Videos easier to grasp and create a long-lasting impression on the viewer. Memories of television ads back from the 90s are still fresh in our minds. No wonder, many startups are opting for video marketing strategies for their brands. If you haven’t opted for any form of video marketing, go through this article, and you’ll get a fair idea why it would be a good option.
Video marketing simply means using videos to market your product. These may not necessarily be video ads, but also take other forms, like product videos, tutorials, product unboxing videos, customer review videos etc. There are many advantages which a video marketing campaign has over other forms of content marketing :
Draws more attention: A 3-4 minute video, containing the same information as a 300-400 word blog post, will definitely create a better impact on the audience. Watching a video is a passive activity, requiring much less effort and concentration than say reading. Internet users today have a very short attention span and will go for a video more readily than opening up a long post.
More Effective: A video allows you to be more creative, and target your audience in a better way. Chances are that you have seen the Samsung India 4 minute Ad film, which revolves around visually challenged persons. This emotional, unconventional and has over 150 million views on Youtube. Video advertisements can be made emotional, educational or entertaining, and directly appeal to the viewer.
Improving SEO rankings: As per statistics, adding a video to your website can increase the chance of a front-page Google result by 53 times. It helps you rank significantly higher than what textual or image content can.
Now, what are the marketing platforms and how to start with video marketing?
Step 1: Creating the Video
You do not need to spend a bomb on creating your video content. Today, you can get many freelancers from Fiverr or similar sites, who will curate your video content. You can also look for content creators on YouTube and VIne, who will take care of the entire process of scripting, casting and storytelling. If feasible, you can make your videos from your own place and use your own tools.
Step 2: Platforms
There are numerous video sharing and distribution sites, where you can publish your content. These also offer paid promotions to boost your content. You can also directly go for a video ad on these platforms. YouTube is undoubtedly leading the lot. It has over a billion users, which is almost one-third of total internet users.
Other than that, you can opt for micro-video sharing websites like Vine, Snapchat, Instagram and Dubsmash as well. If your target population is the youth, you can definitely go to these sites. However, they might have different formats and it might be challenging to limit your video within these time limits. Other than that, you can always opt for Facebook, for sharing your video content or posting it as an ad.
Step 3: Marketing
Uploading your video, and hoping for it to become viral will never work. Being a Startup, you may not be able to partner with big brand partnerships, but you could always approach bloggers, friends and other young entrepreneurs like you, who would be willing to promote your content.
These are the basics of Video marketing. Of course, there needs to be a lot of thought to be put into what actually goes into your video. Your content needs to be creative, entertaining and the right length. It need not always be promotional content but can be something related to your brand.
Having said that, launching a video marketing strategy for the first time is not an easy task, but provided you have packed in a bunch of entertainment or information, you will surely attract viewers, and direct traffic to your site.