Like many other businesses, you might have been struggling to attract new customers over the past couple of years due to economic hardships. Naturally, this isn’t good, as an inability to attract customers usually leads to a business going bust. Obviously, you won’t want your business to go bust, which is why you need to start attracting as many customers as you possible can. The solution? Video content.
The world has now entered a new era of digital marketing where video content is king. Now, all kinds of businesses, from small start-ups to big brand names like Apple, are using video content to attract customers — and it’s working extremely well.
- 71% of B2B marketers and 66% of B2C marketers use video content
- 91% of modern customers prefer visual content as their main form of information delivery
Moving into the future, it’s highly likely that almost all businesses will make the transition to producing video content for their customers. After all, the modern customer has become highly visual, which means the days of text-based marketing are coming to an end. This is something to be very excited about, as video marketing provides the ultimate platform for creativity.
In this guide, you can discover how and why you should use video content to attract customers over the coming decade. By the end, you’ll be ready to transform your digital marketing and take it to the next level through the power of video.
What is Video Marketing?
Video marketing is when you create or share video content that’s designed to gain interest from customers. This is a very popular type of digital marketing that has become even more valuable since the start of the internet and social media eras, where customers are encountering video content almost every hour of every day.
You can name any industry and it’s guaranteed that the businesses in that specific industry use video content to attract customers. As a general example, let’s look at the fast-growing online gambling industry, which has started to experience major success over recent years thanks to video content. When planning a video marketing strategy, it’s important to consider video production costs, as high-quality production can significantly impact the effectiveness and reach of your content.
In the online gambling industry, there are online sportsbooks and online casinos. Unsurprisingly, online casinos are especially popular due to the simple fact that they allow anyone above the legal gambling age to play online casino games over the internet, such as online roulette and video poker. This site focuses on certified games that have incredible visuals that are enhanced through bright and captivating colors. They have expanded the visual content of their games by including options like Vinnie Jones Roulette which you can play and interact with a generated Vinnie Jones host. Using these highly visually appealing games in marketing would naturally draw people to the site.
Now, if you ever open social media or see a television advertisement from an online casino, the focus will be on the visuals. Very little text will be involved, as that’s not what consumers want to see. Instead, they want to see how good the casino games look and what they can offer to them — simple.
Outside of the gambling industry, you also see these industries use video marketing a lot:
- Gaming
- Healthcare
- Real Estate
- Automotive
- Education
That’s barely scratching the surface, though, as almost every major industry on the planet now uses video content to its advantage. No matter which industry your business operates in, you’d be crazy not to do this, too.
The Different Types of Video Marketing
Video marketing is a wide term. The truth is that there are many different types of video marketing, including:
- How-to videos
- Educational videos
- Q&As
- Live videos
- Product and feature videos
- Explainer videos
- Customer testimonials
- Animation videos
- Behind-the-scenes videos
The general idea is that you produce as much relevant video content across these different categories as possible to avoid your business’s video marketing from becoming one-dimensional.
These days, a large number of businesses use content planning tools and software so that they can produce different video content each calendar month. For example, you could have several how-to videos and customer testimonials in the pipeline that are scheduled to be released later on in the month — you get the idea.
Of course, your business should also have at least one (but ideally several) content marketing experts who can produce the video content that your business needs to be successful. They should also be equipped with the tools they need, from high-quality cameras to video editing software, such as Pollo AI.
What Platforms Should You Use for Video Marketing?
In terms of which platforms you can use for your video marketing, you’re truly spoilt for choice. As of 2023, there are countless different platforms you can use to post business videos that gain positive attention. Let’s take a closer look at some of the obvious ones.
Your Business Site
Firstly, the obvious platform: your business site.
One of the best ways to attract customers to your website is by regularly posting helpful and informative video content, whether it’s product tutorials or industry Q&As. As soon as people find your videos through Google, they’re going to click on them. If your videos are good quality, then customers will stick around and see what else your business site has to offer (e.g., your products and services).
