What is video marketing and why it is important for brands

Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to capture the attention and connect with your target audience. It’s no surprise then that 86 percent of marketers report that they use video as part of their marketing tool. 

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Data collected from Statista also showed that an estimated 3.37 billion users watched videos on the internet in 2022. And this number is projected to reach 3.5 billion in 2023. What this means is that if videos aren’t part of your marketing strategy, you are missing out on opportunities to reach new audiences. 

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Depending on your brand goals, there are many ways video marketing can be beneficial to your business. So in this article, we will look at why video marketing is important for brands. But first, let’s define what video marketing is. 

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What is video marketing?

Video marketing is the use of videos to promote your product or service, educate your audience, and increase brand awareness and engagement across digital and social media channels

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They are many types of ways video is used in marketing, such as:

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• Video advertisements:  Video ads can be in different formats. You can have video ads on traditional TV, sponsored ads on social media, and video banner ads that appear as advertisements on websites and landing pages.
• Product/feature video: This type of video highlights the features of your product or service. It educates potential customers on what you do and why they should choose your product over your competitors.
• Live video: Live videos allow brands to connect with their audience in real time. They are effective for making company announcements, Q&As with customers, and interviews.
• User-generated video: User-generated videos are videos that are created by the customers of a brand. Brands can curate these videos and integrate the UGC into their content marketing strategy. For further reading, check out 5 ways brands are taking advantage of UGC.
• Educational, how-to, and tutorial videos: These types of videos allow brands to deliver value to their audience in other ways aside from selling a product. Sharing tutorials and educational videos is an effective way to position your brand as an authority. When your audience sees your brand as a source of useful and reliable information, they will be more likely to purchase from you because they already trust you. 
• Case study video: Case studies allow you to demonstrate your brand’s value to potential customers. It shows them that you can deliver on your promise because you have done it in the past.
• Testimonial videos: These videos showcase a satisfied customer complimenting your product or service. Using testimonials in your promotional strategy can help you drive more sales as 79% of people say that they have watched a video testimonial about a brand, product, or service before making a purchase decision. 

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Why video marketing is important for brands

There are several key benefits that brands get when they use video in their marketing efforts. Let’s take a look at the key benefits.

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Video marketing helps boost conversion and sales

Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to convert your viewers into paying customers. And marketers support this statement too. According to a benchmark report from Vidyard, 98% of marketers say that video converts the same or better than other forms of content. 

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Marketers also aren’t the only ones who agree with the effectiveness of video. 95% of B2B buyers say that videos play a crucial role in helping them make purchase decisions. 91% of customers also say they want to see more online video content from their favorite brands. 

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There are many reasons why videos are effective in helping businesses drive conversions and sales.

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Firstly, videos quickly grab the attention of your audience. They are just more engaging than texts.   

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Hubspot surveyed over 3000 respondents to find out which kind of content most attracts customers’ attention. The survey result showed that more than half of the people surveyed preferred videos, followed by interactive articles and social media content. 

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Another reason why video drives conversions is that it improves brand recall. 

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Most people experience difficulty remembering what they read over time. But this isn’t the same with video. 80% of customers will remember a video that they watched in the past month. On the other hand, most of them won’t remember a text ad they saw within that same timeframe. 

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Video allows you to package information in a format that is more memorable. So even if the customer doesn’t make a purchase decision immediately, your product or service will be the first thing to come to mind when they are ready to buy. 

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Lastly, video helps increase buying intent.

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As customers move through your purchase funnel, videos can help push them further down– moving them from just interested customers to paying ones. 85% of people aged between 18-34 say they have purchased a product after watching a video. 

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Here are some effective ways you can use video content in your purchase funnel. 

