CMO? Here is the buzz about using Video for Marketing in 2021

If you are a Chief Marketing Officer and only focus on using video in 2021 to reach out to customers, you will be ahead of the curve. That’s what customers are watching and are paying attention to little else.

No media captures a viewer’s attention like video. Sights and Sounds! Grabbing both your auditory and visual senses video leaves no room for doing anything else. The pandemic has forced everyone online and we all have had our fill of video streaming entertainment in the 2020 pandemic year. While entertainment makes up for the lion’s share of video content, savvy marketers have found that the video watching behavior of viewers extends to discovering and understanding products.

2021 is well underway and there has been time for CMO’s to evaluate what worked and what did not in 2020. Several surveys have gathered data and here we present the highlights regarding the use of video in marketing. The articles have been linked in the text for reference.

What is the best strategy? Here are the top 3 ways to incorporate video in your marketing campaigns.

1. Focus on Video

Make a significant portion of the marketing content you create using video. You will need to justify your spend if most of your marketing activity is going to be based on using video. Here are some statistics about the Return on Investment. Over 60% of CMO’s surveyed said they felt the returns on using video were the highest amongst any other form of communication. The return is calculated in the form of video engagement. How many likes, comments, shares? How long were they watched? How many individual viewers?

WyzOwl research has also shown large jumps in the adoption of video based on the experience of video marketers for

  • Lead generation
  • Sales
  • Website traffic

Invest in a Video Management Platform that allows you to form personalized marketing video solutions and provides tools to easily create videos. Remember, while a certain quality of production is desirable, ( think of the sloppy badly edited video with poor sound), ease of creation and freshness of content is critical.

The rapidly growing popularity of video is a double-edged sword. While it has demonstrated its effectiveness in producing results the market is getting flooded by available video content. Here are a few tips on the kinds of videos that have been effective and are chosen by customers to watch.

What kind of videos will help your brand? 

Think short and high quality. By quality, we don’t mean expensive production necessarily, but the quality of content. It needs to be to the point, clear and easy to understand, and fun. Amongst the many compilations on the web, this one covers good territory about making effective marketing videos.

  • Explainer videos: Short videos( 30 seconds and less) about your product and brand
  • Product demos and reviews
  • “How to” videos. Using your product to achieve a result. Solve a problem or do something fun!
  • Allow your viewers to jump to the part that is of interest. Bookmarks and timestamps help the viewer access information fast. Interactive video with Call to Action buttons provides an instant way for viewers to respond. These are very effective and engaging especially when the content is long and complex.

2.  Social media is the place to be

More than advertising, access via the top social media platforms, (in no particular order) FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the best places to get people to look at what you put out there.

Direct customers and even B2B marketing benefit from social media because people isolated by the pandemic have been spending a lot of time there. Regular posts and activities that show a vibrant company will continue to attract visitors and keep them engaged.

A sudden jump( from 46% to 62% of marketers polled: Wyzowl) in the use of webinars (91% of webinars were felt to be a success: Wyzowl) has been the direct result of social distancing. Live streams of interviews and panel discussions around the use of products and services have become popular and an easy way to communicate with select groups from the convenience of their homes. Enterprise Live Streaming Video Platforms are a good investment since going forward it is unlikely that these events will decline in popularity. Well-curated recordings of these live events have been a very popular form of content.

3. Shared videos get the most attention 

Several surveys have shown that more than direct publishing, shared videos and market influencer blogs are the most trusted ways of discovering new products and services by customers.

Influencer bloggers like products with explainer videos. Once listed, traffic to your website and product page will dramatically increase. Bloggers have painstakingly laid claim to very specific areas and carved a niche that their viewers loyally follow. Dedicated bloggers work hard to bring to their readers the nuances of different products and services, from the very esoteric to the mundane. Shortlisting a group of influencers and keep them updated on your product news. Personal emails will improve your chances of being listed.

We think these three things should keep you in the front of the pack. There is clear evidence of the effectiveness of video and its popularity based on the surveys we have looked at. If you have been thinking of using video, or have decided to start, do write to us. We have expertise in its use for marketing and across the enterprise. In case you already have been using video we can share some of our customer success stories and give you more ideas!

kPoint was cited for its Enterprise Video Technology in Gartner Market Guide for Enterprise Video Content Management. 

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