It’s no secret that over the last decade video content has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. Considering the findings of recent studies (like the ones highlighted in this excellent report by Wyzowl), it’s easy to see why!
- 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
- When asked how they’d most like to learn about a product or service, two-thirds of people (66%) said they’d prefer to watch a short video. This compares to 18% who’d rather read a text-based article, website or post, 4% who’d like to view an infographic, 3% who’d rather download an ebook or manual, 3% who’d rather attend a webinar or pitch, and 2% who’d like a sales call or demo.
- 86% of people would like to see more types of video from brands in 2020. Out of these, 36% say they’d most like to see more educational/explainer video style content, with 14% wanting to see more product demos.
Video content has emerged as one of the most effective ways to build trust and increase brand engagement, but why is that? We reached out to our community of video production and video marketing experts to find out what they have to say. Read on to discover how video content increases brand engagement according to the experts.
According to Oberlo, videos are the most effective way to reach consumers online. Studies show that 54% of consumers want to see more videos from their favorite brands and businesses.
Repurposing is the key to getting the most out of video. From conception to shooting, we plan a strategy that multiple formats and versions will be made.
An example of this is a marketing promotion we made for GAP for the autumn season in Hong Kong. We did over 20 versions for one video concept. We developed the key idea into different formats: a teaser, a key video, interview, making-of video, Instagram-friendly clips for both Feed and Stories, and carousel for Facebook. These videos go hand-in-hand with a well-formulated ad strategy to maximize reach. It drives at least 5 to 10 times more results rather than just simply putting up a video without planning and repurposing.
– Bernie Wong, Founder, Social Stand Limited
Storytelling is a powerful marketing trend; use video to tell the story of how your company got started.
The goal with a brand origin story is to show your roots. It helps build a connection that nurtures leads for conversion. Wrap it up with a strong call-to-action and put it on a landing page.
Your personality matters just as much as the functionality of your product. The more passion you convey in your video, the higher your conversion rate.
Bottom Line: showcase your brand’s personality through video.
– William Taylor, Senior Career Advisor, VelvetJobs
Adding videos to your website increases user engagement and decreases your bounce rate. Indeed, people love watching videos if they’re helpful or entertaining. Adding them to your content means that visitors will spend more time on your website, as videos are often several minutes long. This decreased bounce rate translates into more sales, signups, etc. A lower bounce rate is also an important factor for Google to decide how high they’ll rank your content in their search results. Overall, video is great way to improve your SEO.
– Gregory Golinski, Head of Digital Marketing, YourParkingSpace.co.uk
Video marketing is one of the best mediums for storytelling. When you tell customers your brand story through video, they relate to your brand more, leading to strong connections and loyalty to the brand.
Bottom Line: Video marketing is a great way of increasing brand engagement through the compelling narration of your brand story, and it should be a strategy employed by all brands seeking to increase their visibility, as well as draw in more loyal customers.
– Carol Tompkins, Business Development Consultant, AccountsPortal
All channels can facilitate video, but it’s important to initially determine whether or not your audience hang out in specific channels. Brands can utilize video to have a more personable touch with their audience. Embedding videos on crucial website landing pages can increase trust amongst prospective customers, as well as providing more of an incentive for them to purchase from you.
My advice for brands is to take a step back and assess their audiences, as well as develop a video marketing strategy that clearly outlines the types of video content they will use, the equipment, as well as the content itself and frequency of uploads. Doing all of the homework beforehand will put you in an advantageous position ahead of your competition.
– Itamar Blauer, Video Marketing Consultant, itamarblauer.com
Video can increase engagement because it fosters a sense of genuine authenticity when done correctly, which inspires followers to respond and become active in communication threads. Video allows for people to connect with the brand more easily as how a picture says a thousand words, a video is a thousand pictures. You have so many more opportunities to reach out to your target audience and express an idea to them that will inspire them.
Make sure you mix up all mediums in your marketing strategy. Video is important, yes, but don’t use it all the time. Diversity is key.
– Andrew Taylor, Director, Net Lawman
Video is the most popular type of media consumed today, with 85% of US netizens watching online video content every month.
