Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful and How to Include It in Your Strategy

A whopping 82% of all online traffic is video, and that number is only expected to grow. With an 800% increase in online video plays over the last few years, there’s no denying it: video marketing is not only here to stay — it’s set to take over.

But what exactly makes video marketing so powerful? More importantly, how do you harness the power of video marketing in a highly competitive digital market?

Keep reading to discover the power of video marketing and how you can leverage it to boost engagement, increase conversions and experience immense growth in your business:

Why Is Video Marketing So Powerful?

Video marketing uses video content to market products, provide relevant information, and drive sales. Videos are informative, entertaining, and emotionally engaging, hence their popularity. But that’s not all there is to it.

Here are 8 key reasons video marketing is so powerful:

1. Appeals to changing consumer needs and habits

Internet users prefer to learn about brands, products, and services through videos. They also like to watch videos about a business before making a purchase. Videos allow you to get to the point quickly, which is something time-starved consumers appreciate. They are also a welcome reprieve from all the static imagery and text on the web.

2. Increases engagement and retention

Generally, people remember images better than text. In other words, your videos will help viewers absorb and retain more information in less time. This is great if you have complex products or services, as videos can explain how everything works in an engaging way.

Visual demonstrations are easier for viewers to grasp and help viewers visualise the benefits of your product.

3. Inspires trust

Video marketing is a great way to ease customer concerns about online shopping. Videos create a sense of trust and establish your business as a reliable source of information, products, or services. Viewers will have proof that you exist and have a sense of how your products and services will operate in their lives.

4. Increases competitiveness

In today’s market, online visibility and brand awareness are a source of competitive advantage. Having good quality videos on various marketing channels and platforms, such as YouTube, can give you a strong edge over competitors. As video content on YouTube now appears in search results, quality videos are guaranteed to get you noticed first.

5. Boosts ROI

Unlike other forms of content that must be tweaked for various platforms and channels, a single video can be shared across multiple platforms and generate massive returns. This is why 88% of marketers state that video has a higher return on investment than other marketing strategies.

Video production is now more cost-effective, and conversation rates for video content are much higher. So even a modest investment into a great video marketing strategy can yield massive returns.

6. Improves search engine rankings

Video content can be tagged with relevant keywords to enhance your SEO. Did you know that videos now influence search rankings more than ever?

In fact, having a video on your site’s landing page makes you 53% more likely to get a top spot on Google’s search results. That’s not all: as videos increase your website session times, this signals to Google that your content is relevant, which in turn, improves your rankings.

7. Encourages social sharing

Since you’re engaging your audience on a more personal level, they’re more likely to share your content with friends. As videos can easily be shared on social media platforms, this can

increase your visibility and reach at no extra cost. Social sharing also encourages referral traffic, which is four times more likely to lead to more sales.

8. Boosts mobile marketing

Mobile use is skyrocketing, and this presents fresh challenges for businesses to make their marketing strategies more mobile-friendly. With over half of all videos being played on mobile devices, it comes as no surprise that mobile users are the driving force behind increasing global video consumption rates.

If you’re looking to increase your reach and take advantage of mobile marketing, video marketing is one of the best ways to do so.

How Does Video Marketing Help with Conversions?

83% of businesses say that video has helped them increase their conversion rate. The question is, how exactly does video marketing increase conversion?

These are three ways in which it works:

1. Increases traffic

Video attracts more traffic than other forms of content, and an increase in traffic is strongly associated with higher conversion rates. Videos also contribute to referral traffic through social sharing, and referral traffic has some of the highest conversion rates.

2. Generates leads

Videos are quicker and easier to consume. They also engage more senses and accommodate more learning styles than other forms of text-based content. This makes them powerful lead magnets.

The more relevant your video magnets are, the more leads you’ll have to nurture. It doesn’t end there: a good video marketing strategy can actually guide leads from one stage of the buyer’s journey to the next and help you convert them into paying customers.

3. Influences purchasing decisions

Videos can directly boost sales. Landing page videos increase conversion rate by an impressive 80%. Additionally, over 90% of customers admit that watching a video influences their purchasing decisions.

Should Video Marketing Be Included in Your Strategy?

When even internet giants like Google consider video marketing indispensable, there’s no doubt you should include it in your digital marketing strategy. After all, it’s an excellent way to strengthen all the other aspects of your marketing.

With notable benefits such as greater awareness, engagement, and conversions, video marketing can, without a doubt, help your business succeed.

How To Include Video Marketing in Your Strategy

There are many ways to incorporate video into your marketing strategy. Ensuring that each video addresses your audience’s challenges and offers them a solution is crucial. The key isn’t to follow fads or trends but to create a video marketing strategy that supports the rest of your marketing strategy.

