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Video is a staple in today’s world of social media and marketing. To quote Will, CEO of Hiilite – “Marketing is no longer, ‘I’m going to take a picture and put it out in front of an audience’. It’s an iterative process”. Iterative in the fact its continual adaption to get focused results for your company. Video is a macro example of the times we are in.
Major cities around the have embraced videos in their everyday lives with video marketing on every street corner, subway station, commercial building and major intersection. From bus ports to New York Square, videos are dominating the marketing world because they’re so much more effective and engaging. Meanwhile, Canada is severely lagging behind the times.
Videos provide companies with a captivating, versatile, and an extremely shareable medium to reach their audiences. It offers companies a massive amount of exposure, engagement and potential business. Unlike any other medium, videos are extraordinarily collaborative and accessible. They have the capacity to incorporate a variety of mediums including music, graphic design, content and so forth.
A video, in a sense, is a series of moving photos. So, if a picture or a single video frame is worth a 1000 words, then every second of a video is worth 24,000 words! The power of a well-done video is unparalleled – making it a crucial element for companies that desire a greater reach, bigger milestones and growth in today’s marketing world.
1. Video Marketing Funneling
Videos have evolved immensely over the past few decades. The quality, the accessibility and prevalence of videos in marketing and mainstream society have made it a standard. When executed poorly, it can be extremely counterproductive. When executed well, video marketing is extremely beneficial.
Quality content is at the crux of a great video. A high quality and beautifully edited video that is lacking proper context, a well-executed concept and quality content, will not succeed. Video marketing is highly competitive and requires a well-executed plan including high-quality footage and content that inspires potential customers to take action. Capturing what makes an audience engage and watch your video requires a great deal of time and strategic planning.
Posting your videos in the appropriate place and on relevant social media platforms for your target audience will increase its effectiveness. Depending on your industry and audience, you may consider Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Youtube, mailchimp, your website or a combination of them. Also consider that each platform has an entirely different audience.
A well-curated video will leave a lasting impression, greatly increase the chances of gaining customers and increase your click-through rate. Videos are particularly powerful on social media platforms as they encourage audiences to actively engage and interact. It’s also far easier for your audience to digest and remember your brand and branding message through video than any other medium. Photos and static posts, on the other hand, are easily forgotten as audiences passively scroll through their feed.
Videos are also powerful for improving your ranking in Google search. Google determines which website is the most relevant and an authority in your industry. Google determines this based on a number of factors including click-through or bounce rate, quality content that fulfills search engine optimization and the amount of time audiences spends on your website. The best way to achieve all these goals is creating videos that acknowledge your audience’s challenges and provide a solution.
Depending on your marketing aims, industry, and target audience, you will create slightly different content. However, following the 4 video marketing funnel steps:
- Attract
- Convert
- Close
- Delight – is essential for your success.
With these steps, you can effectively tailor it for your specific brand and create video content that successfully demonstrates how your product or service will add value to their lives.
2. The Psychology Behind Effectively Connecting with Your Brand’s Audience
Video provides the opportunity to captivate and connect with your audience. Videos have the capacity to evoke an emotional bond through the combination of content, sound and visuals. Customizing voices, facial expressions and music allows marketers to produce emotionally charged and engaging videos. (Tina Walczak references the video, Nike Rise and Shine, in her article “How Nike became one the world’s largest brands through storytelling”. Take a peak and view the power of an emotionally charged brand.
Most customers in today’s marketing world tend to distrust traditional adverts and are skeptical of brand messages that are too salesy. Customers aren’t interested in being sold services or products, but rather a lifestyle. Ultimately customers want to see how your product or service will add value to their individual life and the challenges they may face. Great video content provides them with interesting and useful information. As a result, it encourages audiences to become loyal customers that will return again and again because they trust your brand and feel personally connected.
There is nothing more authentic than a live video. No matter how rehearsed or scripted, there’s always the opportunity for the unknown or an element of unpredictability and realness. This raw view allows the brand to really show a bit of personality and authenticity. Tapping into live videos can be a very powerful marketing strategy. However, it’s important to note that live videos require the same preparation as any other video. A live video on the fly can cause more damage than good.
3. Video Length Based on Branding Psychology
The length of your video is another key element of its success. Each platform has varying lengths, success rates and trends. The standard for Facebook, Instagram and Youtube is about 2-3 minutes. It’s also important to consider how your audience is consuming your video. Videos can be optimized for mobile consumption, which makes videos extremely accessible to on-the-go customers.
There is an argument for short and sweet videos, as they ensure a brand gets their message across before the audience loses interest and continues scrolling down their newsfeed, especially for mobile audiences on-the-go. However, there has been a shift in thinking more recently arguing that if your content is engaging enough, length is less of an issue, but within reason.
Specific metrics are difficult to measure through traditional forms of content, while with videos, marketers can track exactly when a potential customer ends the video, which gives brands access to information such as how many full and partial views a video has and how often a video successfully encouraged a customer to purchase a service or good. This information will provide you with the most accurate information to tailor future videos and increase the success of your video marketing.
4. Higher Return Of Investments
Videos increase the time visitors spend on your site, which builds trust and signals search engines that your site has valuable content. Google owns YouTube, so there has been a significant increase in how much videos improves your search engine rank.
Successful marketing is based on trust, which means trust is the foundation of higher ROI, conversions and sales. Your company depends on a wide network of loyal, long-term customers that continue to purchase your product or service over time, and share their experience with their own network of friends, family and coworkers.
Videos are profoundly interactive, engaging and shareable. They inherently encourage customers to interact with the content as they can embed, share and comment on video content. Furthermore, video content is the perfect way to limit reading, easily engage all types of audiences and ensure viewers retain the information. The content and footage used in a video has the capacity to be far more memorable and powerful. Think about it this way, a waving arm is far more noticeable and engaging than a photograph.
5. Videographer, Segar Nelson, on “What Makes a Good Video?”
What elevates a good video to a great video can change video to video, but it is always down to how it makes the audience feel when they watch it. Often it’s a single shot that’s perfectly placed. Other times it can be something like a great video with perfectly chosen sound, music, dialogue or text that seems to relate so perfectly to your interpretation of the video.
As a result, audiences are emotionally connected and attracted by a vague and subtle aspect that makes the video memorable and stand out above the rest.
During the creation process, Segar describes the importance of tapping into passion, the emotion behind each individual shot and the purpose of each and every single second of a video. This ensures that the progression of the video and each shot makes sense with the emotion the videographer is trying to evoke.
6. Meetings of the Minds
The videographers passion and dedication will show through, so finding inspiration for a project is paramount. One of the best ways to get inspired for a project is being around other creators, especially ones that a videographer respects and admires. These meetings of the minds can often spark a conversation or result in an expert outside view that will enhance the quality of the video.
Films generally start off with an overarching concept. With video marketing, effectively represent the concept in a few shots is the make or break of a great video. The process then comes with making it coherent, which is often the reason Segar and so many other videographers have several projects sitting unfinished or just in concept. Getting it just right takes time, inspiration and strategic planning.
When I’m planning a film with a client in mind, it’s a careful balance between satisfying a client’s vision and maintaining creative direction. It takes years to develop a keen eye for creating effective videos. It’s natural for people to begin with videos that they later would find super cringy, but that’s all part of the learning process.
As a filmmaker and videographer, the most important aspect of a video is feeling excited about the project. Videos that bring the creators passion will have a huge impact on the end result. Therefore, making videos should be an exciting and rewarding process and the end result should reflect that.
So, unleash your inner creative, or Just Say Hii!