Video significantly increases brand engagement by getting more people to buy your product or service. This is a proven fact, as eight out of ten people purchased an app or a product after watching a video of it. This only shows how big the role of video is when it comes to the decision-making process and the sales funnel itself.
Everything we’re doing in marketing is done to ultimately increase conversions for the company. You usually have to connect or touch a client multiple times before you convince them to purchase, but video accelerates the entire conversion process because it’s more engaging and attention-grabbing. Facebook Watch is a great platform for video marketing, even though Youtube remains in the lead. I believe Watch is worth investing in, though, because people on Facebook don’t have to leave the platform to watch good videos anymore. Your products will be easy to see, and you can lead them straight to your Facebook page or website.
– Mollie Newton, Founder, Pet Me Twice
In my experience, as a blog owner and an affiliate marketer reviewing products, I answer common questions in my niche via video. Because I highlight that my blog is responsive, and I encourage engagement, my users comment on blog content with questions, so I take to video to answer these questions individually.
As a brand, I keep the users coming back by providing high-quality and useful content in videos (checklists, well-researched pieces, etc.). They, in turn, remember the brand behind all this.
Two ways I think more brands can increase engagement through video are:
- Try Live Sessions: The powerhouse social media channels, including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, give brands the ability to go live 24/7, and this delivers results for marketing teams. 81% of marketers who used Facebook Live found it to be an effective strategy.Get creative, use live to promote events, capture REAL and raw human emotion, and share with the world your brand’s personality.
- Test and Measure: Experiment with video. It is not for everybody, but a lot of consumers expect video. You can mix it up with platform, scripts, subject, and length; test different variables and see what works best with your audience. Perhaps your tone should be more friendly and exciting vs. informal and business-like. See what delivers the best engagement.
– Jamie Irwin, Owner, IrwinOrganic.com
If marketers knew that videos make up over a third of all online activity, maybe they would harness the outreach power of this medium.
Videos can increase brand engagement in multiple ways, such as:
- Audiences (buyers) are more likely to hear and see about a product than to read about it.
- Since videos show the actual product, buyers are likely to watch videos and make purchasing decisions based on what they see as it puts them in “direct” contact with it.
- Out of 5 millennials, 4 of them prefer watching product videos when conducting their research.
- Videos show the product’s real color, size, shape, and use. This helps audiences to have more realistic perceptions of the items.
- Over 45% of consumers will react or convert after watching a video.
As of now, YouTube is the best channel to use for video marketing approaches. Research shows that consumers are 60% more likely to be influenced by their favorite YouTube creators to purchase than by TV commercials. Finally, YouTube is readily accessible on mobile phones, which are more affordable and account for the highest number of online purchases.
– James Jason, Assistant Marketing Manager, Mitrade
Videos increase brand engagement because they are versatile, easy to digest, and entertaining. Users are overwhelmed with textual information on the web, so video gives their eyes and brain a rest.
When we used videos for our clients’ campaigns, they generated 150% more organic reach on Facebook and 3x more engagement on Instagram. The most effective channels for video marketing are Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. These channels allow brands to reach diverse audiences and generations, from baby boomers to Gen Z.
The best way to leverage video is to partner with several micro-influencers to create videos showing the product in action, reviews, and how-tos. Most consumers prefer watching a video about the product from a person they trust rather than reading about it. Users love seeing real-life experiences and honest opinions of people like them, even if they don’t know them personally. UGC creates social proof and requires minimum efforts and investment from the brands. We have seen particular success in using a variety of micro-influencer generated content for Facebook and Instagram Ads. Videos created by influencers can drive 40% higher click-through rate and 50% higher conversion rates than brand-generated content. Even for the most successful Facebook Ad campaigns, it is hard to fight ad fatigue if you have limited resources to create videos. With UGC, you get access to an abundance of quality content and avoid showing the same ads repeatedly.
– David Morneau, CEO, inBeat Agency
Everyone says video is good, but getting started is the hardest part; however, as we went from making zero videos in December 2019 to having 2 regular series, a video on every blog article, and various social media-only snippets and vlogs, we can definitely say, half-way through a strange 2020, that it has been worth it.
