Why Your Business Should Be Investing In Video

Video content has been used to promote businesses for some time now, think back to the black-and-white Colgate TV adverts. But in recent years, with the number of social media users growing to a staggering 4.9 billion people, marketers have made video content a major part of their marketing strategies. It’s not just jumping on the bandwagon, there’s science behind using video content to aid your business.

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We are now blessed with such a huge variety of video content, from Product videos, webinars, how-to’s, event videos, the list goes on and on. But what is it about this visual content that is so beneficial to businesses? What happened to the written word?

The science behind it

Say you’d been given an IKEA wardrobe, which had six sliding drawers, eight different compartments, four shelves and three hanging rails. You have the option to watch a five-minute YouTube explainer video or scramble through the hideously thick instruction manual. It’s a little bit of a no-brainer, isn’t it? So, the science you’ve been waiting for.

A whopping 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual and our brains can process this visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Our brains not only process visual information faster, but they retain the information better too; studies have revealed that when watching a video, viewers retained 95% of the message compared to 10% when reading the text. This is why video is so crucial in marketing.?

Some of the less science-y reasons:

It humanises your brand

This goes back to the saying ‘people buy from people’. Having videos behind your brand that show employees and what your business is like, gives your business a personality. It also builds trust within your audience.?

Drives traffic

Especially with social media video content, you’re opening the doors to the potential reach of billions of people. If the video content is successful and creates interest, this will drive traffic to your website and lead to conversions.

Easier than ever to create video content

With the evolution of smartphones, it’s as easy as point and click to film a video. Short social media videos can be created quickly at the hands of your smartphone!?

Highly shareable

Thanks to technology, you can share videos whenever, wherever, and to whoever. We all enjoy video content, and we are more likely to share it with friends or family vs other types of content.?

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Creates a reaction

Unlike text alone, videos can evoke strong emotions, such as happiness, laughter, sadness, and love. With these emotions, customers are motivated to take action. That could be sharing the video, or following the call to action.

Why wouldn’t you?

On average, people watch 19 hours of online video content per week. That’s a staggering 41.16 days’ worth of content watched per year, per person. It’s no wonder that so far in 2023, 86% of businesses are using video in their marketing plans. Why wouldn’t they?

You might now be thinking, ‘ok my business needs more video content, but of what?’. Below are some good starting points that can apply to most businesses;

Explainer videos:

This can work for both product and service providers. How can your product or service benefit the end user? Having explainer videos is a quick and easy way to answer this question for the customer.?

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Demo videos:

Similar to explainer videos, demo videos are for those customers that are already interested in your business. These go a little more into depth than the explainer videos. In these, you can make the customer aware of any features or benefits that might drive interest.

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Interviews/ Q&A’s:

With any product or service business, having a Q&A page is a great idea. Having these questions answered by an employee in a video is even better. Interviews also are a great idea for team pages, where customers can find out a little bit more about the employees of the business.?

Event videos:

If you’re a business which hosts events or is involved with any, creating promotional videos in the run-up to the event is a fantastic way to gain interest and generate sales if it’s a ticketed event. Likewise, it’s great to have the actual event captured too, as this can be used as promotional material for any future events.

Testimonials/Case Studies:

Using testimonials of prior service users/customers is an invaluable way of showing off how good your product/service is. Think of it this way, if you were going to try out a new restaurant, you’d check out the reviews first.?

With nine out of ten customers wanting to see video content online, there’s no denying using video content in marketing is a wise idea. Whether you’re aiming to increase sales, brand awareness or drive traffic, it’s worth incorporating video content into your marketing strategy.