It’s important to draw attention to the fact that your business site needs to be mobile friendly so that customers using their smartphones can still view your videos. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, then the videos won’t play and the structure of your site pages will be a mess, which isn’t a good way to make a positive impression. As soon as your business site is mobile-friendly and ready to go, you can start posting video content there.
Also, make sure all of your video content is high-definition or 4K. Any low-quality videos (such as 360p) imply that you don’t care about the quality of your video content, which (again) isn’t good for making lasting impressions with website visitors.
YouTube
According to The Social Shepard, a huge 55% of business marketers now use YouTube to post video content. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as YouTube is one of the most valuable tools available to businesses when it comes to video content. Providing that you post videos that are fun, informative, and entertaining, they’re going to gain traction.
Plus, as your business channels gets more subscribers and people start to like your videos, your future YouTube videos will then perform positively in the YouTube algorithm, allowing even more potential customers to discover your content.
If your business has yet to join YouTube, it’s highly recommended that you do it today (there’s nothing to lose, as YouTube is still free for businesses to use). After joining YouTube, make sure you get your channel branding right, from your company logo to the banner image. Once this is done, you can then start posting videos.
As you already know by now, video content is king. However, there’s a specific type of video content that’s currently performing exceptionally well, and that’s short-form video content.
This is a type of video content that’s incredibly popular on both YouTube and TikTok (which is discussed in the next section). On YouTube, you can post short-form content via YouTube Shorts, which is a relatively new YouTube feature. On YouTube Shorts, videos are vertical and can be up to 60 seconds, but a typical YouTube Shorts video is around 15 seconds.
The reason why businesses are attracting millions of new customers through YouTube Shorts is because the modern customer loves short-form video. Boost Your TikTok Views by creating engaging and impactful short-form content that captures attention quickly and effectively. You have to remember that you are competing in a crowded online market. Customers don’t want to sit through 10-minute-long videos that aren’t exciting. Instead, they want short, instant impact videos that provide essential information with minimal fuss.
TikTok
In the space of just a few years, TikTok has gone from a relatively unknown social media platform to a worldwide craze.
- As of today, TikTok has been downloaded over 3 billion times
- Each month, over 1 billion users actively engage with TikTok
Because TikTok exploded in popularity with both young and old generations, it didn’t take long for most major businesses to tap into the platform and start using it for video marketing purposes. Now, if you were to search for your favorite brand or business on TikTok, it will more than likely pop up in the results.
The reason why TikTok has become the go-to platform for video marketing is because it’s a short-form social media site that allows videos to run from 15 to 60 seconds. The short nature of TikTok videos has captured the attention of billions of people around the world, as there’s nothing more fun than opening your TikTok feed and flicking through countless fun and entertaining short videos that have been perfectly crafted to your taste through the TikTok algorithm. You also have to take into account that TikTok has built-in filters, text, and music that you can add to your business videos, which are great for attracting customers.
Just like YouTube Shorts, it’s strongly advised that you create a TikTok business account and start posting content as soon as possible. Although TikTok isn’t great for B2B conversions, it’s absolutely amazing for B2C conversions because of the simple fact that you have a huge audience to work with. Providing you use the right video tags and post interesting content; people are going to see your TikTok videos. If one of your videos manages to go viral, then there’s no telling how many new customers you might get as a result.
Facebook isn’t as popular as it used to be. However, it’s still a great social media platform for businesses to use and post video content, providing that the content is captivating enough to gain attention.
With Facebook, your video content should incorporate some element of storytelling, as this is super important. Facebook isn’t a short-form platform, so you have more of an opportunity to post longer (and more educational) videos without driving customers away. This is why over 200 million businesses still continue to use Facebook, despite the rise of TikTok.
Next, there’s Instagram.
Instagram falls under the same category as TikTok in the fact that it’s a visual social media platform that’s largely centered around short-form video.
On Instagram, your business has the perfect opportunity to post lots of interesting video (and image) content. As a result, you can drive your brand awareness through the roof and direct thousands of new customers to your business site.