Social media posts featuring videos consistently got up to 50% more engagements (likes, comments, shares), while our YouTube channel has doubled its number of followers.
In terms of website traffic, we’ve also seen differences between articles with videos and articles without, up to 20% more views for the former, which we attribute to Google favoring pages with diverse media.
We host series-type videos on YouTube to centralize the views and website videos (product or blog-related) on Wistia because it’s easier to embed them. I’d say YouTube is very useful because it offers a lot of insights into your audience, and it’s a channel everyone is familiar with. At the same time, it’s slightly inconvenient when it comes to sharing videos on social media because social networks like LinkedIn tend to downgrade posts that take people off their website and favor native videos. This is why we create snippets that we upload directly into social media posts and direct people to our YouTube channel via comments or CTAs.
Video has been a way for us to bring our mission to life. It’s not a sales tool, but a way for us to educate and empower our audience to offer remarkable customer experiences, improve their management style, and upgrade their business. That is the kind of leverage video affords us: putting a human face on our company, allowing us to bring forward multiple individuals from across departments (as it’s not only marketing that appears on camera), and having deeper, more meaningful interactions with our customers. These metrics are hard to quantify, but we can definitely tell the difference when sales starts chatting to leads, and they mention our series more and more.
– Cristina Maria, Marketing Executive, Commusoft
Compared to long-form text or any other marketing medium, videos garner way more engagement and help towards increasing brand engagement, especially when they are used to tell a story.
Brands should use video content for telling engaging personal stories, more than just informational or educational content, and can explore entertainment and emotional arches too. If a viewer can relate to it, there’s no better marketing collateral that can tilt the scale more when it comes to brand engagement.
The Show-Don’t tell approach works wonders for brands when it comes to videos. Unlike treasure troves of text, the video presents a phenomenal opportunity to narrate the brand ethos, customer stories, product demonstration/testimonials, CSR impact, etc. Since videos can be shared across social media channels, websites, and other touchpoints, the propensity to get them shared is also way higher hence more engagement.
– Abhishek Joshi, Digital and Brand Manager, Dog with Blog
It’s estimated that by 2021, the average person will spend 100 minutes every day watching videos online and that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support.
By providing carefully created content (which matches the brand voice, vision, and style), brands can appeal to a wider audience. Video helps increase brand engagement, but only when done right:
- Hold a High Standard: If your production values or branding is all over the place, you’re going to lose interest and perhaps not even be recognized!
- Research Your Distribution Channels: When you know where your customers are, you can then look at what the best practice is for that platform (for example, video content on Facebook that’s over 3 minutes in length sees better reach)
- Don’t Create and Quit: Create a schedule; even if you’re only creating new videos once or twice a month, it’s important to make sure they go out. If you do something once and then never again, it won’t make an impact!
– Dawn Gribble, Founder and CEO, Virtual Solutions Global
A study done by Adelie Studios shows that videos are shared 1,200% more than text and images combined. The simple reason for videos being much more engaging is because a person can spark a much deeper emotional connection through video content than through image and text content. Also, videos are much more memorable than text. A study done by Pop Video shows that viewers remember 95% of information from videos compared to only 10% from text. This is why so many people prefer to consume information through video today.
– Bogdan Krstic, Founder, imgeekz.com
Video increases brand engagement because it provides a personalized, human approach to your product or service.
Our company, JotForm, sells online forms, and it’s not the most exciting product. We decided to experiment with videos by adding people into our tutorials, kitschy humor into our product launches, and interesting customers in our use cases.
Many companies talk about doing video but don’t really end up doing anything with it. If you decide to utilize video, it’s important to prioritize it like any other marketing initiative so you can get optimal results.
– Annabel Maw, Director of Communications, JotForm
Compelling videos incorporate text and auditory aspects to engage the consumer in a more holistic way. Multimodal content not only keeps consumers interested, but it also creates a more memorable visual experience that stand-alone formats can’t compete with. Great video content leverages storytelling to connect with consumers on an emotional level.
