I remember the days when videos were the sort of the “rec room” of content real estate: Nice to have if budget and space allows, but not something you’d give up your dining room for. Today it’s a different story. More and more companies and their sales teams are starved for videos to help tell their story.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the kind of self-promoting advertising video that forces unwitting participants to watch the countdown clock for the “skip this ad” icon that lets them move on to the content they really want. Rather, whether you have a video that tells your story — or more accurately, a video that tells the story of the promise you offer others? It may seem cost prohibitive, particularly when it may cost a quarter of your entire annual budget — but then again, it may be as critical to reaching your audience these days as having a website.
Consider this:
- 76% of consumers cite video as their preferred method of consuming brand information. That’s a stat from Brightcove, referenced in an article on the increasing power of video.
- 75% of C-level executives watch business related videos every week, says Brainshark in their white paper, Marketing in the Social-Mobile-Video Age. The company also produced a nifty video called “10 Must-See Stats for Video Marketing” that says nearly 60% of senior decision makers prefer online video to text-based communication. Check out the video for other eye opening stats.
- And according to Software Advice’s 2014 Demand Generation Benchmark, videos were the #1 go-to content type for lead generation (used by 92 percent of respondents) — exceeding surveys, white papers and case studies. Not only that, videos were most commonly cited as producing a very high volume of leads.
So the business case for creating video is definitely there. But don’t waste the opportunity — be strategic about how you use video. Marketing expert Gordon G. Andrew makes a great point about the power of “intrinsic selling” in this piece. To paraphrase, don’t just produce a case study about what you’ve done for other clients. Instead, create content that engages the recipient in a dialogue about their world and how you can add value. He hits close to home about tying real social content (customer focused) to a highly engaging Website, one that likely has meaty content — video included — that helps your audience understand and believe your value, and inspires them to take action.
At the end of the day, online video is subject to the same rigors and skepticism that impact TV advertising. No one is going to take your word for anything hook, line and sinker. There is however, something magical about video. There’s a reason that watching movies (whether fantasy or reality) leaves us with an impression and recall of what we’ve seen. There is a reason that those of us who no longer sit in front of the TV each night have moved to watching video on the Web rather than clicking through article and posts.
So get yourself a video. At Modo Modo, we’re busy creating compelling videos for many of our clients. Of course, we may help you with strategy, brand work, internal communications, digital content and a million other incredibly important approaches. Just know that if video is one of them — we totally get it.
