When it comes to digital marketing, brand video is the hardest worker in the room. The rise and dominance of video-sharing platforms online make it no surprise that video has taken the top spot in the marketing lineup. But out of all the videos online today, branded video content is the one that sticks. Here’s why.
Brand videos create lasting impressions and long-term engagement opportunities between you and your customers or future customers. Why does this matter so much? Because audience engagement is the key to marketing ROI.
Customer engagement may sound like a buzzword, but engagement is the goal of marketing. Wait, what? Aren’t leads and sales the goals of marketing? Yes, of course, they are. But understand that you’ll never attract leads and close deals unless you first have audience engagement.
Audience or customer engagement is the catalyst that kicks off the entire sales process—and nothing engages an audience better than brand video. Getting your ideal customer’s attention, drawing them into your story, prompting conversations with them, informing, and entertaining them are the elements that lead consumers to make purchasing decisions. Don’t believe us? Check out these stats from Wyzowl.com:
As you can see, consumers want videos from you more than any other form of content marketing. Not only will brand videos impact traffic, leads, and sales, but they will also do more to make a long-term impression on your audience.
Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What is the first thing you do when you consider buying a new product or hiring a new service? You research what’s available online. Think about what types of questions you may type into a search engine. Maybe you want to know how much something costs or how something works.
On the other hand, you may just want to know the best available products or services relative to your immediate needs. In this stage, what you’re really looking for is information—but that’s not all. You’re looking for content that is useful, easy to understand, and to the point.
Brand videos accomplish this better than any other form of content marketing by giving your customers a deeper understanding of your company’s products and services. In many ways, you can use brand videos to pre-qualify your traffic so that the leads in your funnel are more likely to covert.
Some businesses may be reluctant to “give away” too much information to potential customers on the front end because they prefer to have a live conversation. Sales departments have used this tactic for generations, but the internet has changed the landscape.
Think about this: customers can (and will) do their own research and investigation before ever speaking with a member of your sales team. Now, thanks to Google, the customer has all the information they need at their fingertips.
In many ways, this unprecedented access to information puts the customer in the position of a salesman because they can find the answers on their own. The majority of the answers to their questions are easily found online.
Knowing this, it’s much more effective for you to create videos that answer those questions. Then optimize the videos on your website and post them to your social media channels. Make it easy for potential customers to learn from you rather than your competitors.
Don’t be afraid of answering your customers’ most pressing questions on your website because they will find the answer before they ever contact you. It is better for them to hear it from you than from someone else because it positions you as a trustworthy authority, a guide who is willing and able to help them discover their own solutions.
Because people want to be in the driver’s seat, they’re going to do their homework and be ready to discuss products and services before they pick up the phone to schedule a meeting. So if you produce videos that answer those questions, it makes it easier for them to see your brand as the solution to their problems.
Tactically speaking, the way businesses market their products and services is constantly evolving. Every year, it seems like there are new technologies and platforms to leverage and learn to maintain a competitive advantage. But even with the myriad of tactics available today, some aspects of marketing are not going away, and brand videos are here to stay.
If you have questions or need help with any part of video marketing services, please schedule a meeting with us to learn more. We would love to help you create brand videos that produce ongoing ROI for your business.