How to use video to grow your business
How to use video to grow your business How to win new business using video Many people use video without thinking through a strategy that will deliver real results for them. Many people also seem content to invest in a video that just sits ‘looking pretty’ on their website. Did you know that a video can be a marketing and sales tool that works 24/7 for you on a website?
So, the reasons you should be using video in sales and marketing are 2 fold; • The impact video has on SEO • The results video has in generating the desired response from target markets How to make the magic happen
“The average Internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video” (Mist Media)
So, how can you make this magic happen, and how can you achieve amazing results from it? The good news is that even if you are a small business with limited resources and limited finances you can still take advantage of the opportunities that online video can offer you.
Statistics show that using video in your online marketing strategy results in more engagement and better conversions.
We have a list of 41 ways businesses are using to use video to help them to grow, and have outlined just a few here:
In fact, websites that include videos attract 2-3 times as many visitors as those without.
1. Introduce yourself and your team 2. Orientate your web visitor with a home page video 3. Showcase your products or services 4. Answer your customers’ questions 5. Use YouTube as a Search Engine 6. Use Social Media to promote your videos 7. Test and Measure 8. Punch up your website 9. Be creative!
“Using video on Landing page can increase conversion rate by 80%” (Unbounce) Why use video in sales and marketing? Video is an easy and convenient way for your customers and potential customers to consume content. It’s a fantastic vehicle to use to communicate with your prospects. To put it simply, if you’re not using video then you’re losing an opportunity to connect with your audience. Findings from searchmetrics found that of all content in Google’s search listings video appeared most frequently, being displayed in over 70% of search results.
If you’d like the full list, please email jo@gingermultimedia.co.uk
5 Steps to producing a video that will help you If win business We have designed a step-by-step approach that will help you to produce a video that reaches your target market, and also encourages prospects to buy from you. So, what are the steps?
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How to use video to grow your business Step 1: Define your purpose
• • • •
To To To To
build authority educate entertain showcase a product or service
2. What audience are you trying to reach? You have to get this right. Imagine your ‘ideal customer’ – how do you speak to them, what language do you use, what do you talk about? Why do you need to define your purpose before you start to create your video? • A defined purpose will save you money, because you can create videos aimed at your target audience. Don’t try to appeal to everyone at once. By defining your purpose, your videos will be succinct and more targeted at your audience • With a crafted and targeted message you are more likely to get a response that gives you a return on your investment. This is because your message will resonate with the potential customer who needs or wants your product or service So, what do we mean by ‘define your purpose’? There are 2 parts to this: 1. The outcome you are hoping to achieve 2. The audience you are trying to reach 1. What outcome are you trying to achieve? How will you measure the result? How will you know your video has been a success? Here are a few reasons you may want a video: • To make a sale • To generate a lead • For brand awareness
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A couple of things to think about in relation to your target market: • Are they the decision maker? • Do they speak your industry language? Will they understand your jargon, or are they not in your industry at all? • How are they being driven, with number and statistics, process or creativity, detail driven or more the bigger picture? So, you now have your purpose – a measureable outcome and you have defined your target market. Now you need to decide what type of video will appeal to them. Step 2: Pick the right video for your purpose What type of video? There are so many different types of videos to choose from. You now know your purpose and outcome which will help you to decide on your type of video. Here are just a few ideas: • Animated • Whiteboard /dynamic illustration • On location • Event video • Testimonial or case study • Product demonstration • Promotional
How to use video to grow your business What about the tone of the video? Again, think about your target market; who are you trying to reach?
Step 3: Pick the length for your video
Depending on who your target market is, the tone of your video will vary. Here are a few ideas of different tones: • Formal or informal • Funny or serious? • Traditional or unusual • Technical or non technical • Corporate or creative Visit the following link to see a 30 second video showing video styles. http://youtu.be/iOLQydQYDiE
There are so many studies and article relating to video length, and everyone seems to say something different! This is why the video length needs some thought. Just a question here – what’s the first thing you do when you find a video that you might consider watching? Yes, you look down to the bottom of the screen to see how long it is. Here is a stat to think about: “59% of viewers will watch a video to completion, which is less than 1 minute long.” (Wistia)
Extra things to think about: Other things to consider range from subtitles, background music, voiceovers, video length, motion graphics, and call to action. Now you’ve established the purpose you need to think about how long your video should be.
