B Content Marketing Report, videos ranked #3 in a list of 10 most effective marketing tactics (see chart below). Simply put from the Guardian’s article Why online video is the future of content marketing ”…in an age of information overload, it’s vital for small businesses to offer content that is easy to digest; if not, consumers will simply move on.”
What sets video apart from other marketing tactics is its ability for small business owners and marketers to gain keen insight from the metrics you can access. For instance, you can learn about the viewers’ demographics, how much content was viewed, in what order and geographical locations, at what point did people stop watching the on average, how many downloads, social interactions, shares, etc… Being able to analyze this information allows small business owners to, not only measure the success of their campaigns but help to refine and revamp them going forward.
While many companies are using video marketing for a variety of applications, 80% said they use it to increase brand awareness and engagement, specifically, by producing a video about their brand (see chart below – 2015 B2B Video Content Marketing Survey Results). A brand identification video helps to illustrate and educate on the core values of a brand and can tell a story much better than via text. They can be created and presented in a way that customers can relate to and evoke emotions/feelings that you cannot get from text. This is especially important for small, local businesses. It allows them to tell their customer what differentiates them from their competition. (American Express Small Business Article “Why Your Small Business Needs Video Marketing”). It is important that a customer can put a face to a brand or business. It helps a person gain a sense of trust in a business and the products sold if they can see you and create a ‘virtual’ connection.
Stay tuned for the second of this three part series to be posted next week and please feel free to contact me should you have any questions…I’m always happy to help!
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