How Video Marketing Benefits Today's Digital Marketer

Video content is the most powerful communication tool on the web today. While the majority of marketers don’t use professionally produced video content on their websites and in their marketing campaigns, the most successful ones do. So you might be asking yourself, if video marketing is such a powerful marketing tactic then why aren't all of my competitors investing in video production services and engaging in video marketing campaigns? The truth is, the ones who lead your category probably are using video, and if they aren't, there's a good chance the topic has been raised at a meeting or two.  

It’s a proven fact that video is the most effective and engaging communication tool currently available to today’s marketer. Just search for “video marketing benefits” and you will find numerous reports and articles published by well-known industry media outlets and leading marketing automation software vendors validating its benefits. 

If a picture is worth a million words, then a video is worth a billion pictures, especially in today’s internet-focused and on-demand society. The value of incorporating video marketing into your overall marketing mix will absolutely help your message get delivered, but it also has many more benefits such as increasing your organic search rankings to help people find you online easier, engaging and converting those people into real leads, and shaping their perception of your company in a positive light. 

Below is what we consider to be the top three video marketing benefits and why businesses should invest in video production. We encourage you to spend some time on our website to learn more about our Denver video production company and see some examples of marketing videos we've produced for companies located in Denver and beyond. ,

Top Three Benefits of Video Marketing

There are lots of benefits to video marketing, including optimizing your organic search rankings, converting more website visitors and enhancing your brand perception.  

Link
Organic SEO Benefits
Search Engines Love Video
+
Link
Lead Conversion Benefits
Video Drives Web Conversions
+
Link
Brand Perception Benefits
Video Humanizes Your Brand
+
Organic SEO Benefits
Search Engines Love Video
Close Window Contact Us

Increase Organic Search Rankings with Video

We’re willing to bet you’ve watched a video or two online at some point in your life, and we’re not talking about the types of videos that involve cats or cooking ideas, but videos related to your work or job. Let’s face it people love video content, and you know who else does? Your customers and search engines. Why? Because people find it more engaging than plain text, and search engines are all about serving people with engaging and relevant information. 

In fact, many of the leading search sites out there such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, prefer video content. Companies that post relevant video content to their websites can greatly increase their Search Engine Ranking Page (SERP) scores, resulting in benefits like increased website traffic as a result of higher organic search rankings.  

 

Optimizing the Metadata of Your Video is an Absolute Must 

Adding a video to your website alone won’t maximize all of the SEO benefits of using video content.  It’s important to not overlook some of what we consider to be the “back-end” basic optimization tactics.  

 

  1. File name and video title – Be sure to add a keyword rich title to your video as it appears both as a file and as a searchable key phrase on popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Don’t overdo it and be sure to still convey what the video will offer its viewers. 
  2. Video description and tags – As basic as it may sound, adding a meaningful description and relative tags to a video is often overlooked when people upload their content. Don’t forget to include a link back to your website and if you’re embedding the video on your own site, be sure to also add a brief description and an <H> tag with the video title to your webpage. 
  3. Transcripts and captions – This is something that is almost always overlooked by video content creators. Providing professional transcripts for your video is critical in helping people find your content.  Why? For starters, Google is all about providing the best search experience for its users and when your video has the ability to be enjoyed by everyone, including the hearing impaired, it’s seen as more accessible and engaging and it will then outrank content without transcripts. On a similar note, the text from transcripts gets indexed by Google making it easier for everyone to find online.  
  4. Site links and video sitemaps – Building descriptive keyword rich links within your own site from different pages to your video is just as important as building external links from authoritative sites. That’s right, when you submit a sitemap listing your video content, you’re giving Google access to all of your videos descriptive information such as title, description and duration.  

In addition to optimizing your videos metadata, another way to generate traffic to your video investment is to promote it via your communication channels by including it in an email campaign or adding it to a landing page for a relevant retargeting campaign

Close Window Contact Us
Lead Conversion Benefits
Video Drives Web Conversions
Close Window Discuss Project

Creating Familiarity Through Virtual Engagement

Whether it’s on your website, a promotional landing page, or part of a highly targeted email campaign, video content is statistically proven to increase your digital marketing conversion rates. One of the biggest benefits of video is that it can help accelerate the trust building process with your online prospects by establishing a deeper sense of familiarity with your brand, product, or service – the type of familiarity that a person typically builds through direct interaction or personal engagement. This is why incorporating video can lead to higher click-thru-rates, increased form submissions, and other next-step actions you want the targeted viewer to take.  

Imagine creating that level of brand or value proposition familiarity with every individual that visits your website, clicks on your paid advertisement, or opens an email you sent them.  That’s the real power of video content and just one of the many benefits and reasons why you should invest in developing a video marketing strategy prior to engaging in video production services.

    

Creating and Using Video Content that Converts 

Adding a video to your website alone won’t maximize all of the benefits of using video content.  It's important to also take the following items below into consideration before and after you produce your video.  

