Video marketing is taking over the digital marketing scene as more people continually prefer consuming video content. Besides, videos offer digital marketers a great way to engage and connect with their customers, enabling them to pass the message across effectively. However, video marketing is constantly evolving. New technologies emerge and marketers adopt new content styles. If you are to be successful in video marketing, staying on top of what is happening in the sector is crucial. In this article, we discuss some of the latest trends and developments in video marketing that you should know about. We also show you how you can leverage them to drive results.

Live Streaming

Live streaming has become a growing trend for businesses and individuals alike. Introducing live features in social media platforms has made it easy to experiment with interacting with followers in real-time. The good thing about sharing live footage with your audience is that it gives your digital marketing a human element. It is also a more authentic way to interact with your audiences. You can learn more about your customers through real-time feedback that you receive.

You can leverage live streaming capabilities on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and Twitter. Use live streams to do demonstrations or give a sneak peek of an upcoming product. You can also try streaming an event or hosting a Webinar or a Q&A to educate your audience more about your products or services.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Videos are great at allowing target users to see how a product or service works before making a decision to buy. Virtual reality and augmented reality only make the experience a little more immersive. VR and AR allow users to see a product in 3D, which stimulates real-life experiences in a virtual interactive environment. It is more like allowing the viewers to “demo a product” before buying.

Incorporating VR in your videos can revolutionize how you present your products or services to the target audience. For instance, you can use virtual reality to show your customers what a piece of furniture or décor can look like in their houses. Give 360-degree visuals to offer an immersive experience.

Interactive Videos

Keeping your viewers engaged is vital for successful video marketing. And, interactive videos help marketers achieve just that. By adding interactions with the viewers in the videos, marketers are able to keep viewers engaged for longer.

Creating an interactive video requires you to add different functionalities in the video. For instance, you can add a quiz or poll related to the content. Other functionalities include hotspots, branches, and data inputs among others. Since this can get tricky, you can consider working with a professional video production company. Outsource to BPO companies that suit your needs best. A reliable video production services provider will provide the needed support and resources to create videos that align with your goals.

Short Form Videos

The attention span is shrinking, which makes it challenging to capture the attention of the consumers. But, thanks to short-form videos such as YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, marketers can pass the message in a short time. This increases engagement and helps with SEO. Short videos also allow you to leave out the fluff and unnecessary information, resulting in memorable pieces.

You can use short-form videos strategically to elicit emotions and connect with the consumers. Some successful content that you can try include challenges, product teasers, event teasers, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes among others.

Vlogging

Vlogs or video blogs have long been used by celebrities and individuals to interact with their followers. Now they are rapidly finding their way in businesses as brands embrace this video type to connect with their audiences. Just like live streaming, vlogs can be great for humanizing your brand. You increase engagement and interact with your customers in an authentic way.

You can create vlogs demonstrating how your products work. You can also try showing a daily routine or skincare routine if you deal with beauty products.

Conclusion

Video marketing remains one of the most effective ways to connect with customers in digital marketing. If you are looking for ways to revamp your strategy, there you have several trends that you should start incorporating today.

You have already shot a brand marketing video, but the work is disappointing with unwanted parts and digressions meddling with the main essence of the content. You can end these woes simply by going for a good-quality video trimmer.

Many videos lose their essence only because they are not edited to perfection. Timing is everything, and the way you edit a video will determine if it works or not. First, you must work on creating a complete set of clips. Once you have done that, put all the clips in sequence.

The timing of the clips will determine whether they make the viewers cry, laugh or sit disengaged and bored. Trimming is the process of adjusting the beginning and the end times of different clips. Thanks to the video trimmers available online, it is an easy task these days. These tools come firmly equipped with editing commands and filters that can offer a theatrical effect to your video.

Why Trim a Brand Video?

Trimming a brand video ensures that the video starts quickly and you hook the audience right from the beginning. Remember, the first five seconds of your video are crucial because it is within those first five seconds that the viewers will draw in and engage with your video. Within those five seconds, the viewers will decide whether they want to stick to your video right till the end or not.

Trimming helps in cutting out unwanted content in the intro or dead space.

Steps on Trimming Your Brand Video Marketing

The trimming tool you get for this job should be capable enough to work on your video type. Just work on assembling the best moments in your video. Using a video trimming tool is an efficient way of adding professionalism to your video, especially when working on a tight budget and even deadline.

1. Select the Right Video Trimmer

Use an online video trimming tool carefully through its lucid user instructions. Choosing the right video trimmer means you will have a tool with a great user interface. Make sure the interface comes with all important details without becoming excessively haphazard for first-time users.

It will just take five minutes to develop a strong grip on the main ideas and make the trimmer work on your content. Apart from trimming, blend in all the disparate sections of your video or try splitting the scenes to give the video a more coherent appearance.

2. Choose the File You Want to Edit

Once you have chosen the online video trimming tool for the process, it is time for you to choose the specific video you want to work on. Get to the storage site of your device and choose the section or file you are looking to edit.

This will get the file on the Timeline of your trimmer. Drag and drop the video on the trimmer Timeline and get on with snapping the different scenes while doing away with all redundant parts.

3. Make All Essential Corrections

An amazing video trimmer will make it easier for you to do all essential corrections for lending your video a professional feel and touch. The entire procedure gets easier as the trimmers let you preview a specific snippet from the video before starting to work on it. There are even options like Split available for cropping the scenes and bringing them all together in perfect sync.

Start editing all the irrelevant sections of the clip by positioning the marker at the beginning of the section you are looking to chuck off from the shot. Use the Split option for dragging the marker to the last part of the clip. This way, this entire fragment will no longer be a part of your video.

Use the “delete” option for removing the snippet after separating it. The final video will contain sections you have preserved intentionally without any signs of missing parts.

4. Zoom Into Snippets Seamlessly

Impeccable editing means spending several hours inspecting the different elements that can make a video exclusive. Zooming into the video clip is something you must take up.

The editing or trimming tool you use online should incredibly perform multitasking and amalgamate all-important attributes guaranteeing the touch of a professional. You can zoom in or zoom out based on your requirements.

Apart from zooming, you also have the scope of applying other important effects such as transitions, advertisements, and titles. The online video trimmers feature Zoom and Pan sections.

Choose Zoom in feature and the varied effects it creates with Preview. Add selected effects by using the Add button and seeing the result in the Preview section. Apply Zoom in effect to enhance your video’s quality to fit your screen.

Drag the mainframes and decide on the length of the clips. At this step, you can discern different flaws minutely and do away with them simultaneously. Apply effects as many times as you want, and the video requires and then easily zoom out.

5. Play with Video Momentum

When using an online video trimming tool, add desired media files and use Clip Properties to select the Speed slider. This will help you in deciding on the speed of the video. In addition to this, you can mute the video’s playback or change it altogether.

6. Try Video Montage

Video montage offers life to still images with the use of interesting effects. In this category, you can use a plethora of options when you are using an online video trimming tool. You can add titles, subtitles, special effects, and even background scores.

In the special effects category, you will find options like filters, animated objects, and props. Adorn the different fragments of your video professionally. Once you are done with this, upload your video on varied social media platforms and wait for reactions.

The Bottom Line

When trimming a brand marketing video to grab user attention, it is important to pay attention to improving the original quality of the video. Low-quality, dark and grainy videos will not get desired attention. You can always share them on social media platforms, but they will not bring you any profit.

Therefore, trim your video in a way that you chuck out all unwanted sections while giving your video a polished and professional appearance.

Videos are one of the most powerful marketing tools at your disposal. They connect with viewers in a way words don’t. People watch videos on the fly as they commute to work, sit in a waiting room or wait in line. Researchers estimate that viewing one minute of video is equivalent to 1.8 million words.

