If they say a picture is worth a million words, then a video must be worth a million pictures, especially in today’s media hungry and on-demand society. As video continues to be a dominating force in marketing communications, more and more companies are beginning to experiment with it and add it to their overall marketing mix. On the surface, the benefits of using it are easy to visualize, and according to an article in Forbes, video is now a marketing necessity. But the benefits of using this type of content go much deeper than increased engagement, and can benefit your business and brand in ways that might not have occurred to you.
Video Helps Increase Organic Search Rankings
Chances are you’ve watched an online video or two on your phone or computer at some point in your life. And we’re not talking about videos that involve funny animals or your dream travel destination, but videos related to the type of work you do. It could’ve been a product overview video for a software solution you’re evaluating or even a technical support video for a product you’re already using. The point is, people, love video. And you know who else does? Search engines like Google and Bing. In fact, it was about a decade ago that Google launched its Universal Search capability which added images, and now video, alongside its text search results, making it even easier for people to find your video content. This feature has been adopted by all of the leading search engines and is often referred to as “Blended Search”. Companies that post relevant video content on their own websites in addition to sharing sites like YouTube can actually increase their Search Engine Ranking Page (SERP) scores, resulting in an increase in organic search rankings.
Video Increases Lead Conversion Rates
Whether it’s on your company website, a campaign landing page or embedded directly in a targeted email, video content is statistically proven to increase your digital marketing conversion rates. Just check out this awesome video marketing infographic from HubSpot, a leader in marketing automation. One of the biggest benefits of using video not illustrated in that infographic is its ability to accelerate the trust-building process between online prospects and brands. It accomplishes this by creating a sense of virtual familiarity, the type of familiarity that is typically acquired through direct brand interaction. With the right type of video content, your business can increase its digital marketing conversion rates by creating that same level of brand or familiarity with every individual that visits your company website, a specific landing page or opens your embedded video email.
Video Humanizes Brands and Build Trust
When you’re selling a business-to-business (B2B) product or service, or in some cases a business-to-consumer (B2C) item that a person typically has to be sold on, as opposed to something they would buy on their own, there’s usually some level of human interaction that takes place during the buyer’s journey. Whether it’s in-person, on the phone or online, it’s often that human-to-human (H2H) touch points that will ultimately shape the perception of your brand in a consumer’s mind. And it can have a direct influence on whether or not you get the purchase order. With this type of content, you have the power to literally “Humanize Your Brand”, shape perception, and create subconscious emotional bonds with online prospects that can accelerate the trust-building process. By showing prospects the real people behind your brand and its products and services, or the loyal customers and channel partners that already trust your brand, video can help your business build virtual trust with online prospects.
In Summary
So whether it’s helping prospects find you online easier or increasing your chances of acquiring their information once they’ve found you, video provides businesses with benefits above and beyond just communicating and engaging with people more effectively. Video has the power to truly maximize all of your online marketing investments.
About The Author
Peter Horton is the co-founder and managing director of Telideo, a Denver video production company and video marketing agency that helps businesses and professional service organizations create high-quality and engaging video content for websites, products, marketing campaigns, and more.