The Importance of Video Marketing – Part I

As you know one of the most important aspects of your marketing campaign is to find ways to communicate to potential buyers what differentiates your business from others. Called the unique selling proposition or USP, it gives people a reason to come to your store or location. There are well established companies, who have worked hard to establish their USP into a well known tagline. For instance, Wal-Mart’s USP is well known as “low prices every day”. However, there are some businesses, (startups and well established ones) that have a USP that takes more than a few words and or a few minutes to explain. In other words, a buyer needs more time and more experience with the business’s message in order to establish trust. A tagline is not enough to help them to make a decision to visit the location.

One of the best ways to bridge this trust and time gap is to use Internet Video. Perhaps the business uses video as a “commercial” in the same way that these messages were at one time viewed solely on broadcast television. Or perhaps the business takes the time to communicate the pros and cons of a particular situation and begins to educate prospects and buyers on why it’s necessary to consider looking at products like theirs. Or to go even further, a business could create a video that doesn’t really try to communicate any message in particular. It simply does what it can to keep the business’ brand on the minds of prospects and buyers, while effectively communicating its USP. Regardless of what angle a business takes, Internet video is an excellent way to get their message across.

The question is often asked about video, “Getting the message across to who….who is watching?” There are indications that video messaging is significant in its reach. The statistical information alone should be enough to make business owners rethink how they are communicating:

1.) Watching online videos is a universally accepted practice. Internet Analyst, comScore, stated that as of February of 2011, 82.5% of the entire US audience has viewed at least one video online.

2.) Watching Internet videos is growing as an activity. As of December 2010, Internet users watched 75% more videos than they did in 2008.

3.) In terms of the kinds of activities that people are engaging in online, watching videos is growing as a preferred activity. According to a report from Technology giant, Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic was Video related in 2010. They are predicting that by sometime in 2013, that over 90% of that traffic will be Internet video.

4.) People spend a considerable amount of time watching video. In a study taken in 2010, Germans watched about 5.2 hours per month watching online video; Canadians watched 4.4 hours of online video and American watched about 4.3 hours of video.

But is there any evidence to suggest that all of this video watching translates in to buying? The answer is yes, and it is overwhelming. For the sake of brevity, it is best to quote one study. In its 2010 report, the trade group called the Online Publishers Association, the headline stated this: over 70% of online visitors watched a video advertisement of some kind, and of that number over 40% took some form of action.

Our agency is skilled in helping you build a web experience that helps your visitor take the kind of action that benefits your business. Using video, audio and text, we make sure that people online understand who you are and what you do. We also help them to understand why it is important to do business with you. Call us today so that we can help you to build an effective platform to market your business.

Click Here For Part 2 of The Importance of Video Marketing