If a picture is worth 1000 words, how many words is a website video worth? But the real question for websites and their companies is how many dollars are they worth in both making them and realizing an acceptable or significant ROI? The authenticity that website videos offer can be quite impactful, compelling your company’s prospects or customers to engage, relate, and be converted at a significantly higher rate than standard text marketing.
Occasionally marketing fads hit the internet. We hear the buzz and then they are gone once the statistics show that the consumer never really bought into them. Web video marketing, however, is not a fad but a proven commodity that should be in the arsenal of every company doing business on the internet.
Relatively speaking they are inexpensive to make and produce, and they have tremendous shelf lives that can support additional marketing, messaging, and product and service efforts for years to come. In other words, they remain relevant as long as your business continues in the vein for whatever the video represents.
As well, they are powerful tools in today’s world where visuality dominates the written word. The combined forces of pictures, words, and music can make an impact on the viewer unlike any other type of marketing. Thus, they have the ability to influence prospects and customers into making a positive decision for your company, while also allowing them to re-market for you by passing along the video to friends and business associates.
There are a variety of ways to utilize web video marketing, which we will do. But first let us support our claims by looking at some current web video statistics.
Web Video Statistics
- The fastest growing advertising format on the internet in 2012 was the web video at 55% over the previous year.
- During peak retail season, Mediapost reports that people view product and service videos are 900 times more during other times of the year.
- Watching product and service web videos increases the consumer’s confidence by 52%.
- Retail visitors are likely to buy 85% more often than those who do not view a video.
- Those who watch video stay on the website 9% longer than those who do not.
- Website Magazine reports that 60% of all site visitors are willing to watch a video. This number increases every year, especially since internet speeds have quickened.
- In 2012, 50% of consumers watched product and service videos during research.
- More than 3 out of 5 consumers will spend at least two minutes watching a video that educates, informs, or entertains them about a product or service they are about to buy. As well, 52% of these consumers are less likely to return items purchased after watching a video.
- Professionally produced video outperforms user-generated video by 30%.
- Blog posts that incorporate video get three times the inbound traffic.
- Videos increase conversion rates by up to 30%.
- With the explosion of smart phones and tablets, you must know that these owners are three times as likely to view videos as those who use desktop computers. These smart phone and tablet owners also fall in the demographic that retailers and other business thirst for. 50% of local searches are being performed on smart phones and tablets.
Types of Video Marketing
There as many ways to use video as there are needs, but the following are the types most frequently used to help companies powerfully spread their message – all can be inexpensively done in HD video:
Video Advertising
Video advertising comes in many forms. We see it in everything from cruise ships to sports teams, wedding companies to rock concerts. Local advertising is also valuable to do as it helps you brand your company in a very cost-effective and unique way.
Promotional Videos
Video promotions are powerful tools to get timely and specific news about a unique promotion your company is running. A short video will draw more people to you than a printed ad, and allow them to feel the excitement about what you are promoting.
How-to Videos
If you want to be seen as an expert, one of the best ways of accomplishing this is to create a how-to video. This format allows you to show off your expertise and give people easy-to-follow instructions on everything from putting a computer desk together, prepare a meal, to properly planting flowers, to what to do in case you have been in a car accident. It gives you instant credibility. As well, people search millions of times a day for videos like these, giving you an opportunity to grow your business quickly.
Company News Videos
These are a great way to spread the news about your company on matters not necessarily pertaining to sales. Perhaps your company helped sponsor a 5k walk for breast cancer, won an award for excellence in your industry, added a new manufacturing plant, or want to release other information about your company that will help them rise in stature among your competitors.
Company Introductions
A potent way of using web-based video to promote your company is to use web-based video to promote your company! Have the CEO, president, or division expert and leader share with the viewers in a warm, engaging, confident way, what your company does, is about, and what they hope to do for the viewer.
Virtual Video Tours
Hotels have been using these for years to promote their locations. In a very short time you can walk a viewer through a host of aspects of your site, plant, firm, processes, and more.
Tips to Making an Excellent Website Video
Unless you have an in-house video department, you will want to hire a video production company. The more expensive companies only do video production, but the best ones to use are usually found at web design and internet marketing companies, like RevenFlo, who provides regional Charlotte video marketing services to go along with their web design and internet marketing offerings.
They say that there are keys to producing the type of video the typical prospect or customer wants to view:
- Keep your videos to about 2-3 minutes. Creating a series of videos on a specific subject is fine. They would, therefore, be like video chapters. This gives the viewer the option to continue, or focus in only relevant aspects of the subject matter.
- You can achieve quality video production without needing Hollywood level equipment. But, make sure the company delivers professional quality videos. Ask the company you are considering to hire show you some samples.
- Poor audio quality drives viewers crazy. Make sure the audio is properly sync’d.
- Sell authenticity and value. Give viewers the tools to make a strong buying decision. Do not overwhelm them with sales pitches throughout the video.
- Sales videos are necessary, though. But make sure you establish your product, service, and personnel as experts who want the prospect or customer to have the best credible experience possible.
- The content of the video should match the theme of the product or service. It is ok to use humor, too. However you choose, make it applicable and relevant to the people you are seeking to attract and convert.
Closing
Web video is an aspect of web marketing, whether on your website, a Facebook page, Linkedin, Youtube channel, or the myriad other places to video virally spread your word, that is proving to critically be a must for companies because the analytics are demonstrating this. With the growth of smart phones and tablets, video marketing will be even more impacting in separating your company from others. They are easy to produce and typically return a strong ROI if done and placed well.