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• For the top of the funnel, you can use brand films that promote your brand’s values and mission. Educational or entertaining videos will also allow you to deliver value while engaging with your audience as they get to learn about your brand.
• In the middle of the funnel, your customer has a clearly defined problem and has become a prospect or lead. You can use videos here to nurture these leads. Effective video choices are product/service videos, case studies, or testimonial videos. You can also use “about us” videos to give the customers reasons why they should choose you over a competitor. 
• At the bottom of the funnel, the customer is ready to make their purchase decision. You can use FAQ, instructional, or demo videos here. And do not forget to send a thank you video after the end of the transaction. 

Videos are great for SEO and help boost website traffic

Adding videos to your marketing strategy can significantly boost your SEO efforts and help you drive more traffic to your website and landing pages. In 2022, 87% of marketers said that video helped them increase their web traffic. Data from Lemonlight showed that by including videos in their existing posts, they increased organic traffic from 10% to 250%.

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Including video in your content also gives you the opportunity to capture “rich results or snippets” in the search engine result pages (SERPs). 

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Getting any kind of rich snippets is beneficial for SEO and will significantly boost your traffic. But if they are video rich results, the traffic potential even increases. According to this Google SERP study, video rich results get more clicks than most other types of rich results. The click-through rate (CTR) for video rich results is 62% making it one of the top-performing rich result types. This includes both branded and non-branded keywords. 

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Video marketing boosts brand awareness and social media engagement

On social media, using video is one of the most effective ways to increase brand awareness and engagement. Videos get more impressions, views, and engagement than photos posted on social media. Reports from Biteable even show that social video generates up to 1200% more shares than images and text combined. Also, most viewers will remember 95% of the message they watched in the video compared to only 10% recall after reading it in a text. 

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There are different video formats you can use when marketing your brand and product on social media. The three main ways are short-form videos, live videos, and long-form videos. Let’s briefly examine why each of these formats works on social media.

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Short-form video

Not all video content formats are created equally. Reports from a recent survey found that 66% of consumers find short-form video content more engaging than any other social media content. It’s no surprise then that TikTok is the most engaging social media platform by engagement rate. And the engagement from TikTok also translates into sales. 55% of TikTok users say that they have made a purchase after seeing it on the platform. 

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Instagram and Youtube also show the value of short-form videos. 

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In 2022, Reels had the most reach of all media types and double the engagement rate of other post types on Instagram. YouTube Shorts also passed 1.5 billion monthly active users as of June 2022.

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The main reason why short-form videos work so well is that they are bite-sized and can be consumed on the go. Your target audience’s attention is being sought after by many other brands, so short videos allow you to capture their attention quickly. Plus, short-form videos are more shareable which will lead to more views and engagement. 

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Live videos

During the pandemic when live events were halted, live videos became the go-to for brands trying to connect with their audience. At the height of the pandemic, live video viewers reached 152.5 million. This was 20.4% more than in 2019. Even after the pandemic, marketers still use live video in their marketing strategies as it is the best way to interact with their audiences in real-time. Insider Intelligence also forecast that there will be 163.4 million live video viewers by 2023 in the US alone.

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If you are looking for a content format that allows you to interact with your audience while building a sense of community, then live videos are the way to go. The best part is that you can reformat key parts of the live videos into shorter snippets that can be shared on other social media platforms. 

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Long-form videos

Long-form videos work well if you want to share informational and educational content with your audience. They allow you to take a deep dive into a topic. While short videos are great for engagement, long videos allow you to build social media authority. 

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Your audience also loves to watch informational and educational videos. Reports from a Statista survey show that how-to, tutorial, and educational videos were some of the most popular video content types by reach in the third quarter of 2022. 28.7% of respondents say they watch how-to and tutorial videos while 27.1% watch educational videos.

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But note that long-form videos are more effective on YouTube and Facebook than on platforms like TikTok. Statista reports that the average user worldwide spends an average of 29 minutes and 37 seconds every time they visit YouTube.

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Video is great for digital advertising

We’ve already established that video is one of the engaging video content formats. The same goes for video ads. Not only are video ads engaging, they also have a higher click-through rate. According to Smaato, video ads in mobile apps have a CTR that is 7.5 times higher than that of display ads. 