Data tells us that using video content works. Studies show a correlation between the use of video content and increased dwell time, website traffic, lead generation, and user understanding of the product.
Research tells us that the human brain has a short attention span, so it’s important for content to reflect this. Keeping videos below 2 minutes (the shorter, the better, in most cases) will help maintain viewership throughout your entire message. After 2 minutes, research has shown a sharp decline in engagement. Extend that to 5 minutes, and that shoots to 17.3% engagement loss.
– Kimberly Smith, Marketing Manager, Clarify Capital
Video increases brand engagement because it is easier to comprehend and captures more attention than text or static images. With so much information coming at us every day, making it easy to engage with your message will elevate your brand from the others.
– Jenn Morgan, Founder, Radically Distinct
Videos can increase brand engagement in a lot of ways. And to be precise, not just video, any form of content could, but a video has a better result.
A noticeable way is increasing your conversion rate. Adding a video or a session of your webinar to your landing page will increase the conversion rate. Videos are the fastest ways to build trust. Right there on your landing page, you can turn a visitor to a loyal customer that sings your praise wherever they go. Besides, quality content is the fastest way to boost sales.
Not just a mere fact, that was how Blendtec built their brand and sales. “Will It Blend?” is an infomercial that featured Tom Dickson trying out different things with Blendtec blender. Some of the objects that he has experimented with are an iPad, iPhone X, and many other objects. Although that was expensive to produce, the point is that it generated more massive engagement than you could ever imagine. Some of the episodes have been watched 19 million times. That’s some serious brand promotion!
– Khris Steven, Owner, Khrisdigital
Videos provide the most effective way to deliver content that otherwise could have turned out to be very boring for people to read. Brands can come up with creative videos that engage the senses and thus provide a more immersive experience that people generally prefer They are the most effective in engaging users and have the most brand recall value – if done right.
Brands can start a YouTube channel that keeps visitors returning to them consistently. Even Facebook and Instagram videos can prove to be very popular if posted consistently. In fact, if brands can leverage the power of most of these channels, that’s a win-win as that is really pushing the boundaries of reaching as many customers as possible. When brands are building their marketing strategy, videos can be incorporated as not just a standalone means of attracting traffic but also bolster some of the textual content too. If brands have a dedicated blog or email newsletter, embedding pertinent videos in them will be highly appreciated and provide additional support to the overall video marketing strategy.
– Noman Nalkhande, Founder, WP Adventure
With the internet being a visual medium, video is one of the top ways to increase brand engagement. According to Forbes, 80% of all consumer internet traffic will be from online video traffic soon. Over 50% of customers look up a product or service online before purchasing, and studies have shown that sites with video have an 80% conversion rating over those with just text and images.
As a business owner, we have found that one of the most effective channels for video marketing is social media. Posting your video content on and linking to these from your own site will allow your customers to interact with both. It will also boost your SEO with an increase in engagement and broaden the reach of your audience.
You can leverage video in your marketing strategy by using it to drive focus on your brand. Create an origin video about your company. Against blocks of text describing how your company started, customers will more likely respond to an emotionally-enriched visual medium. Demonstration videos about your product or service will also be beneficial, as your customers will be able to see a real-time example or explanation of how your product or service works before the purchase. This creates rapport with the viewer and will establish a sense of trust in your brand.
– Martin Seeley, CEO, MattressNextDay
Video marketing is one of the most powerful ways to introduce your product nowadays.
People like everything to be visual and creative. Video increases engagement if you are posting it or showcasing it to your target audience. As for me, we also use this marketing strategy to show people of our legitimacy and that there are no boundaries when it comes to love and dating.
So, here are the two most effective ways for brands to leverage video in their marketing strategy:
- Go Behind the Scenes: People are curious about how a product is made and who the people involved are. It is one of the most effective ways to introduce your brand at the same time doing your own thing and showing what your brand is.
- Video Testimonials: Testimonials are a great strategy to show how our brand influences other people. The good thing about this is we can see and tell how the person or customer feels about the product and why he/she recommends it.
