Introduction to video marketing

When it comes to the online world, both in marketing and in sales, professionals keep asking themselves what medium is the most suitable for spreading a voice about what is offered to customers. Is it a website, social platforms, emails, apps? The practice has shown that there is only one way to choose the right way to spread the word – go where your customers are. Even if your competitors use certain social platforms – if your customers aren’t there, it is not worth it. Make a leap and go where customers are.

Since this is all about them.

Being in customers’ shoes isn’t much different than imagining yourself after working hours, spending your free time with family and friends or by yourself – when you turn on your mobile, tablet or laptop to check out “what’s new”. Being a human today means that it isn’t possible to be spared of too much information flowing on each medium (but at least we choose which one to follow).

Algorithms keep suggesting new trends based on what we like, comment, share or follow, not to mention ads keep popping up  – and in the end, one question remains.

What is that which stays, which keep our attention and makes us feel – good?

Social media changed the way we live, breath and communicate, but video content is changing the way we consume information. It’s not much of a brainier to know that video content offers a more immediate experience with much more information served in a short period of time than that of the simple text. It triggers an emotional response much faster than a simple blog post. Yes, we came to emotions. We are beings that rationally make decisions once we get the approval of our own emotions. No matter are we aware of it or not. And today, marketers are very well aware of that. The entire palette of emotions could be triggered once we watched something. And sometimes, it doesn’t even matter which emotion precisely – joy, sadness, content or anger.

What is important is that it stays with people. 

Depending on what we see, the only difference is would it be remembered in the short or in the long run. If the object of our interest is a product or a service, we will certainly show that by like-ing or comment-ing online. During that action, if we feel something – that action may convert from online to offline world in the way that a product or a service will be purchased.

Now, back to our own nature. What would move us to take an action having on mind the wild information flow wherever we look, a lack of free time, and having just one pair of eyes and one pair of ears for an initial message to be received?

How can we create a bond with our customers?

From a marketer’s point of view, there are some tactics to get closer to your customers with video content:

1) Knowing what medium your customers use in order to know where to share your video content

2) Choosing the relevant duration of a video for each platform, with a focus on the attention span of your customers

3) Once the length of the video has been set, it is time to decide which type of video to use as a reference.

4) Storytelling is important  – customer needs to know the point in the very beginning. Why will they invest their time and attention for this video? Is it an explanation of how your service or your product could ease their lives – or a plot that will tickle curiosity and keep their focus till the end?

What’s the point?

What makes your vision heard and accepted is rather different than just being close to your customers. When you are sharing your value with them, you let them feel more with pictures and moving images instead of words. – And where to start? There are many types of them, but for purposes of this text, let’s break them in two: animated and live videos.

Animated or live videos – what to choose?

Live videos are just perfect if you’d like to emphasize the human side of your business and help your target audience relate to your company. The main benefit of live action is its authenticity. Live action video offers a convenient way to show how a product looks in reality. Live action is also a great tool for connecting with your audience, especially if you run a personal business, like a consulting firm, or a restaurant. People like seeing other people. It gives them an emotional connection. Plus, the video gives brands more opportunity for storytelling and demonstrating creativity.

Animation works well for tech companies and web services, and it’s a great way of demonstrating something abstract or conceptual, like a “cloud” service. It’s because one of animation’s strengths lies in its ability to express complicated ideas quickly and easily, which is often needed when it comes to a new product or a service in your business. Animation can explain almost anything in simple and stylish manner, it can express more abstract ideas.

Having main differences between animation and live video in mind, these three questions can help you with your decision: What type of video are you going to make? How much time and resources have you allocated? And who is going to watch your video?

Conclusion

Videos bear an entire pie of possibilities where new ideas and opportunities keep popping up, and definitely, it’s time to take a bite!
Are you a video maker?
If not – our team is more than happy to help you out with winning your audience in less than a minute! 🙂