In today’s digital world, being able to effectively reach your audience online is a must. The internet and computers have enabled almost anyone to compete online, regardless of size or budget. Unfortunately, this can mean that there is a lot of noise distracting your audience from your message. As such, it is essential to create engaging content that can not only grab the attention of your prospective customers, but also encourage them to take actions such as buying your product or sharing your content. Often, the simplest and most effective way to achieve this is through video marketing.

Why Use Video Marketing

The benefits of creating video promotional content are significant. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that it is a much higher engagement medium than the majority of other options available. In other words, your audience is much more likely to pay attention to a video than they are to a text based advertisement. By engaging both visual and auditory senses, video keeps viewers interested in your message. As such they are more likely to respond to video than any other channel. The most obvious reflection of this is that videos typically generate more comments than other types of content. This will provide you will valuable feedback on your approach.

Viewers being engaged also has other benefits. For example, the audience for video is likely to experience around a 74% increase in understanding of the message. This is important when you are striving to educate them on your product or service. Furthermore, they are more likely to remember what they have seen. Around 80% of internet users remember the video ads they see online – a significantly higher number than those who remember textual or other ads.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of video marketing, though, is that the audience is more likely to act afterwards. In a study around 26% of viewers sought more information on a product after seeing a video advertisement for it. Roughly 22% visited the company website from the ad; 15% even visited the physical location of that business. Most importantly though, around 12% of viewers purchased the product mentioned in the advertisement. These numbers speak for themselves, digital video marketing is worth investing in.

Making a Great Video Advertisement

It is clear that creating videos is an effective way to improve your marketing outcomes. However, between deciding to use online video and actually executing, there are plenty of pitfalls. Here are a few best practices to follow that will increase your chances of success.

• Understand Your Audience: As with all marketing, the most important step is to first understand your audience. If you know what will interest them about your product or service, you can tailor your message to maximize impact.
• Tell Stories: People tend to respond best to information that is presented in an emotional, positive, and exhilarating way. To accomplish this, try to tell a story through your video. This doesn’t have to be entirely literal; but there should be an introduction, climax, and conclusion.
• Easy to Share: One of the great advantages of online content is how easy it is to share with others. Set your audience up to be able to easily send your content to their friends and family.
• Measure Success: Another benefit of digital video marketing is that you can measure what is happening with your content. Look at key metrics such as number of views, how far people get into your video, and number of likes and comments. This should paint a picture about what it going well and what isn’t.
• Use YouTube: YouTube is the largest channel for online video. It also provides tools for analytics and sharing. So it is a great starting point for any successful video.Digital video marketing is truly a must-have. Its benefits range from higher engagement, to better understanding, to increased follow-up actions. If you incorporate videos into your digital marketing strategy and use these best practices, you are almost certain to achieve success.