Internet video marketing is a veritable goldmine of opportunity for small businesses and brands trying to get off the ground. It’s a method that’s been employed by numerous big-time corporations, to massive financial windfall. So why is it that so many smaller companies seem to be falling down on the job when it comes to taking advantage of what’s being called “the future of online marketing”? In a nutshell: preconceived notions.
If you run an online storefront, for example, making a video may not seem part of the natural or likely progression of your marketing campaign. After all, video marketing is for people who have something to show. Something flashy to sell, or something pretty to show off. Right? Not necessarily. These days, all that’s required to achieve video marketing success is a little bit of imagination.
You don’t have to have an excuse to make a video. You don’t even have to have something fancy to show off to your potential customers. There are actually many things you can do – like posting how-to videos that pertain to the services you offer, or creating a handful of videos that introduce you to your client base, even creating some kind of comedic running gag – that could help you reach thousands of new customers. Whatever you do, it’s time to start thinking hard about video marketing. One look at the statistics will tell you why.
According to a study done last year by Experian Marketing Services, even the mention of the word “video” in the subject header of email campaigns resulted in an increase of 13 percent in the number of click-throughs from prospective customers. Actually embedding a video within an email message reportedly increased sales by more than 20 percent. In the coming year, Experian estimates that video could be responsible for more than half of all internet traffic.
What’s even more encouraging is a prediction by Cisco, which states that between now and 2015 video marketing will account for greater than 65 percent of all mobile traffic. These predictions – which are based on actual statistics of online and mobile video use – are already prompting marketers to pour money and energy into web video production.
Internet video marketing explosion in popularity isn’t news – but with the relatively small number of companies actually taking advantage of this knowledge, you’d think it was. If you are an enterprising soul, you can make this work in your favor by striking while the iron’s hot... and while everybody else is biding their time before taking the plunge. Consider the following video marketing ideas.
- Market your video through email, taking advantage of people’s desire to watch instead of read.
- Create a YouTube channel where you can upload all of your marketing videos. Once you’ve done this, it will be easy to share those videos through a variety of social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.
- Embed videos into your blog. This way, your readers don’t have to go to another website to view your videos and you can keep traffic on your site that much longer.
Your first step will be to hire a web video production expert. Don’t know one? No problem. You don’t have to have Hollywood connections to find real talent that you can put to use for your marketing campaign. At Artisan Talent, you can browse through numerous portfolios of freelance video professionals seeking job assignments. If you’d rather let pros come to you, simply post a job listing with your desired requirements and wait for the inquiries to stream in. In a matter of days, you could be well on your way to developing a successful video marketing campaign. Contact us today to learn more.
Vince F is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.