Small businesses often feel uncertain about delving into the world of online videos. However, by 2021, 82 percent of online traffic will consist of video viewing. Now is the time to jump into video marketing.

Here are some quick video marketing solutions to start with:

1. Choose a Platform

There are many different options when it comes to delivering your online videos. About 96 percent of Americans 18 to 24 use YouTube, so it’s an obvious choice as a potential platform. It’s one of the largest social media sites in existence.

You could also simply stream video from your site, but unless your server is blazing fast and you have unlimited resources, you’re better off embedding a video you’ve uploaded to YouTube, Vimeo or another video streaming site. In addition to saving resources on your website server, you also gain reach to all those people on that particular social media video site.

Even a beginner can shoot a video on their phone and upload to YouTube or Facebook, so you’ll be able to figure out the ins and outs in a single day. Start by studying websites your competitors created. Take notes about what you love and what you hate so you can learn from their successes and their mistakes.

Rhett and Link host a show that is silly and funny, so it makes sense that they’d create some interesting videos for YouTube to draw viewers. They created a song that speaks to their target audience. Similar videos have gone viral. They created one called “T-Shirt Wars” that has nearly 19 million views. The videos are not high budget by any means, but they are entertaining.

2. Interview an Influencer

Is there an influencer in your niche that you’d love to connect with? Offer to interview them via video chat. Most influencers will share the link to the interview on their social media pages, which gives you access to their many followers.

However, make sure there is something in it for the influencer as well. If you want the person to agree to the interview in the first place, you have to make it worth their while. What type of promotion do you plan to do for the video?

Use a tool such as Call Recorder for Skype to record the video interview, even if the person lives miles away from you.

3. Use Pop-Out Videos

Do you want your videos to stand out and gain the focus of visitors? Utilize a pop-out feature so when the user clicks play, the video becomes larger and takes over at least some of the screen. A pop-out places the user’s undivided attention on the video and makes the process interactive for the user. This works well on smaller screens, too, because the video screen is larger and easier to view on a mobile device.

One recent study estimates around 78 percent of digital video viewers use their mobile phones to stream content. Pop-out videos are beneficial to mobile visitors, but also visually pleasing to desktop browsers.

Marco Specialty Steel does a good job integrating a pop-out video that highlights what the company does and its unique selling proposition (USP). The video is on YouTube and embedded on the website, so it streams as soon as you click on it.

4. Get Personal

Personalize your marketing to make it more effective, whether a video or any other type of communication. In one survey, 90 percent of respondents indicated they enjoyed a personalized experience, and 80 percent said it made them more likely to do business with a company.

How do you personalize a video when you don’t know who is watching it? The answer is that you do know who is most likely to watch it. Study your internal data, who visits your site and who views your other videos. Once you have a general picture of the type of person who interacts with your videos, you can create a user persona that represents your target audience.

If you create a personalized video that speaks to the consumer, you’ll gain loyal followers. Be authentic and stay true to the mission of your company.

5. Tell Your Story

You don’t have to come up with a fancy script and pay thousands of dollars to a videographer. Just focus on telling the story behind your brand and what you do. Show potential customers the process behind what you make or let them meet a few of your employees. Show off what is unique about your company. As humans, we crave stories, especially ones that tug at our emotions.

Baked releases videos that show some of its delicious creations, such as the screenshot of a triple-layer chocolate birthday cake crumb-coated with a buttercream frosting. It also released videos of seasonal favorites and featured topics such as a tour of a new store.

Results in a Day

It may take longer than a day to see results from your video marketing efforts, but start by creating a video. Each video you create will get a bit better than the last. Over time, you’ll learn the best way to market videos, how to speak to your audience and the best angles for the camera. The key is to get started and see the traffic on your website surge over time.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Not so long ago, the phrase “content marketing” meant a quite different thing. Perhaps a decade ago, useful content marketers were good writers. They wrote good blogs, articles, and webpage copy. While this is still true today, “content marketing” means something more inclusive. Besides just writing, the best content marketers can also create video, infographics, and podcasts. The most in-demand of these new skills is video. But why?