Attracting customers

If you’re looking to increase brand awareness, build trust, and attract visitors, your videos should resonate with their pain points and offer feasible solutions. This is possible through the following:

• Short videos that showcase your values and brand personality
• Brand videos that communicate your mission and values
• Thought Leadership videos that establish you as a credible authority on a particular matter
• Explainer or how-to videos with relevant tips or problem-solving insights

Capturing high-quality leads

As lead magnets, videos can play a crucial role in capturing high-quality leads. The best video lead magnets inform and excite prospects. They also prime potential customers for further marketing communications. The most effective videos to use are:

• Webinars offering insights and advice
• Product demos
• Landing page or promotional videos
• Case study videos
• In-depth explainer and how-to videos

Increasing sales

Videos can boost sales and help the customer visualise their problem being solved. Some of the best videos to achieve this are:fc

• Authentic testimonial videos
• Product reviews
• In-depth product demos
• Culture videos highlight your commitment to quality service
• Personalised videos that explain exactly how your product can help them

Retaining customers

As customer retention guarantees the growth and continuity of a business, that should be your next priority. So, once you’ve successfully turned leads into customers, focus on turning them into loyal fans by providing compelling content that enhances their experience with your brand. You can do this through the following:

• Thank you videos
• Post-purchase onboarding videos
• Educational/training videos
• Social videos that encourage sharing

How To Create an Effective Video Marketing Strategy

To reap its vast range of benefits, your business needs a well-thought-out video marketing strategy. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Determine your target audience

To set your video marketing strategy up for success, gather detailed information about your target demographic and the type of video content that would appeal to them. If you haven’t defined your buyer personas, now is the perfect time to do so.

Step 2: Define your goals

For maximum results, figure out what you want your video marketing strategy to achieve and let that guide your efforts. Do you want to boost traffic and sales? Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Perhaps you want to achieve all of the above.

Well, the key is to pick your goals wisely, determine resources you can dedicate to each goal, and then create the video content that will help you get there. Your video marketing strategy will also be easier to track if you define your goals. Again, your goals should guide which key performance indicators you choose to monitor.

Step 3: Consider your competitive landscape

Analyse your fiercest competitors to understand what your market responds to. What platforms are your competitors leveraging? What can you do better? This will give you an indication of where to focus your efforts.

Step 4: Identify the best platforms to distribute your video

The key advantage of video content is that it can be distributed across various platforms. However, not all videos will work on all channels, so you’ll need to base your selections on factors such as your goals, target audience and the unique requirements of each platform:

LinkedIn: is best for B2B

Facebook and Instagram: are best for how-to videos and product reviews

YouTube: is best for longer content such as tutorials

Your website: don’t forget to imbed videos in landing pages or blog pages to enhance their quality

Step 5: Design and create your content

With your goals and resources in mind, tailor your video content to your audience’s wants and needs. Aim for brand consistency; otherwise, you risk appearing inconsistent and disorganised.

It’s important to stick to one or two goals per video. If you aim for too many, your videos will be unfocused, and viewers will have a hard time figuring out what to do next. Authentic videos are more likely to create a sense of trust and position you as credible.

Next, focus on delivering your content as concisely as possible. Eliminating unnecessary information will help get your points across faster and encourage more engagement.

Step 6: Publish and optimise your videos

Once you’ve edited and finalised your videos, give them a boost by placing keywords in the descriptions, video titles and meta tags. Be sure to use attractive thumbnails and compelling titles to increase engagement. To make your videos more accessible, and increase viewership, consider adding captions.

Step 7: Monitor performance

As feedback comes in, use it to refine your video marketing strategy. The more information you gather about the effectiveness of your videos, the better you’ll get at creating content that delivers the results you want. You should be able to track essential video marketing KPIs on the content analytics tools you already use.

Video Marketing Dos and Don’ts

As a video marketer, what should you be doing? What shouldn’t you be doing? As you integrate video into your marketing efforts, keep these things in mind:

Dos:

• Incorporate video into your existing content to boost engagement and achieve your conversion goals more efficiently
• Include animated videos in your strategy to increase engagement and keep production costs low
• Outsource video creation to a professional full-service video marketing agency, as this can save you valuable time and money
• Track the performance of your videos to make them better and identify content gaps or issues
• Partner with influencers to take brand engagement to a whole new level
• Provide supporting text content so that users don’t leave your site if they don’t want to watch a video

Don’ts:

• Avoid creating content that doesn’t connect to your audience’s challenges or habits
• Investing in video content that isn’t evergreen
• Not updating your videos
• Failing to improve your video marketing strategy
• Having broken video links on your website
• Misleading or tricking customers into watching your videos and other clickbait tactics

Final Thoughts

As the demand for video content grows, video marketing is emerging as one of the most effective ways to engage audiences. Video marketing has evolved far beyond building awareness or increasing engagement; it is now a powerful way to maximise conversions and customer retention rates.

The message is clear: if you’re not harnessing the power of video marketing, you’re losing out.