Video marketing is one of the many tools in the Internet marketer’s arsenal, but is definitely one of the most popular.
Recent studies indicate that more than half (57%) of people have watched at least one video online at some point in their lives, while nearly one-fifth of people (19%) say they watch videos online every day.
These numbers are rapidly growing as more people are using the Internet and social media every day.
As much as society loves the television, computers are gradually taking over the device. If you have a newer model television, all it takes is a USB cable to connect your TV to your computer.
With a variety of online services and streaming websites out there, you can watch anything you want online, whether it’s your favorite show, new movies, or your local news cast. Recent studies also project that more than half of people who watch a video they consider “good” will end up sharing the video with their friends via social media or email. This is an example of how online videos can go viral, which is something we’ll talk about later in this book.
As the Internet has advanced, audio and video files are replacing text and graphics. This extremely powerful medium is something many marketers can use to send their online businesses from the bottom to the top.
Video Marketing Benefits
Video marketing has numerous benefits to marketers trying to promote their
online businesses.
- Video marketing allows you to highlight your products and services in both an informative and entertaining way.
- Video response rates are higher than articles and blogs. Visitors are more likely to sit through a two-minute long video than to read a long blog post.
- Videos allow you to better illustrate the concepts you’re trying to get across. Some niches are more difficult to convey in print, and those will benefit the most from video, because you will be able to show, rather than tell someone something. If you’re in the business of “how tos” and other instructional videos, this is especially true.
- Video marketing allows you to avoid Google’s duplicate content penalty. While there is some debate on whether this penalty actually exists, video content is not subject to the same rules as articles and blog posts. This means you can take all the articles you use in your article marketing campaign and turn them into videos without penalty.
- Videos make it easier for you to create new and fresh content regularly. If you are constantly trying to come up with something new to say in articles, this can be frustrating. To keep your website ranking high, you need to keep the fresh content rolling in, and videos allow you to do this without much effort on your part.
- Videos allow you to capture your audience’s attention in a different way. If the visitors are used to reading print and seeing static images, using an audio and video approach will excite them because it is new and different from what they are used to. This alone may be the deciding factor in what causes someone to become a paying customer.
- Videos rank high with search engines. Most keyword phrases you search now feature at least one or two YouTube™ videos on the first page of results. As such, you should be creating a few videos to target each one of the keywords you’re going after in your niche.
- Creating a video doesn’t have to be an expensive endeavor. While you can go all out and stage a major production, it’s not necessary. You can do them for free or cheap. It’s pretty safe to say the majority of the people out there reading this report will not have the budget to stage their own major production, but I do have some information later in this article that will help you create awesome videos.
- Video sharing websites such as YouTube allow users to share their favorite videos on their social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. This is how your videos go “viral.” If someone posts a video of their kitten doing something cute, sends it to a couple of friends and later finds out the video has over a million views within a week or two, then their video is now considered viral. Though it may sound like it’s just too good to be true, the reality is, it happens all the time with videos!
- Basically, when you create videos, other people will do the marketing for
you when they recommend the video to friends, loved ones, and coworkers. As their recommendations reach out to others in their network who they think may enjoy the video, the marketing spreads. - Video marketing is on the rise. It’s not quite the same golden nugget it used to be, so competition is getting close to the same brutality you find with print format. But, there are still plenty of marketers out there who don’t take advantage of this tactic for whatever reason, so there’s no reason to avoid jumping on the bandwagon. Videos will allow you to gain a lot of traffic with a decent conversation rate, without a lot of elbow grease.
- Video websites such as Youtube seem to have a more sizable “community.” You will see plenty of videos with more than a thousand comments, and hundreds of responses to those comments. The people who post the videos are out there talking with one another and forming active relationships. You don’t typically see this on the article marketing outlets.
- Studies indicate video marketing increases traffic, sales, and opt-ins. The majority of marketers who put a real effort into video marketing are happy with their return on investment (ROI.)
Video marketing allows you to show another side of your business and yourself, that you will never be able to showcase with text on a screen. The addition of music and graphics can make things more exciting, which means your visitors will be more likely to really enjoy your content. Visitors who really enjoy the content you are sharing are much more likely to purchase whatever it is you’re
selling.
What Makes Your Video “Great?”
Yes, people really enjoy watching videos online, but that doesn’t mean all you have to do is slap up anything you can come up with and you will see results. If the video you make is crappy and boring, people will not watch it. At the same time though, you don’t have to be some award winning videographer producing a video capable of winning an Oscar before you will be able to captivate your audience. To help you in creating the most effective video, I’m going to share the most common features that most viral videos share.
- Focus on the target audience and their demographics. Who will be watching the video? Young people? Old people? Single men? Married women? Mothers? The target audience of your video will determine the “voice” of the video, along with its tone and message. All of this, in order to be successful and have a shot at becoming viral, needs to appeal to whoever the audience is.
- A good video is not only well made, it is interesting as well. If I had a dime for all the videos I’ve seen full of long pauses, narrations full of “uhs” and “ums” and blank screens where nothing is going on, I’d be rich, and I mean really rich. No matter what niche you’re serving or topic you’re addressing, you need to make sure your videos are interesting and fun to watch. You can do this in a number of ways: adding music in the background, or including funny graphics throughout.
- A good video provides something of value. It can be a short 30-second tip that shows the best way to scoop up cat liter without making a mess, or it could a 10 minute guide that shows how to choose the best litter for your cat. Regardless of the path you take, it needs to be valuable to the person who is watching it. You won’t get very far with a video that says, “Hey! Check out my website!” because this will not increase your traffic or improve your conversion rates. Videos like this will never go viral!
- Videos should give the viewer a small taste of what they are looking for, while leaving them yearning for more. When they want more, they are more likely to visit your website for more information, or to purchase the product or service you are offering. This is the same principle as article marketing. You never want to give away all your information, because if you do, the user doesn’t have any motivation to visit your website, which is where you need them to be.
- As a rule, be generous with the information you provide, but leave the most important and highly sought information on your website, so people will be motivated to visit and get it from you. After they have watched the video, you want them to feel like the most appropriate next step is for them to click the link to your website.
- The more professional your videos look, the more credibility and trust you and your product or service will gain from people. Your reputation will naturally increase, and people will be more inclined to purchase whatever it is you have to offer.