If you take a look on YouTube then you’ll find that many Business to Business (B2B) videos with hundreds of thousands of views are about 60 -120 seconds long. However, what does this really show? It only shows that they are popular, not that they are achieving a desired outcome. The correct length of the video is directly related to the purpose of your video; what the video is going to be used for? I’ll give you some examples here; a product demonstration or video showing a service could achieve the purpose in 1-2 minutes, yet a training or educational video would be longer,
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How to use video to grow your business maybe 20 minutes, or more. A testimonial video may be 30 seconds to 1 minute long, yet a case study video has more detail and would be better suited as longer, 3-4 minutes maybe.
brand. They want to find something that makes them think that your brand understands their needs.
So, there is no golden rule. However, we are now in a saturated digital world, and the time people are willing to spend watching a video gets less and less!
• What image do you want your brand to
Step 4: You and your brand
Here are a few things to think about: portray? • What makes your business different? • Look at your target market - what will appeal to them? • How do you want people to feel after watching your video? What kind of emotional reaction are you hoping for? Answering the questions above will help to add to the overall video marketing strategy that will communicate your brand effectively to your target market.
You’ve now defined your purpose, chosen the video type, and decided on the length of your video. More and more companies are taking advantage of video’s power to build their brand identity by using video on their websites, in social media, on YouTube and throughout their marketing. Small companies can find themselves in the shadow of big brands with seemingly unlimited money to spend on marketing. However, video is a really great way to ‘level the playing field’ for small companies - a low cost way of making a BIG impact. Yes, branding is about the identifications that we all associate with a brand, such as a logo, colours, and messaging. However, potential clients also want to know who is behind the
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Whatever you do, make sure that the video that is produced reflects your products, services and overall brand and by making sure you have high quality video. Step 5: Boost your website effectiveness
How to use video to grow your business Great, you’ve now decided who you are aiming the videos at, the purpose and type of video, and also made sure that it will reflect your brand. Did you know that as well as pride of place on your website, video can make a massive boost to website effectiveness? Many people think about YouTube as being the sole traffic driver to video. However, if you put videos on your website pages it will improve your Google search rankings. Google loves video and can double search traffic and discoverability for your web pages and search rankings. It does it in a traditional way of letting Google know that the page contains video and that makes it more useful than competing web pages. In some cases the video thumbnail is seen on the search page. So, how does video make this huge difference? Here are 4 good reasons: 1. Video engages attention on your website • 90 per cent of information transmitted to the brain is visual and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text • Visitors spend 6 times longer on pages with videos on them 2. Video increases website traffic • Social networking sites can be used to share your video and increase traffic to your website, creating inbound links that will help your website • There are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link 3. Video increases sales and conversions and increases trust on your website • Featuring videos on your website can be a
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really effective and clever way of guiding your prospects through your website and through the sales funnel • 64 per cent of viewers are more likely to make a purchase in an online store after viewing a video 4. Video increases brand awareness • Branded video content reaches nearly half of all UK internet users • More than half of those people then go on to click through to the brands website • Use video to direct visitors back to your website 5. Video Improves Search Engine Rankings • Google is giving more and more importance to useful, fresh and engaging content, and loves video! • Google also indexes video, and then video can hugely increase your search engine rankings • On-line video content can increase the chances of a first page Google ranking by 53 times Step 6: Video Search Engine Optimisation (Video SEO)
How to use video to grow your business So, your video has now been produced. You already have a video marketing strategy in place, and so know how you intend to market it.