 

  1. Create short and engaging content – Most people have short attention spans and limited time, which is why they prefer video content. With that in mind, it’s important that your content be engaging, but also respectful of the user’s time, otherwise they’ll drop off before taking any action. A lot of people will say that it’s best to keep videos to under 2 minutes, which we don’t disagree with, but in some cases having a longer video is completely acceptable. If it’s serving a purpose beyond just delivering a marketing message such as training a channel partner on how to install an instance of your cloud application, or educating a supplier how to submit a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), having a longer video is OK.  
  2. Try to use real people not actors – One of the biggest benefits of using video content is that it can help you accelerate the trust building process with online visitors that are just entering your sales funnel. Whether it’s a personalized message from a regional channel manager or product introduction being delivered by a product marketing manager, putting real faces in front of the camera can have a huge impact on the success of your video.  Let’s face it, in most B2B or complex sales situations, people do business with people, and in many cases it’s those personal interactions that help you close the deal. When you use real people in your videos you can extend prospect confidence to other areas of your organization by creating virtual trust with people in your company that they may have never interacted with.  
  3. If you’re using marketing automation, leverage it – If you’ve invested in a marketing automation system like Marketo, Hubspot, or Pardot, you can maximize it by integrating video content into your online interaction workflows.  The possibilities are endless and can range from triggering an email with an embedded video to a user who’s met a specific lead scoring threshold and encouraging them to schedule an appointment, to sending an automated personal introduction email thanking someone for taking the time to submit their contact information.  
  4. Don’t be afraid to experiment with lead capture forms – To gate or not to gate is a question that is commonly debated when discussing the topic of posting call-to-action (CTA) oriented content on your company website. The truth is, in some cases it’s not a good idea, and in others it is. We usually default to not doing it but it really depends on what your trying to accomplish with the video and who the intended viewer is.  If the purpose of the video is generating general awareness at the very highest level, then gating the video might not be a great idea.  If the content is intended for a viewer that is further down the buying journey and is genuinely interested in the topic, then you should try testing a lead capture form to view the video.  Regardless if you gate or un-gate the ability to play your video, you should add a contact lead form to the webpage no matter what, even if this topic never gets discussed. With today’s video hosting technologies, you can even add an optional contact lead form at a designated point after the video has already started. 

Once you’ve created content with viewer conversions in mind, you’ll want to maximize your new video by integrating it into your entire digital marketing mix.  Whether it be a call-to-action on a PPC display ad, or embedded in your next customer newsletter, you’ll have a marketing asset that can be utilized using a variety of communication channels and mediums.

Close Window Contact Us
Brand Perception Benefits
Video Humanizes Your Brand
Close Window Discuss Project

People Do Business with People

When you’re selling a business-to-business (B2B) product or service that a consumer typically has to be sold on, as opposed to something they would purchase on their own, there’s usually some type of human interaction that takes place during the sales process. Whether it’s on the phone, in-person or online, it’s often those human-to-human (H2H) touch points that will ultimately shape the perception of your brand in a consumer’s mind and can have an influence on whether or not you get the purchase order.  

With video content you have the power to literally “Humanize Your Brand”, shape reality, and create emotional bonds with online prospects that can accelerate the trust building process by simply showing them the real people behind your products and services, or the loyal customers and business partners that trust your brand. 

 

Humanizing Your Brand to Build Trust 

One of the biggest opportunities video brings to today’s digital marketer is the ability to create content that allows online prospects to truly visualize who your company or organization is from a human perspective. When you put real faces in front of the camera you’re providing transparency, establishing familiarity, and building trust. Here’s some ways to help humanize your brand when creating video content.  

 

  1. Use real people – There’s usually two approaches to this and we prefer a hybrid model that allows for both depending on the video and it’s intended audience.  In many cases, companies will seek out an internal spokesperson who has good camera presence.  This approach is great for super high-level messaging, blog post teasers, and general company or product introduction videos, but not always the best when trying to build technical credibility.

    The other approach is to use the individual or individuals in your company that are the knowledge experts on a given product, technology, or the topic you are trying to convey in the video.  This is our preferred approach because it tends to be perceived as more credible. This can be challenging because some people simply don’t like to be in front of the camera which the camera can easily pick-up. Fortunately, people can be coached and trained on how to best present themselves, and honestly, that unique quirkiness that frightens the person on camera actually tends to create a more humanistic and genuine sense of credibility.

