Why you should consider more content
Your competitors are currently using video and their consumers are loving every second of it.
This is quite a bold statement, however for the most part it’s true. 81% of businesses use video within their marketing strategy, and 72% of people “Would rather use video to learn about a product or service”. (Hubspot, 2019)
Audiences are getting more tech savvy and are prioritising multimedia content, be it for convenience or entertainment purposes. The fact is, if your company doesn’t embrace video soon then you risk playing catch up with your competitors or worse yet, being left behind entirely.
Don’t worry though! Below we explore the reasons why video can work wonders for your marketing, along with some helpful tips to get you started in producing video content.
Reason #1 – Accessibility
Technology gets quicker, increasingly sophisticated and more portable year on year. Mobile phones are common place nowadays, and simply looking around in public you’ll notice all sorts of people on their phones.
In fact, over half of all video content is viewed on mobile, and 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others. (WordStream, 2018)
By ignoring video content, you are essentially handicapping your business’s audience reach and brand awareness.
Reason #2 – Creating a connection
Chances are you’ve cried more times at a movie than you have a book. It’s no surprise considering that movies can have all sorts of tools available to help provoke an emotional response. Whereas with reading we are limited by our imagination.
Why is this important? Because emotional responses encourage people to act and become more memorable. Some examples of this are:
- Almost any donation TV advert. The honest and unfiltered footage showing the heart-breaking realities on camera encourages an emotional response. We feel empathy for those on screen, so we donate money, not to mention the honest footage will stay with us for a while after the advert is over.
- The next example showcases how video has the capability to tell stories in a quick, but extremely effective way to help create a memorable emotional connection.
It’s almost become a yearly tradition at this point for the John Lewis advert to melt the hearts of the nation in the run up to Christmas. The example below highlights how we shouldn’t allow the elderly to be lonely over Christmas, shown through a girl using a telescope to look at a man on the moon.
Quick, effective and tear-inducing!
Reason #3 – Talking point
Following on from the John Lewis example, videos can be a great talking point for your audience. Video accessibility and share-ability make it a lot easier to spread to the masses unlike other marketing content.
It’s worth noting that the John Lewis video actually has nothing to do with the store itself. Take a minute to think about some popular adverts. A gorilla playing the drums? Chocolate advert. A massive red truck covered in lights driving around? Fizzy drink advert. Someone milking a giraffe? Sweet advert.
You can do all sorts of weird and wonderful things with your video content. The trick is finding something that will grab your audience’s attention within the mass of other content online at the moment.
How to create your own marketing videos
First things first, get your thinking cap on. Pinpoint exactly the kind of video content that would benefit your business. In this blog we’ve focused on company/product promotions, but there are all sorts of content you can create. Instructional videos, product unboxing videos, service explanation videos. The list can go on for a while!
However, video production on a budget is entirely possible. The two crucial bits of kit you’ll need are:
- A camera
- Editing software
If you don’t want to/can’t buy a new camera, then chances are the camera on your phone will be good enough to get you started! In regard to editing software, there are some great paid options, for example, the Adobe Suite. Or if you’re on a tight budget there are some free bits of editing software you can use! For example, iMovie or Openshot.
Worried about the time involved?
You might be thinking that producing videos takes a long time and thus isn’t the most efficient use of your time. That doesn’t have to be the case. Yes, videos do take longer than your average blog, but if done correctly they can still be produced quickly and easily!
To save yourself some time with your video content here are two tips that you can use right away:
Tip 1: Mass record
Say for example you want to create a suite of mini videos for social media that are simply a person explaining a topic or a piece of jargon. Before the filming, plan to film multiple videos at the same time. Ask the person in front of camera to learn multiple scripts and bring along 5 different outfits on the day of filming.
The different outfits will make it look like the videos were shot on different days and you’ll be saving yourself so much time by not having to set up/pack away the equipment all the time.
Tip two: Repurposing content
This is where you take your piece of ‘master content’ and create multiple smaller bits of content off the back of it.
For example, imagine you’ve filmed an interview with the owner of a new bakery. The big bit of content is the entire filmed interview. You can then do the following:
- Isolate the audio only and create a podcast
- Write a blog from the interview
- Split the interview into individual videos for social media
- Take specific quotes and create designed social media posts
All of this content can be created without the need for new software or equipment and will help improve your content reach potential!
