It’s well-known that videos have been a major trend in marketing for the past few years, as the consumption of mobile content increases, the popularity of videos grows in a greater proportion. This trend is especially important for content marketers specifically because, as different statistics show, 90% of users say that product videos are useful when making purchase decisions and 85% of users who watch a video tend to purchase any of the products that appear on it.
Audiovisual content positively impacts sales and ROI but this comes as no surprise. Videos are a powerful marketing tool because it doesn’t take much effort for users to click and watch and it also allows companies to to connect with their target audience on a more emotional level, leading to higher engagement and ultimately more sales. In 2023 video will account for 82% of all consumer internet traffic so, if you want to boost engagement and drive traffic to your website, you have to start creating videos.
What is video marketing?
Video marketing describes the use of video content to promote or raise awareness, create engagement and drive sales. It utilises visuals and narration to make an old-fashioned copy into an emotionally engaging and multi-sensory experience.
Since this tactic usually includes animation or live-action the message is always simplified and viewers can quickly grasp what the content is about. They remember more the content they watch rather than the one they just read or listen to because the motion in video naturally captures short attention spans. It can be a good investment when you need a plan to capture your audience’s attention quickly.
Video marketing can take many different formats among the most common: video banner ads, pre-/mid-roll or post-roll video ads, sponsored products, sponsored video, on-air TV video ads and live video as streamings of a product launch, conversation or event. It will depend on your business goals and target audience which format is most likely to drive more traffic, but one tip that applies to everyone and every video format is that the more creative the content is, the more engagement it will generate.
The conversion funnel: which video to use?
On the other hand, video marketing is undisputedly a great tool to increase ROI for your business in a fast way. Still, for it to maximise the investment results, the content of the video must match the stage of the buyer’s journey. That is why there are many types of video marketing content used for every stage of the conversion funnel. Below we briefly list them and we leave you an example for each stage.
1. Awareness stage
In this stage, investing in a short and 100% focus on the message content is convenient. Since the user doesn’t know the brand yet and your objective is to attract people’s attention, the focus of the video must be on catching the eye of your potential customers. Some of the examples of formats that work best for this are how-to videos, lifestyle videos, advertising spots and brand films or company stories.
2. Consideration stage
In the next stage, potential consumers are comparing your products against those of the competition so it is important that the video shows the value of your product and why your product is a worthwhile investment. A good strategy at this stage is to show the advantages of using your product with product or service videos, catalogue videos, explainer animated videos, and about us videos.
3. Decision stage
At the decision stage, the consumer is ready to invest, so the video should focus on solidifying consumer confidence in the product. The ideal at this stage is to make FAQ videos to easily clarify consumer doubts, demo videos (if applicable to your product), case studies and customer testimonials.
4. Retention stage
For the last stage, you will have already made the sale, so now your goal is to retain your consumers and build loyalty. The videos you create at this stage should continue to add value to your customers. Many videos can be used to ensure the best customer experience within them: tips and tricks about the product usage, personalized videos, thank you videos or can also be live streams.
Get started on the journey
Video marketing is undisputedly an excellent marketing strategy to gain customers quickly and today is the best time to start investing. Video is only going to become more popular so you can’t risk being drowned out by competitors, you must keep up with the trends. There’s no reason to fear or think you don’t have the time or budget to make it happen, you just have to start creating. You can easily integrate the video into your funnel and start increasing your sales and ROI.
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