  2. Communicate a story – No matter what marketing medium you are using to communicate your brand message or value proposition, you always want to tell a story that doesn’t just inform, but also engages. If you’re producing a testimonial video, always introduce the customer or partner and their business before jumping into the benefits of your solution or service.  This will create a frame of reference and will help the viewer better relate to the content on both a business and emotional level.  
  3. Shoot on-site –  We have already mentioned that viewers want to see real faces on camera so why not take it one step further and shoot on-site.  Filming your video at the actual site of where you or your customers do business can create an even deeper sense of trust.  Why is that? Because in the event that at some point in your sales process your prospect has to visit your office or place of business, you’re setting the customer experience and perceived expectations up front. Afraid your office won’t look good on camera?  That’s fair, you will always need to prep and stage the area where you will actually be shooting when filming, and at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter every other day of the year, just ask your current install base customers.     
  4. Create personalized content – Putting real faces in front of the camera and shooting on-site are great for humanizing your brand, but if you want to take it one step further and really build strong relationships with your customers and partners, personalized video content is the way to go. One example would be that instead of just sending your channel partners a canned email informing them about the new quarterly marketing resources available, send them the same email, but with a personalized message from their channel manager and communicate how excited they are to create a plan to work together to generate new sales using the newly available resources. At the very least you will increase your open rates just by simply adding a video and calling it out in the subject line.  

When you humanize your brand with video, you can truly elevate your company culture to the surface, immediately establish familiarity, and start building trust with your prospects.  Just remember that when you are using real employees who are not trained actors, preparation is critical. We encourage you to visit our video marketing examples page to see the different types of videos that many marketers are using today.  

Close Window Contact Us

Best Practices for Producing a Business Video

The benefits of video are proven and we encourage all businesses to experience the power of video content, however, when it comes to creating your video, there’s some key things you need to keep in mind before investing in video production services and posting your final masterpiece online.

  1. Video marketing without a strategy is semi-useless noise – Like any marketing tactic, video marketing performs best when you identify a specific audience and develop video content tailored to that audience. Knowing where your target audience stands in your customer acquisition funnel is just as important as identifying the next action you want them to take, or message to absorb. Whether you’re trying to create general awareness with a product introduction video, or get a qualified lead to take the next step with a customer testimonial video, it’s best to identify your lead generation and brand awareness goals first, and then think about how video can help you achieve those goals.

  2. Pre-production and preparation are instrumental – Whether it's in your Denver office or a staged set, prepping the shooting area is critical. You're going to want your video to look its best and the camera can easily pick up on overlooked items that are out of place or not positioned properly.  Just as important, is preparing the person who will be on camera and the message they will deliver. It's best to rehearse your script or how you'll address specific talking points and brand messages prior to being in front of the camera. It’s also equally important to pre-plan your video shoot from a wardrobe and B-roll perspective. Being unprepared in any of these areas can lead to time consuming re-shoots, unnecessary hours in the editing booth and ultimately a poor quality video. At the end of the day, it's always best to have a video production process in place before you begin shooting. 

  3. Video content without a go-to-market plan will under perform – Even the world’s best product can’t sustain selling itself forever and neither can your video. If you just post your video to your website you’ll be sure to generate some views based off your site traffic alone, but if you want to maximize your video you need to treat it just like any other marketing tool. You need a video marketing plan in order to realize all of the video marketing benefits. A plan to drive people to watch your video that incorporates all of your communication channels whether they be social media or your blog, a monthly newsletter, a targeted PPC campaign or a direct email campaign. Not only will you generate more views, you’ll most likely increase the performance of all of the marketing channels you use to distribute and drive direct traffic to the video.

Common Misconceptions of Creating Business Videos

Today’s marketer is often tasked with many objectives outside of their direct area of expertise and in many cases either turn to outside experts to help them adopt new strategies and tactics, or they end up not executing their objectives at all.  In the case of producing video content, this failure is due to two common misconceptions.

 

  1. Producing outsourced video content is cost-prohibitive – Many marketers overlook the fact that creating video content for the internet doesn’t necessarily require the same amount of production resources as video content intended for on-air television. To put this in perspective it doesn't require a crew of six people, a three person editing team and an actor to create a company overview video. It does however require an investment in the right video equipment, video software, and production talent and expertise, all things you will get when you hire a proven video production company.   
  2. Creating content in-house is a cheaper alternative – A lot of leadership teams underestimate what it actually takes to create high-quality video content intended for public consumption and the effects that quality video can have on overall brand perception. Often times, those tasked with managing video projects end up producing low-quality content in-house due to either poor or amateur grade equipment or lack of experience using post-production video editing software. Depending on your business and target customer, sometimes low-quality videos can still be effective for building a general archive of video content, but many times in the business-to-business arena they end up doing more harm than good for brand perception.

 

The truth is, with the right video partner or in-house investments in video equipment and video editing software expertise, creating a video marketing plan and producing video content can deliver tremendous benefits for all of your digital marketing investments. If you currently have a video project or are considering video marketing, we encourage you to reach out to us to schedule a free video project consultation where we can discuss your ideas and answer any questions you may have. We also encourage you to visit our blog where you'll find valuable information and articles about video marketing and video production such as Choosing The Right Video Hosting Platform and Why You Should Be Embedding Video In Your Email. 

 

See Video Examples

Your Local Partner in Video Production & Video Marketing

Telideo is a video marketing and Denver video production company located in downtown Denver, CO that specializes in developing video marketing strategies and producing affordable video content for businesses who actively invest in digital marketing such as marketing automation, email marketing and pay per click advertising.