I am a huge advocate for companies to use video in their marketing efforts. I truly believe a well done video will produce more leads and create a much longer-lasting impression than written content ever will.
Why Video?
By combining sight, sound, and motion, video tells your story in a personal and meaningful way. Not only does video provide insight into your company’s culture, but it is more engaging than just written text or pictures and can provide a face and personality to your company.
In addition to providing company insight, there are a multitude of case studies that show how companies that develop creative, interactive videos increase leads by 300 – 400 percent. (You can find a number of these case studies here.)
By The Numbers
Video usage is only growing in importance. Over the next few years, video will become the predominant way companies introduce themselves and provide insight into their company and industry.
- A Nielsen Online study from 2010 shows that over 84% of internet users view videos online. (Nielsen)
- YouTube is now the second largest search engine surpassing both Yahoo! And Bing.
- 79% of the Fortune Global 100 have a branded YouTube channel. (Nielsen)
- 76% of marketers plan to increase their use of YouTube and video marketing. (2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report)
- Video accounted for more than 40% of mobile data traffic in 2010 and forecasts to be over 60%. (Bytemobile)
More Harm Than Good
Used incorrectly, though, and video will hurt your marketing efforts, can damage your reputation, make you appear unprofessional, and lose sales in the process.
With that in mind I made a quick list of the 5 items that will make your video stand out or fizzle:
- Too long. You have 60-90 seconds to engage your viewer. Any longer and they are going to click away from the video.
- Not scripted. It’s easy to spot videos where you know the person didn’t take time to practice or rehearse what they were saying.
- Too scripted. You appear stiff and the video is too contrived.
- Poor image quality. Just because you can shoot video from your smartphone or webcam doesn’t mean that you necessarily should.
- Poor sound. You can actually get away with a poor image, but if your video has poor sound, you can forget about it. Viewers will immediately leave your video.
Personal Favorite
Dollar Shave Club’s witty and original video is my favorite example of a company creatively using video to introduce their company, show off their culture, engage their audience, and gain new customers in the process.
Why this video?
- The video is well thought out and perfectly executed.
- The video is short (1:34).
- The video’s writing is succinct, creative, and interesting.
- The video is captivating. (They smartly incorporate a number of different shots and angles to keep the viewer engaged.)
- The video is funny. (Much harder to do than most people think.)
- The video is informative (They tell you exactly what the company does and how they do it.)
Take a look and see for yourself: