There is some truth to the phrase “seeing is believing.” And in today’s world, skepticism isn’t just for the paranoid. Business owners and clients believe they aren’t as gullible as they used to be, thanks to Snopes.com, E-Verify and a social culture that’s never heard of doing business on a handshake.
To provide a visual of what the initial interaction with a potential customer looks like, picture a stone-faced man or woman seated with arms crossed on the chest, void of emotion, waiting for the next round of B.S. to present itself.
Think about most of the marketing pitches you get online, whether through organic search or pay per click. Expecting a bait and switch? How often is that delivered? Right. No wonder we’re so distrustful.
Marketing Without Video Is as Reliable as Online Dating
With much of our business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships made across local, regional and national borders, any opportunity to engage in face-to-face communication is essential to building trust.
Remember when the idea of having your photo on your email signature was introduced? The reason behind it is the same. But it’s anticlimactic to have a conversation with a photo.
If you’ve ever engaged in the online dating process, it’s easy to get the message about why marketing with online video is such a powerful tool. You begin by conversing online with photos being the visual that entices.
You have no idea what these people sound like, how their mannerisms dictate the way they move, how they react to the unexpected or what drives them as human beings. And yes, you really can’t authenticate whether that photo is really him (or her).
Apply this to your business. If your online presence only includes the use of static imagery, there is no dimension to your brand and you’re missing a key opportunity to increase the reach of your SEO.
Every Business Is in the Business of Telling Stories
Now that social media has superseded print and physical collateral for marketing agency and business owner spends, as well as footing heavy competition for the television space, how your company represents itself is dictated by the stories it tells.
Breaking Down the Art of Storytelling
Whether you are a brick-and-mortar operation or solely online, the moment customers enter your facility or website, they are expecting a story. The visuals need to speak to them. The words need to engage emotion so that they stay long enough to purchase or at least remember who you are and why they should come back and/or share the experience with the people they know.
This is relationship marketing; it’s based on the ability to create a story that has dimension and depth. Nothing does that for you better than online video.
Salespeople Are the Biggest Storytellers of All
There remains an ongoing, friendly feud between creative marketers and salespeople. Salespeople generally have a disdain for marketers and believe that marketing content is nothing but fluff.
On the other hand, marketers know that a good story is needed before a salesperson ever gets the chance to tell their own story.
Marketers and salespeople aren’t that different. Here’s why:
- Marketers – Devise a story, direct or indirect, meant to get the attention of a prospect and lead them to the sales department or immediately convert a sale.
- Salespeople – Listen to the prospect and, based on what they hear, create a story that will resonate to convert a sale.
Online video supports marketing and sales initiatives because the story can be retold over and over again. Just hit play.
Video: The Next Best Thing to Being There
Marketing in motion (that’s what video is) provides a unique layering of flexibility to your creative campaigns. You can adjust the tone, the language, the lighting and effects on the fly. If it’s realism you want to convey to your audience, this is how it’s done.
For a more polished look, high-end equipment and professional videographers are the way to go as they better understand the mechanics behind the machinery and how to maximize the production to get better results. Make sure to create your own YouTube channel to post the videos, and incorporate keywords to help boost views and increase organic rankings.
Remember that Google sometimes chooses to show videos on page one of a user’s search, and that YouTube itself is the second-largest search engine on the web. Leverage your videos accordingly.
Why Video Is Business Marketing Royalty
According to a 2017 video marketing survey by Wyzowl,
- On average, 90 minutes per day are spent watching online video.
- 15% of those who watch online video do so for three hours or more daily.
- 99% of businesses who already use video will continue this year.
- 82% of businesses plan to increase their marketing spend on video in 2018.
- Two out of three businesses that do not have an online video presence will start in 2018.
Where does your business stand? How are you capturing audience, brand awareness, SEO and conversions? If you’re not doing video (or creating the right kind of video), you virtually don’t exist.
What Does Online Video for SEO Do for Your Business?
Nothing creates a sense of believability and credibility to online users like video. It allows you to craft a message and deliver it in a way that keeps you in control.
If you like the response it generates, you can build other videos around it for a full-bodied campaign. If the response is not what you’d hoped for, you can repurpose some of the content, add new footage to shift direction and monitor audience reception from there.
Remember these numbers when it comes to video marketing:
- 57% of online viewers feel more confident about purchasing a product or service after watching a video.
- 74% purchased a product after seeing a tutorial video.
- 78% of businesses who use online video realized positive ROI.
Love it or hate it, Google runs the online SEO show. Might as well make friends with the virtual giant. By the way, Google adores video. If your website doesn’t have an embedded video on it, you’re missing out on a 53 times greater chance of showing up on the first page of search results, according to Moovly.
Optimize Your Optimization
If you already have a strong online video presence, your business no doubt is already receiving the benefits it brings. But if the back end isn’t working just as hard, your videos aren’t reigning in what you justly deserve. The right long-tail keyword phrases, headlines and descriptions also add value to your SEO positioning.
If you want (no, you need) to learn more about how the right online video marketing strategy can bring big changes to your business, ask the experts in digital marketing and brand strategy: Eminent SEO.
Read More About Refining Your Content Marketing Strategy for 2018
Keep Your Content Marketing Fresh
I have always wanted to learn how to video blog, but I just don’t have the equipment. What would you recommend for someone like me?
Great question. You can get by with just a webcam if you’re looking to do the type of vlogging where you just talk into the screen. If you want to get out into “the field,” a Sony Handycam would give you great video quality and shouldn’t cost you too much. Ideally, you should get Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro (for Mac) to edit your videos, but the price can get pretty steep.
Thanks for such a relevant information. This blog will really help every digital marketer at the beginner stage. Search engine optimization is a great way to boost your organic traffic to your website through keywords that your target market is most likely to search. This method is a service provided by professionals but can take several months to be effective. Moreover, Looking forward to more relevant blogs from the page.
Thanks for reading and for your kind words, Raghav. We’re glad you’re keeping your eye out for our upcoming blog posts. Please subscribe if you haven’t already.
If you’d like to read more on a similar topic to this one, try https://www.eminentseo.com/blog/beware-boredom-keeping-content-marketing-strategy-fresh-2018/
Very informative and interesting post to read! This blog will really help every digital marketer at the beginner stage. Search engine optimization is a great way to boost your organic traffic to your website through keywords that your target market is most likely to search. Thank you so much for having the time to share this wonderful article!
After you wrote this article, publish the piece and submit
the URL to some search engines like google for example Google, Yahoo,
and MSN for a couple of other sites to consider.
Another tip Google offers would be to keep to the design guidelines indexed by the Google webmaster central blog.
Do niche research to locate narrow keyphrases associated
with your niche and rehearse them as titles on your pages.