Video marketing as part of an online content strategy is swiftly on the rise. More and more companies are using video to promote their products or services and there are several reasons for this. In the first place, the costs of production have lowered dramatically over the past few years, making the creation of suitable video content affordable even for the smallest independent businesses.

Secondly, as digital channels increase, marketers have been looking for ways in which to create content that crosses all channels effectively and video has emerged as the number one solution. Thirdly, those just beginning to think about new content marketing strategies are being faced with figures demonstrating that marketing-generated revenue for those brands that have already successfully implemented video have increased by an average of 65%. Creating and promoting a viral video advertisement may be out of reach for many companies but the facts show that videos, even when they do not go viral, are one of the strongest tools in the digital marketer’s toolbox at present.

Statistics

When thinking about incorporating visual imagery into an online marketing campaign, consideration of the statistics demonstrates just how successful this could be.

• 90% of the information transmitted to the human brain is visual
• We process images a whopping 60,000 times faster than we process text
• Viewers online will spend 100% more time on a web page that features a video than on one featuring only text, regardless of how much information is included in the text
• Posts with videos incorporated attract three times as many inbound links than posts that are just text
• There are around 700 videos from YouTube shared on Twitter every single minute
• Consumers who engage with a video about a product are on average 85% more likely to purchase that product than those who do not
• In a single year, image-sharing site Pinterest accounted for more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined
• There are more than a billion unique users on YouTube every single month
• One in three people in the UK (more than twenty million) will view an online video at least once per week

Case Study: Budweiser ‘Lost Dog

The Budweiser ‘Lost Dog’ advertisement was billed as the third in a trilogy of ads called ‘Best Buds’ and depicts a friendship between a Labrador puppy and a Clydesdale horse. The latest advert shows the cute puppy getting lost and into danger, rescued at the last minute by his powerful friend and returned home safely. With strong themes of friendship, a poignant soundtrack, noble horses and a charming puppy to boot, this ad really tugs at the heartstrings and seemingly this touching emotion is what works. The video racked up more than 14 million views on YouTube in just a single week after being released and this figure has more than doubled since, seeing the new advert on track to match the 57 million views and counting of the original ‘Puppy Love’ video.

Case Study: Volkswagen

Volkswagen achieved success with a trio of videos first aired at the Super Bowl reaching 155 million viewers and counting. Volkswagen may have fed a lot of money into this campaign but it does serve as a powerful example of how videos can reach a wide audience in a very short space of time. Using a teaser campaign prior to the Super Bowl, Volkswagen built up excitement and were then able to cash in on that buzz. Since the adverts were shown, Volkswagen have seen an increase of 127% on daily visits to the site, added more than 12,000 friends on Facebook and had more than 36 million views on YouTube for the first in the trilogy, ‘The Force’.

How Small Businesses Can Make Video Work

While going viral is the holy grail of video advertising, those videos that do not make it out into the stratosphere can still reach a wide audience across a variety of channels, increase customer engagement and convey marketing messages in a way that is both informative and entertaining. Online apps such as Twitter’s Vine have created myriad opportunities for smaller businesses to generate and make available video content affordably. Social media also makes it far easier than ever before to promote video content by ensuring it is easy to find and share. Work out who your target audience is and provide video content that appeals to them, be that informative, entertaining or both. Use free software and tools and don’t be afraid to experiment with new ideas.

With Cisco forecasting that as much as 69% of all consumer internet traffic will be accounted for by video as early as 2017, developing effective video marketing strategies now means you won’t get left behind.