How to Use Video Marketing Content to Grow your Business

Someone creating video marketing content

Using video marketing content will change the way your product is seen. Video is a much more engaging form than photography or blog posts and gives a real-life picture of what it is you’re trying to demonstrate. Video marketing leads to the viewer staying on your website longer and more likely to engage with your content.

It’s understandable if video marketing content may not be the first topic that comes to mind when you think of your product. However, Making a good video helps you market your business and your brand.

A HubSpot poll showed that most consumers enjoy video content more than any other form of content. This makes sense, as YouTube sees 500 hours of content added to its site every minute. Online videos bring in mass traffic to creators and products. Here are a few reasons why videos are a great way to market your company and its products.

Why are Videos Effective?

A person sitting down for an interview for their company's video marketing content.

Eyeballs

Getting eyeballs on your product is important and videos provide a great way to make shareable social media content. A video increases the amount of time a viewer interacts with an advertisement by 47 percent compared with that of a non-video ad. That difference alone can be enough time to convince a prospective customer to take a chance on your business.

Connecting With Your Audience

Budweiser is one of the masters of connecting with an audience through their ads. This includes describing the American spirit or having one of their trademark Clydesdales connecting to their owner. What’s remarkable about those advertisements is that none of those ads are specifically about beer. And yet, their ads tell you so much about the product – that it’s a true American product built for families. 

Budweiser understands that these commercials are effective because they are emotional. Through the use of beautiful imagery and dramatic music, videos integrate our audio and visual senses while telling a story. This all creates an emotional connection to a brand that drives more people to your business.

It Doesn’t Have To Be Long

In terms of messaging, videos are an effective way to present your brand in a concise manner. For Facebook ads, the length of an advertisement is typically between 11 and 20 seconds long. Some YouTube ads only last six seconds.

That does not leave a creator much time to make an impact. However, that limited time can help a creator innovate because they have to work with limitations. Now, if you’re posting on Twitter or Facebook, you can make your video longer than six seconds, but a general rule of thumb is it shouldn’t be longer than a minute.

A bloated video ad may lose a viewer’s attention. Keep your information to the point and focus on adding a piece of entertainment value that fits with your product’s brand, like the Budweiser Clydesdales.

SEO

Videos also help with Search Engine Optimization on top of the emotional and informative value-added. This is because Google analyzes the time a user spends on your site as a ranking factor. So, the longer your visitors stay on your site, the more favorable you will look in the eyes of Google.

What Types Of Video Marketing Content Are There?

Video Marketing
Source: Forbes

1. Commercials

A commercial is the most basic form of video marketing. Now what we mean by commercial isn’t a spot on CNN, but think of a commercial as any form of interruption advertising. Whether you are on Facebook, Youtube, or Instagram we have all seen a commercial or video ad pop up. The key to making these commercials a success is by presenting a message in a brief yet impactful manner. It’s important to remember that the goal of your video is to tell a story.

This can come in the form of a character discovering your product or a worker on the job explaining your brand and maybe the timeline of how your business has grown. Whatever story you chose, take the time to make a commercial that best embodies your product.

2. Social Media/ Viral Videos

Similar to a commercial, but all businesses should have videos on their social media accounts. Make sure that you put time and thought into a topic that will gain traffic. You can check out this post by Revive Social on how to create engaging video content.

3. Vlogs

Another way to add color to your business is to have daily video vlogs of you using your product or running your business. Vlogs are an effective way to connect with fans while also growing your business. With vlogs, keep your video topics simple, this is just you sharing your day with your fans.

5. Livestreams

If you want to connect with your fans in a more direct manner, try having a live stream. This format would allow your followers to get to know you on the spot and answer questions in real-time. Learn how to use this format so you can connect with your target audience and showcase your personality.

4. How-to Videos

This may vary based on your product, but a how-to video can be a clever way to showcase your product. Simply, show yourself using your product in a procedural, step-by-step manner.

Companies That Have Had Viral Video Campaigns

So now we know what video marketing is and how to create content for it. Now, we will look at some other companies that have done it successfully in hopes to give some inspiration of what you can do next.

Dollar Shave Club

As we can see in the Dollar Shave Club example, humor can go a long way in your video marketing efforts. What’s super interesting about their video too is there is no hard sell either. They only talk about the features of their product for 3 seconds and the rest is focusing on the benefits they can provide you and the amount of money you will save.

Michael Dubin, the founder of DSC, spent just $4500 on this video yet received 12,000 new orders within 48 hours of rolling it out. This shows you don’t need an established brand for virality, all you need is shareable content and a strong distribution strategy.

Android

One of my personal favorites. Mainly because of the simplicity of it. To run this campaign, Android didn’t have to go out and shoot all these videos. These videos are already out on the web and they just had to pay for the rights to use it, and put some feel good music behind it. The campaign also has nothing to do with Androids.

You would have no clue this was an Android commercial unless you watched the last 5 seconds of the video. That being said, the video was shared more than 6.4 million times, according to video ad tech company Unruly. This cute short video of animals getting along turned this campaign it the most-shared video ad of 2015.

Always

This one is a tear jerker. The company Always created an empowering message for all girls in 2014 with their “Like a Girl” campaign. The company uses famous insults to pull you in and then changes the conversation to help eliminate those detrimental beliefs. By the end of the video, you feel that “Like a Girl” is phrase with power and dignity and it changes your entire perspective on the term.

This video does more than just strike an emotional chord, it has since won an Emmy, a Cannes Grand Prix award, and the Grand Clio award.

Key Takeaways:

Video marketing content is a perfect method to package your brand in a concise, crisp, informative, and emotional package. Take the time to expertly craft a great advertisement and an amazing script. The script is the roadmap to any story.

If you need support with the technicals, hire a video production freelance and editor to elevate your production. Also, experiment with different formats. Don’t just settle for one form of advertising either. Try out live-streaming, or how-to’s, or a vlog, or anything else. A good video can act as a fantastic tool to widen your business’ outreach. Be creative and make some motion picture magic.