These days, businesses need to make major changes in their businesses. Beyond COVID-19, business itself has always been an ever-changing beast. That much is true when it comes to video marketing.
Video marketing is a concept that is taking the marketing world by storm. Before this pandemic, it was already popular and a marketing staple to have down pat. However studies that have looked into behaviour of media consumption since the outbreak shed more light:
- 80% of consumers have watched more video content now than before the outbreak.
- By 2022, it is said that 82% of all content creation will be video.
- By the end of 2020, the average person will have watched 100 minutes of video content per day.
Because people have spent so much time watching videos thus far, people are demanding great videos from people. Not only that but the quality of videos can even dictate a persons attitude towards a company as well.
While there is room for risks in jumping into video these days with higher demands, if you are able to meet those demands, you can be highly rewarded. To help with that, here is how you can integrate video into your marketing strategy today and for the future.
First, Have Clear Goals In Mind
Before pressing the record button on your camera, you want your video to have a clear goal. Furthermore you want your video ad campaign to have a clear goal as well. One study found that those starting a campaign in 2020, 45% of media teams paused or stopped the campaign midway. Whether it was financial constraints it’s hard to say, but I can imagine some of them could’ve been the fact they lacked a goal in the campaign itself.
Of course, making a video doesn’t always make a campaign successful. It all comes down to how effective your video is at getting people engaged. But when you have a goal from the start, you’ll be able to tailor your video towards that goal. Furthermore it could give you a direction in how you want future video campaigns to go.
Second, Make The Video Purposeful
One of the ways to make an engaging video is to make the video filled with purpose. In order to make it purposeful, it helps to read what other companies are doing and what the market is like. Needless to say, there is a flood of video content that people are exposed to right now.
Pair that up with this pandemic, a lot of businesses feel it’s up to them to create videos to help reassure people. The problem is that many businesses are doing this to the point that many people hear this all the time. I mean, how many times have you heard businesses in their content or ads say “we’re doing everything we can to…”?
Those kind of statements are nice sure, but people are hearing these lines everywhere to the point most of us are numb to it. In fact, research shows that 43% of consumers believe that companies COVID-19 messages all sound similar.
So if you’re looking to differentiate yourself, my suggestion is to forgo the assurance and start telling customers what you are offering them. Ensure that the content you are creating is engaging, uplifting and supporting your customer base rather than solely benefitting you.
Third, Ensure Authenticity
Keep this in mind when you are making videos as well: be authentic. Video these days is the content most likely to go viral these days. And most viral videos today have a common theme around them: they are authentic.
One ad that I’ve seen making the rounds is Oreo’s Stay Home. Stay Playful ad. It’s a heartwarming ad amongst these circumstances and it kind of makes you want to buy some cookies doesn’t it? You’ve also got Budweiser’s One Team which is emotional as well.
Now, these reactions aren’t a big surprise from major brands like these, but every business can learn from them. These two companies made content that felt like their brand, but didn’t directly call out their product.
Furthermore, they used their own voices in a creative way. So take some time to think about what you can do to emulate that with a smaller budget.
Fourth, Assess Your Budget
Another thing that can help you with setting goals is to know how much money you have in your budget for advertising. Businesses are facing lots of cuts of course, but there are all kinds of things you can do to make better videos without too much financial risk.
Thinking beyond that, it also helps to be in the mindset that a video ad campaign right now shouldn’t be done with the intent of boosting sales. Right now, it’s hard to expect fantastic sales numbers. That said, you may be able to increase your following for your business now more than ever and that’s not insignificant.
With this in mind, if you don’t have the budget to get a lot of marketing in, settle with smaller-scale things. Rather than booking a recording studio, aim for Insta-stories. Get out and record on your phone. Use the various video editors to cut and enhance videos.
Fifth, Target Your Ads Strategically
Once the video is all said and done, the last thing is to get out and push it. Marketing is an investment so you want to make sure that the video is being sent out to where you can get the most return from it.
Again, the video campaign right now might not convert into immediate sales, but could in the future once this pandemic is over. With this in mind, consider the various platforms and avenues that your audience dwells on.
I can tell you right now, you can get better luck if your ads are mobile friendly. Why? During the shelter in place period, about 55% of people have been getting their news from their phones. It’s fair to say that mobile use has increased during this pandemic and it was already a pretty big market already.
With this in mind, you want to make sure that your video at the very least is mobile friendly. On top of that, you can consider putting your video on Youtube. Since Youtube is owned by Google, videos can appear in Google search menus plus Youtube itself, giving you double the potential exposure.
Upscale Your Marketing Strategy
Even during these difficult times, you can be upscaling your marketing strategy today with video. These days, the videos that are getting traction are the videos that are authentic and giving people hope. They are beyond the simple messaging of what people are doing to ensure customers safety during this pandemic.
With all this in mind, I believe if you integrate video into your marketing strategy today, you can increase your audience and business for the the better.