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Video ads don’t just get clicks alone. These clicks are converted into sales. A Wyzowl survey reported that 17% of the respondents say they are more likely to make a purchase after a video ad than after watching a static ad. 45% of the survey respondents even say that they have bought a product or service after discovering it for the first time from a video ad. 

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These stats show that video ads are very efficient in delivering your message to your target audience when compared to text or images. And combined with effective call-to-actions, video ads are more likely to pique the attention of your audience.

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Examples of brands using video marketing right

Let’s take a look at some brands that use video effectively in their marketing strategies. 

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Gillette and Dove

Product marketing videos allow you to highlight the features of your new products before and after launch. 

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For brands like Gillette that sell mostly one type of product, it can be difficult to produce fresh content that makes your customers excited whenever you launch something new. So to create interest in their new razor, Gillette emphasized the features and benefits their new razor has over the old razors. 

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Dove also did something similar. 

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To promote their new deodorant, Dove highlighted an ingredient they did not use in making the product.

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The video starts by showing that they no longer use aluminum in their products. They even clearly state that the lack of the element is much better for the skin. Even though the video is just 6 seconds, it gets the message across. It is also very shareable because of its short duration.

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Headspace

Explainer videos allow brands to tell their audience what their product or service is about while showing how and what they can use it for. It allows brands to break down complex ideas into simple concepts.

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When Headspace started, online guided meditation wasn’t very popular. So to introduce their audience to guided meditation as well as their product, Headspace used a fun explainer video. After highlighting the benefits of meditation, they introduced their product and then showed the step-by-step process of signing up for their meditation programs. 

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Bumble and Founders Brewing Co.

Behind-the-scenes videos help brands to reveal the quality of the production of their product or service. It also helps them to connect with their audience and build trust. When customers can see how passionate your team is working behind the scenes, it humanizes your company. This will allow you to build and maintain a positive relationship with customers.  

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They are different ways brands can make use of behind-the-scenes videos. Bumble, for instance, uses it to show the day in the life of an employee in their company.

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Founders Brewing Co. gives viewers a look into how their products are made. Consumers get to see the steps it takes to make the products and how much of it is produced in a specific factory. To make the video even more insightful, they include interviews with their employees. 

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What makes the Founders Brewing Co. video special is that it can serve as a behind-the-scene video and a company history video. You can also share videos introducing your team members or office tour videos that give insight into your company culture. 

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Patagonia

Unlike most brands that create short-form videos, many of Patagonia’s online videos are long-form. The reason for this is that they understand their audience. Instead of focusing on just product videos, they mainly share 10 to 20 minutes videos on environmental and conservation issues because their audience cares about these topics.

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Even on their website, they have a section called “Films”. Here, their customers can watch videos from storytellers who tell stories about the planet. 

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While this is not the typical video marketing strategy that most brands use, it works for Patagonia because they understand their audience and the kind of content they want to see from them. This is why it is important that you understand your target audience so you can create more of the kind of videos they want to see.

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Conclusion

Video plays an important role in every stage of the marketing process. When used right, it is effective in helping brands capture the attention of leads, keep their attention, and turn them into paying customers. The key thing is to be creative and consistent. You don’t even have to worry about creating 4k videos or using expensive equipment. Most of your audience, especially Millennials and Gen Z prefer to see lower-quality but authentic videos over high-quality videos that seem impersonal and inauthentic. 

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Now that you know why video marketing is important for brands, here are two other articles that will help you get started with building your brand’s video marketing strategy:

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• Video marketing trends and best practices
• The ROI of video marketing: Why and how to use videos

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Finally, when you start creating videos for your brand, it's important that you have a system in place to help you manage these video assets. This is where Wedia comes into play. 

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Wedia is a digital asset management solution that allows large organizations to efficiently store, manage, and deliver all of their marketing assets such as images, videos, 3D, banners, and lots more. Learn more about Wedia. 

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