– Sonya Schartz, Founder, Her Norm
How can video increase customer engagement? It creates interaction with audiences and makes their experience more convenient while they browse our content. They just need to click play and watch, without making efforts to scrolling or clicking for the next page. Video marketing can be effectively used for product demos or how your services work. It can also be utilized in promoting new offers to increase the target audience’s curiosity about the brand.
Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are the most effective channels for video marketing. Aside from its millions of active users, it also allows brands to promote their products and services in the most cost-efficient way.
– Scot Chrisman, CEO, The Media House
Video and rich content have gained even more traction and driven growth in recent years. In a mobile-first world, you have less time to grab people. Attention spans are shorter than ever, so video has been used even more to show vs. tell for maximum impact. Video does not have to be expensive, though, it just needs to educate, inform, or entertain in a way that is timely and relevant so that people find it useful and ideally pass it along.
When video becomes viral, it can reach well beyond any investment made to create it, so it is worth the marketing dollars to get it right. The key is to connect with your audience on an emotional level. Sometimes the cheapest ideas have the most impact, remember the ALS ice bucket challenge? Those videos cost nothing to create and post, and they connected with people to raise millions of dollars for a great cause.
Video will continue to grow in importance after the crisis passes with a majority of people accessing the internet via a mobile device now The top 3 trends I see increasing engagement in video marketing for my clients are:
- UX and Personalization: The more video and smart content you have to improve the user experience and the more personalized that content is, the better
- Page Speed: When your site loads it does not have to just be mobile-friendly, but it better be quick too. Consumers do not like to wait more than 3 seconds max
- Artificial and Virtual Reality: AR and VR when used strategically are a big competitive advantage to accelerate the sales cycle with your customers so use it to help them answer questions and buy
– Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder and CEO, Mavens & Moguls
Video increases brand engagement in two ways.
First, by making videos and posting them on video sharing sites, you establish another touchpoint for your brand and another way for web users to learn about your brand and what you do. This builds that initial brand recognition.
Second, if you embed your videos in your blog posts, you will get an increase in positive UX metrics that Google tracks like a hawk. Users will watch your videos, meaning they’ll stay longer and consume more of your page. Increased dwell time can potentially give you an SEO boost. But also, when users stay longer, it gives you a chance to get them into your funnel, either by signing up to your list or by clicking on some internal link and going deeper into your site.
The most effective way for brands to leverage videos is to first develop a strategy and then stick with it for the long haul (while making smart adjustments when needed). There’s no point in producing videos willy-nilly. Instead, be strategic and create videos that tie into your business, your message, and your brand’s core values. The key is to create video content that supplements and expands on your blog.
– Nikola Roza, Owner, Nikola Roza – SEO for the Poor and Determined
According to Diode Digital, online video is a 600% more effective marketing tool than both print and direct mail combined. Why? Various experts have claimed that we humans are basically a visual creature who depends heavily on graphic features. Around a third of our neurons in the brain are totally devoted to vision, and that is the reason why something like a VR/AR headset and tech, in general, can completely alter what we think we can see.
Consumers love to watch video content as it is easy to engage, digest, and increase their curiosity. Secondly, video-related content is accessible to everyone via the internet. There are different resolutions available for viewing videos on low-speed internet connection. This convenience is very important. Lastly, the storytelling medium is essential for a marketing strategy. It can easily create curiosity and catch the attention of an average viewer.
With these considerations in mind, it’s no surprise that video works wonders to increase brand engagement.
– Jennifer Willy, Editor, Etia.Com
Landing pages that have videos receive 80% more engagement compared to landing pages that only contain words. Videos help to humanize a brand so that prospects can connect with your company and what it stands for. 76% of businesses have increased sales through video, and 80% of marketers have experienced an increase in time spent on their websites when they use video.
One of the most effective ways to do this is through brand storytelling videos. These videos outline the story of how your brand started and the problem you are trying to solve. End off with the impact your business is having and how it is different from businesses that are already out there. Direct people who watched until the end of the video to a landing page with a call to action they can take to become leads for your business.