2. By optimising your video on your YouTube channel by adding metadata, such as You Tube title, description, tags, links, and the video thumbnail
Here are 3 main video marketing strategies that will help to ensure that your video gets viewed by your target market: Video SEO, Video Promotion & Distribution and Paid Video Advertising.
There are many more ways than we have outlined in the points above. We have just touched on video SEO above! Step 7: Distribute and promote your video
Did you know that without adding any video search engine optimisation (SEO) to the video Google just sees a blank screen? However, the good news is that there are some things that can be done that will that will improve ranking opportunities. What is Video Search Engine Optimisation? Video SEO is used to describe optimising video content for search engine traffic. It is providing search engines with what they need to find the video in more keyword search results. What are the main goals for Video Search Engine Optimisation? When working with video SEO the main goals are for: • Video content to appear in the organic search results for major search engines • Video to direct traffic to your website How is Video SEO done? Video SEO is really done in 2 ways: 1. By collecting information from each video on the website, so search engines can find and understand the video content
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Whether you hire the services of a professional video production company or make a video yourself, online video distribution and promotion is a critical part of your video marketing strategy. The strategy must take into account how you are going to push the video out to your audience, and the plan that you develop for the distribution and promotion of your video will map out how your videos are viewed by your target audience. Here is an outline plan of how you can distribute and promote your video: 1. Your YouTube Channel You must create, brand and optimise your YouTube channel. Think of it like a 2nd website and treat it with as much care and attention. Make sure that you have followed through with the same branding as your company branding.
How to use video to grow your business Complete all the sections, including social media details. You can then upload your videos; maybe think about organizing them into playlists to help viewers. Adding YouTube interactive cards and clickable website URLs to the cards will encourage the viewer to take action. Also, you should make sure that the videos can be embedded and shared by other people, on social media, in their blogs etc. This will increase your videos’ reach and ensure that they are seen by lots of people. 2. Embed videos on your website We have already covered the importance of embedding videos on your web pages above. Don’t limit videos to your Home Page; use them on other pages, including in blogs, to help your viewers. Google will index that there is video, find the video seo that you have added and will see it as helpful. Also consider having social share buttons on the pages where you have embedded the videos. 3. Social Media Platforms You must use the power of social media and ensure that you are sharing links to your uploaded videos on the relevant social media platforms. Make posts that have a call to action and that encourage people to take action, such as “watch my new video’ and “share my new video”. 4. Social Bookmarking Adding links to your video to social bookmarking sites creates inbound links to your content and also gains a wider reach to your videos. Use sites such as Reddit, Stumble
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Upon and Tumblr. 5. Use other video hosting platforms There are more hosting platforms than just YouTube, in fact multiple destinations, with a built in audience waiting at each destination. The trick is use the right platform for each video. Step 8: Using Paid Video Advertising
We’ve already covered how to get your video found through organic video search and video optimization. According to YouTube, over 6 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube every month, and 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. This then creates an enormous opportunity for brands to promote their services and products to a worldwide audience through the use of video advertising. This can be either on YouTube, or through paid social media advertising. YouTube advertising YouTube has a wide variety of advertising options. One of these is TrueView, which is really a ‘pay per view’ model: advertisers pay for their video ad when a viewer chooses to watch it, rather than pay for impressions.
How to use video to grow your business Brands can use TrueView in different ways, depending on your budget, goals and marketing aims. 3 of our favourites are in-stream, in-search and in-display. They can be used separately, but also can be used together.
advertiser pays only when at least 30 seconds or the entire ad is viewed (whichever is shorter). TrueView in-stream ads may be any length, which offer advertisers greater leeway in terms of creative format for their message.
