When was the last time you watched a video online? It probably wasn’t that long ago. I watched a couple on Facebook before the clock even struck 7 a.m.
While we’re all happily engaging with video in our personal lives – and we know it’s an incredible marketing, branding and sales tool – why aren’t companies using it more often? Here are seven reasons why your business should look into video.
Consumers lose interest if you don’t have a video
This one may come as a big surprise. Video is no longer a ‘nice to have but not overly necessary’ tool; it’s crucial in today’s marketing world, and one in four consumers say they lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have video. It’s now expected that businesses – especially corporate businesses – will have a decent website, plenty of data and information on their site, and good-quality videos. If you’re missing one of these three elements, you will be seen as old-fashioned and out of touch.
Video increases ROI
Recent research in Australia by the Content Marketing Institute found that video, case studies and social media posts are the most effective types of content marketing. And more than 80 per cent of businesses say video gives them great return on investment.
What stops businesses creating and marketing their videos? A survey by Tubular Insights found:
- Measuring ROI was a challenge
- A lack of creative ideas
- A lack of in-house video expertise.
If this sounds familiar, there’s no need to struggle any longer. Outsource to a video production agency that has the expertise and creative ideas to do the hard yards for you. Learn more about:
- 3D modelling, as we did for this real estate developer
- Virtual reality
- How to animate your video without a Toy Story budget
- Creating realistic interaction with visual effects, like we recently did for a new app.
More people will read your newsletter
A few short years ago, people were saying e-newsletters were on the way out, but they’ve made a comeback in a big way. In even better news, if you have a video embedded in your newsletter, or even just a link (although embedded is better), customers are 50 per cent more likely to read the newsletter, according to a survey by Animoto.
Videos don’t have to be long, either. In fact, shorter may be the way to go. HubSpot reported the retention rate is greater on 90-second videos than 30-minute videos.
We want to be entertained
Never before has creativity and originality been more important. We’re bombarded with information, so you need to stand out from the crowd. Video animation, drone footage and virtual reality are now commonplace and no longer the domain of brands with substantial marketing budgets.
To illustrate this, take a look at this animation the Lush video team produced for PHAMS.
It’s how we learn about products
We’re in the middle of an information age and have an insatiable appetite for content. It’s not just mindless entertainment, either. Case in point: ‘How’ searches increased tenfold from 2016 to 2017, according to Google.
According to Animoto research, the majority of customers surveyed found it helpful to watch a video more than once before making a purchase and 80 per cent said videos showing how a product or service worked was important in learning about the company.
People will spend longer on your site
It’s disheartening when you’ve put time, money and effort into landing pages, only to see a high bounce rate. You can increase time spent on your pages with one addition – include a video. Wistia looked at data from their 100 highest-trafficked pages and the time spent on each one. They found that people spend, on average, 2.6 times longer on pages with a video than pages without.
E-retailer Advance Auto Parts Inc. reached the same conclusion. When an explainer video was included, people spent twice the amount of time on the website and viewed twice the number of pages than people who did not view the videos.
It’s how we’re using technology
Up to 90 per cent of consumers watch video on their mobile, so it’s crucial your corporate videos and website are mobile-friendly. You might think it’s primarily young millennials viewing videos and buying items over internet, but this isn’t correct. We’re all glued to our phones. In fact, gen Xers are the heaviest social media users. According to Facebook, 500 million people are watching videos on the platform daily, with the average viewer consuming 12 minutes of videos every day.
Whether you’re looking for a one-off corporate or social video, or a whole content marketing strategy, get in touch with our video production team to see what we can do for you. Email us or call (08) 9228 3380.
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