Another video format that we have seen that has performed well is behind-the-scenes videos. People are always fascinated by how things are made, so giving them a behind-the-scenes look into your business is a great way to build engagement. 72% of people prefer to use video to learn more about something as compared to other formats.
– Peter Mann, Founder, SC Vehicle Hire
Creating video content is a great way to increase engagement, to generate brand awareness, and to share information with prospective clients. With Google’s algorithms increasingly prioritizing pages containing video content in search results, it’s especially important that businesses should adopt videos as part of their digital marketing strategy.
– Natik Ameen, Marketing Expert, Canz Marketing
Video increases brand engagement by allowing brands to tell their story and educate viewers in a format people enjoy. 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands or businesses they support and 43% say a branded video is the most memorable type of content shared by companies. 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. Video allows brands to take viewers through a rollercoaster of emotions and process more information in a short amount of time.
Studies show that viewers prefer content they find on their own as opposed to content that is directly served to them via ads. The more quality video content you have, the better your SEO rankings, resulting in more video views, more website traffic, and more sales. If you can produce video content consistently, it can become a cornerstone of your SEO and marketing strategy.
Marketers should use video when they need an asset that’s shareable, easy to digest, and attention-grabbing. Brands should audit their customer journey and identify where they are converting well and where they aren’t. Based on that information, they can strategically assign videos as appropriate, depending on their lead generation or marketing strategy (bottom-up or top-down). No matter where a brand decides to start, it’s important to outline the goals and objectives for each video asset before developing the creative to ensure the team makes the right video(s) for the job.
– Tory Merritt, Account Director, Umault
Videos are more likely to develop a profound emotional impact, which helps invoke a strong feeling of connection to the content, using two of the most emotion-sensitive senses—sight and hearing. Visuals and sound have massive impacts on brain processing. The brain processes information from visuals 60,000 times faster than text while the music helps reinforce the storytelling and helps create a more vivid picture inside a prospect’s mind.
– Sherry Mae, CMO, Tankarium
Video is the perfect medium for brands to tell their story and increase brand awareness authentically. Today, people are connecting with what’s real and are no longer connecting with edited, doctored photos. They want to know the story behind the brand and the people behind the brand. In fact, this survey found that 86% of people value authenticity when deciding which brands to support, and that 90% of millennials believe authenticity is important and prefer real, organic brands over those that are perfectly packaged.
There is no hiding behind filters and Photoshop in video. This format provides the perfect opportunity for brands to get real on camera. In order to stay real, skip the production budget, and shoot content straight from your cell phone. Rather than scripting out every word, just go with a bulleted script that allows your speech to flow naturally and gives the opportunity for you to infuse your personality into the video. That’s authentic.
– Sharon Haver, Founder, SharonHaver.com
Brand engagement looks very different if you are a large company, spending heavily in advertising, or a mid-sized company just starting to dig into video content creation. If two companies, one with a large audience and the other with a small audience, push a similar video on social media, the business with the largest audience is naturally going to achieve much more engagement, but every business that is found online, shouldn’t miss the opportunity to share a meaningful message that holds people’s attention. That’s when the right video converts better than any other medium (184% higher than pictures or text) because it communicates the most important information in the least amount of words and time, drives attention, and builds trust.
Not every brand has the budget and manpower to be a video content leader on every digital platform, but any business can choose at least one channel (from social media to email marketing) and grow its audience by sharing videos consistently. In most cases, sales reps are already sending emails out to targeted prospects: if they used videos to address common questions or objections, they could highly enhance their ability to convert people into customers. Our clients know it works because when we place videos at key customer interaction points, on average they increase their engagement by almost 4,000%.
– Manuela Senatore, Founder, Skilla Productions
Video increases engagement because our society is extremely visual. We react to colors, lights, and sharp graphics more than ever because of how much it has all advanced over the last 20 years. We’re constantly looking for the best photos as we scroll through social media feeds and we react best to ads that are professionally produced.