TrueView In-Stream
Why use TrueView In-stream? 1. Viewers can choose to watch or skip the ad 2. Advertisers make the most of budget by ensuring that the right message is delivered to the right audience
These are similar to commercials, and are part of the video stream. However, unlike commercials, they reach brand’s target audience with greater precision due to the use of key words, demographics, interest targeting and optimisation of the video. Viewers may watch the entire ad, part of it, or skip it after at least five seconds of play. The
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TrueView In-Search These ads combine organic search, YouTube analytics and video advertising. Similar to Google ad words campaigns in-search ads appear in a separate promoted section of the search results page of YouTube and Google, either above or to the right of the
How to use video to grow your business usual results. Advertisers pay per view, and are charged only when the viewer chooses to watch the video, rather than per impression.
target audience. A click through on the ad takes the viewer to your YouTube channel. Again, you only pay when a viewer chooses to watch your video Paid video advertising can be a fraction of the cost of standard paid advertising. It’s well worth putting aside some marketing budget to use towards paid video advertising and get your reach wider still. Social Media advertising Most of the social media platforms have paid advertising, so find the right one for you and use it to reach your target market. • Facebook Ads: Videos can be used in all types of Facebook advertising- either boosting a post and using sponsored posts • LinkedIn Ads: Video can be used in LinkedIn ads; again either boosting a post or using sponsored posts.
When viewers click your ad it takes them to your YouTube channel. Here they can watch other videos at no additional charge to you. You pay just for the initial view, and if you have interesting and engaging content on your channel then viewers will subscribe and watch more.
So, bringing these steps together have a think about this example:
TrueView In-Display
The Huge tech data company
• Twitter Advertising: Videos are very effective for paid advertising on Twitter
‘Huge tech data’ company is an SME in the ‘ mobile technology space’ they are trying to establish their solution as the most innovative and advanced in the field and on the market, with an amazing after support team.
These are videos that show up in the search pages alongside other YouTube videos on the Google Display Network, that match your
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Their purpose is to position themselves as the ‘go to’ company for this technology. Their aim is target companies that would use the software, and to generate leads for the sales team.
How to use video to grow your business How do they achieve this? They could use video to show their technical competence by showing videos of conferences and events they present at, and case studies to show how their customers have successfully used the technology, with tangible results, They could also show the product itself in a video and even talks with the product developers. They may also show a series of FAQ videos that they have developed and are on their website which show how they can provide the aftercare they claim to. Lastly, they may have a strong call to action and download button or opt in form next to the video, which allows the viewer to download a whitepaper, or contact a sales rep. Then success would be measured by the number of downloads, opt in’s and sales made. The company could also conduct market research to see how the company is perceived against its competitors. The bottom line Online video is a powerful marketing tool. Make sure that you have a clear video strategy in place that works alongside your overall marketing strategy, as well as your online, social media, and PR strategies. Just a statistic to leave you with… if you’re looking to get your website on page 1 of search results then video is a very effective way to do it. “Video is 50 times more likely to get organic page ranks than results that just include plain text. Also, Search results that contain video get a 41 per cent click through rate” (Forrester)
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If you’d like any help implementing any of the steps we’ve shared on this report, email jo@gingermultimedia.co.uk and we can set up a FREE 30 minute ‘ video marketing strategy’ session.
About Neil Neil is Director of Ginger Multimedia, a video production, video marketing and photography company. He worked from studios in West London for 17 years, and is now based with his team in studios in Berkshire. With over 30 years experience in the business Neil combines a mix of video creativity and video marketing knowledge to work with businesses to help them use visual content to gain more business. He regularly speaks to audiences about video and how they can use video to win more business. Over the years Neil has worked with companies such as Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, De la Rue, Ecco Shoes, BSI Group, Fujitsu, and Milton Park Business Park, to name a few. When he doesn’t have a camera in his hand Neil can be found following QPR around the league tables, or chasing his 2 lively dogs around Berkshire!
Here’s a few nice things our clients have said about us! Here is a playlist of video testimonials that out clients have kindly given where they show what they have experienced with us. https://youtu.be/ATaSz8yYD6g?list=PL4uzn49o0Ix4kwMz428si0KAR7JO2CgfI
Contact Email: neil@gingermultimedia.co.uk
Phone: 01488 71314
Website: http://www.gingermultimedia.co.uk
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