Did you know that 59% of executives agree that users are more likely to engage with video than text on a topic of their interest? Or that 52% of marketers believe that video is effective for brand awareness? Needless to say, the opportunities in video marketing are booming. If you aren’t already considering a video marketing plan for your business, now is the time to start.
But where should you begin when planning your video marketing strategy? Explore these themes in your organization, which are proven to make an impact on your consumer:
1. Success stories
2. Tutorials and Explanations
3. User-Generated Content
Success Stories
One of the best ways to promote your business, product, or whatever it may be is through telling your success stories. You can use a paragraph of words to explain why your business is the best, but a video brings the content to life and holds the viewer’s attention more than a written summary. People also tend to value and trust other customer’s opinions more than the brand’s written words.
A great example of this is from Airbnb, a company that has a full video marketing campaign on Youtube. Airbnb’s Youtube channel focuses on showing real stories of people highlighting their trips and stays in Airbnb accommodations. This is a great strategy to reel in someone who is looking to use Airbnb for the first time. Seeing all of the success stories Airbnb has produced will give the viewers the confidence in the brand to turn to them for the next adventure.
Tutorials and Explainers
Another great way to implement video into your marketing plan is to explain or show the “how to” aspect of a product or a new feature using a video tutorial. A quality example of this format comes from Apple, demonstrating what their new iPad Pro has to offer.
Apple presented viewers with an informative text exploring the new iPad Pro and supplemented the text with videos. These videos come to life and highlight the features of the new iPad technology as the viewer scrolls down the page. The videos are intriguing, showing the iPad’s variety of uses to demonstrate the product’s flexibility. People often prefer to learn by being shown how to do something, instead of reading a manual. For that reason, this marketing campaign would not be nearly as efficient without the videos alongside the text.
User-Generated Video Content
User-generated content is beneficial because it helps to develop a brand community by giving customers a platform to share their stories. A customer will feel more connected to the brand if they feel as if they can contribute to the company’s message.
For a great example, check out Target’s video marketing integration. Target curated user-generated content to raise awareness for their corporate responsibility. The company created a video marketing plan to reach out to high school seniors, encouraging them to share videos receiving their college acceptance letters. Target then compiled video content with the best reactions, pulling on America’s heartstrings.
The video ends with this statement: “Every kid deserves this moment. Great schools can get them here.” Not only did Target forge an emotional connection with its customers, but it was also able to subtly advertise its advocacy for accessible education and its donations to K-12 school systems. This video marketing plan contributed to Target’s goal of donating one billion dollars to education by 2015.
Video has become the way people build connection. Whether it is to promote your business, newest campaign, or recent invention, videos are a great tool to implement into your marketing plan. Videos are easier to follow, draw more attention to your page, and pull the viewer in more than a chunk of text.
Video brings curiosity, trust and confidence to your viewer like no other form of advertisement. While video is convenient and efficient for the consumer, video marketing plans also provide marketers with an attractive, versatile and shareable medium to reach their audiences. So what are you waiting for? Let’s get filming.
Updated on February 7, 2020
Madison Edwards, Marketing and Communication at Green Buzz Agency. Emily Herman contributed to this post.