Using video instead of photos and as a way to replace large blocks of text will grab more people’s attention and increase engagement. Video does especially well on Facebook and Instagram and can increase results when putting together a serious ad campaign. Video translates to mobile very well and that’s how most people browse through social feeds and engage with ads. In 2019, 50% of all video was viewed on mobile, and that’s expected to have grown quite a bit through 2020.
In other words, video increases brand engagement by making your brand more accessible on all platforms.
– Jus Chall, Brand Strategist, Skein Agency
Video features can increase brand engagement as they allow a brand to showcase its essence to viewers in a way that is engaging and authentic. Video is highly engaging and dynamic in nature—using sound, visuals, and movement to create an experience and tell a holistic story. When done properly, video can attract an audiences’ attention and connect with them on an emotional level, ultimately increasing brand engagement and building brand affinity.
One of the most effective channels for video marketing is a company’s homepage, as it’s often one of the first points of interaction a consumer has with a brand. Showcasing a brand’s essence through video will help increase conversion rates and capture an audience’s attention, but it will also create a memorable experience and leave a lasting impression. Social media accounts are another effective channel for video marketing as they allow brands to meet a diverse audience on specific platforms depending on where they are on the customer journey. Delivering relevant, memorable, and shareable experiences in a targeted and authentic way will intrigue viewers to explore and increase brand awareness.
The most effective way for brands to leverage video in their marketing strategy is to take a holistic approach. Video content should be utilized to tell a clear and consistent brand story—delighting, connecting, and converting customers at every touchpoint throughout the customer journey. There are many opportunities to create a video as part of a company’s marketing strategy, whether it be explainer videos, brand essence videos, event videos, expert interviews, how-to videos, animated videos to customer testimonials—they can each play a role in helping a brand stand out when deployed appropriately and authentically.
– Micheal Richardson, Co-Founder, Jacknife Design
Animated explainer videos are all the rage right now and for good reason. They are cost-effective, they help with ROI, they grab viewers’ attention, and they’re timeless. You can run an animated video for years without it looking dated.
Making a series of smaller animated videos that support one another is super powerful. Short animated videos can post easily across websites, social media, and press releases. This is how top brands stand out, grab attention, and reap lead generation and ROI benefits.
– Derek Gerber, Senior Vice President, Explainify
ideo can increase brand engagement by providing the opportunity for organizations to communicate their story and overall purpose to consumers in a uniquely entertaining way. In today’s market, when selecting a company to purchase from or individual to hire, consumers want to hear why a brand or individual is unique from the rest of their competition. Video marketing provides a unique opportunity for brands to inspire engagement through telling their story to consumers.
The most effective way for brands to leverage video in their marketing strategy is to utilize the stories of actual customers to sell their products. Through utilizing this strategy to reach our target audience, our video ads received an average of 157 more impressions than our standard image ads that were run with the same budget and location.
– David Brenton, President, BluShark Digital
The greatest power of video is to tap into an emotional response. We walk around thinking we make decisions rationally: I bought my iPhone because of its technical specifications not because most of my friends have blue texts instead of green (the emotion of belonging) or because Apple’s advertising identifies with me as an artist or rebel (again, belonging). Honestly, the only tech spec I know about my phone is that it has enough storage to keep all my pics and vids of me having a good time with my friends and family: belonging.
Because humans are emotional, we engage with—and become loyal to—a brand because we believe a story—about their product and about ourselves. Emotion is what draws us into a story and video is uniquely powerful in its ability to convey emotion. A 2012 academic paper co-authored by a Harvard Business School scholar addresses this point; according to the research, “surprise and joy effectively concentrate attention and retain viewers.”
A wonderful way to convey both surprise and joy is to tell a story of change with vulnerability. As a brand leader, if you yourself sit in front of a camera and share something about your own story—a way you used to be or a problem you used to have—you might have a story that will surprise. And if you talk about how you overcame that, you may also have a story of joy. (If you overcome the problem because of your own product or service, that’s amazing!) A story like that can truly inspire joy for your audience, especially if it does for you. You want them to walk away thinking: I relate.
– Kerri Feazell, CEO, Concurrent Productions
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