Also, don’t forget that the modern customer expects you to use Instagram. This is because it’s what most other businesses do, and they want to see the type of video content that you have to offer. For example, if your business sells refurbished smartphones, customers will want to visit your IG page to see short-form videos of your refurbished smartphones to see their quality and how your brand packages them.
No matter which country you operate in, you should add Instagram to your social media portfolio. This is especially important if you’re operating in the US, which is a country where customers love to engage with brands on Instagram. Currently, according to InstagramBusiness, over 25 million US businesses (and counting) use Instagram. By the end of the decade, you can expect this number to have potentially doubled or even tripled as more businesses start to make the transition to producing high-quality video content on social media.
Finally, another great platform your business can use for posting video content is LinkedIn.
Think of LinkedIn as the ‘Facebook of the business world’. Here, businesses can network with each other, find new employees, and ultimately grow their brand reputation.
Of course, any post you make on LinkedIn has the potential to reach thousands of eyes. Naturally, the most popular posts are usually those that are in video format, so this is something important to bear in mind.
For example, a lot of businesses post customer testimonials on their LinkedIn pages. This works for a number of reasons, but primarily because it shows other businesses and customers that you’re a trustworthy brand. After all, brand reputation is key if you want to attract customers in today’s world.
When you upload video content from your desktop to LinkedIn, it can be a maximum of 15 minutes long. It’s recommended that you upload the maximum possible resolution and make your videos as educational as possible. It’s worth remembering that LinkedIn is more of an educational and informative platform instead of a short-form entertainment marketing platform, such as TikTok. Therefore, if you aren’t sure where to post your longer videos, look no further than LinkedIn.
The Benefits of Video Marketing for Businesses
So far, you’ve learned what video marketing is, the different types of video marketing, and the various platforms that you can use to post video content. Now, it’s time to run through some of the main benefits of video marketing for businesses if you need a little extra convincing in regards to how effective it is.
Grow Your Audience
The number one benefit of video marketing is that you can grow your audience in a short period of time, especially if your target customers are on the younger side. Video content is known for receiving high levels of engagement, especially on social media platforms, which is exactly why businesses are upping their video marketing budgets so that they can create better video content for potential customers. For video creating, you can leverage full-service video production, a comprehensive solution that handles every aspect of video production, from concept to final edit. With professional guidance and expertise, you can ensure that your video content resonates with your target audience, driving higher engagement and ultimately helping you grow your business.
Optimized Videos Are Easy to Find on Google
If your videos are well-optimized and high-quality, they’ll appear further up Google’s search engine results. In simple terms, this makes your videos easier to find and more visible, which is great for boosting all-round brand awareness.
Influence Customers
Sometimes, it’s hard to convince customers why your products are good through text advertising. Video marketing solves this problem by allowing you to visually show your products and what they can do. Best of all, you can show your products in an entertaining and educational way that captures people’s attention, which is something that’s very difficult to do through text and images alone.
Boost Your Brand and Customer Trust
People are visual beings. This is why many of them love video content; it allows information to be gathered and processed more quickly. On top of this, video marketing (when done right) translates to strong brand recognition and customer trust. Through your video content, customers can attach visuals to your brand name and remember you much more easily, which is exactly what you want to happen.
Be More Creative
Through video marketing, you and your marketing team can be way more creative. If you speak to any marketing pro, they’ll tell you that video marketing is the ultimate tool for creativity and trying out new things, which is why some of the best marketing content you see is usually in video format. Therefore, moving ahead, you should start a video content marketing calendar and allow your team to get to work on producing some fresh and exciting videos that can start attracting lots of new customers.
I am a committed and seasoned content creator with expertise in the realms of technology, marketing, and WordPress. My initial foray into the world of WordPress occurred during my time at WebFactory Ltd, and my involvement in this field continues to grow. Armed with a solid background in electrical engineering and IT, coupled with a fervor for making technology accessible to the masses, my goal is to connect intricate technical ideas with approachable and captivating content.