In the past decade the digital marketing landscape has been drastically altered. People have begun phasing out traditional laptop and desktop computers in favor of mobile devices when they want to search the web. After all, it’s much more convenient to simply pick up the smartphone everyone has attached to their hand.

Another way the industry has been altered is that digital technology is much more affordable in the current market versus at any other point in history. With no boundaries in how or when people can interact with content, success relies heavily on delivering your company’s message in a way that customers prefer it.

That is where video marketing comes in.

Video Marketing Statistics

To understand how important video marketing has become, you only need to look at the numbers. According to an infographic shared by HubSpot:

• Experts predict that by 2019 video content will claim over 80 percent of all web traffic, leaving little room for other formats.
• Clickthrough rates on emails with embedded videos range between 200 and 300 percent higher.
• Conversion ratings on landing pages are increased by 80 percent when a video is included.
• 90 percent of customers state that product videos help them with their purchasing decisions.
• Nearly 90 percent of digital marketers are now incorporating video content into their strategies.
• Of the time spent online, customers report that a third or more of it is spent watching videos.
• 35 percent of online advertisement spending goes towards videos.
• Almost 60 percent of company decision markers prefer to watch a video versus reading an article or blog.

Another survey saw that major online retailers saw an increase in conversion ratings to as much as 9 percent when they began incorporating video into their marketing strategy.

Nine percent may not seem like an incredible amount at first glance. Yet when you think about the fact that 9 out of every 100 viewers purchased the product, that’s amazing. Imagine if a single video produced conversions at this rating and had one million viewers? That’s 90,000 conversions.

But why do customers prefer video content over written content and how can you leverage this to help your digital marketing efforts succeed?

Easier to Remember

Customers are more likely to remember a video they watched versus a blog they read. This is largely because videos appeal to all the senses in a more realistic, memorable matter. By using a combination of written or audio content, visuals, and a range of audio, the customer can hear and see the message presented versus simply seeing words on a screen (with or without attached graphics).

Everyone Can Engage

Something many marketers don’t think about is the fact that some of their audience may not be proficient readers. This may not hold true for certain sectors, such as B2B or luxury products, but the average product meant for the average person reaches farther than college graduates.

While an article may be hard for some individuals to understand, a video using speech instead of words is easily digestible – regardless of reading level.

Great Mobile Performance

Remember how we mentioned earlier that more people than ever are turning towards mobile devices? See, there was a reason for it. With more people using smartphones or tablets to access the web you need content which performs well on those devices. That would be video.

Not only does video perform great on mobile devices but it also works well on traditional laptops or desktops. No matter how your audience chooses to access your website or social platform, your videos will be presented in a high-quality, unaltered way.

Strengthen Company Branding

Your company’s message becomes more realistic when paired with a relevant, inspiring video. The video could be based upon a lifelike scenario which resonates with your buyer persona, or it could be your message paired with music which compliments the message. Not only are consumers more likely to relate to your company’s brand when presented through video, they are also more likely to remember it.

Video Goes Viral

Experts estimate that 92 percent of people who consume videos on mobile devices share them with other people. That is only 8 percent shy of every mobile user and the highest share ratings of any mobile content.

Tips for Creating Valuable, Sharable Video Content

Just like the world of written content, not all videos are created equally. Some perform significantly better than others, because they are designed better. If you’d like to create videos which are valuable to your consumer base and more inclined towards being shared or even going viral, check out the following tips:

• According to research by John Cecil (author of Online Video Revolution), the ideal length of an online video is typically between 20 and 60 seconds. Sometimes, promotional videos can be up to two or three minutes, but these are typically those targeted towards repeat customers or educational niches.
• Ensure you catch your audience’s attention within the first 12 seconds. Around 33 percent of viewers will never make it past that.
• Skip the auto play function. Despite more businesses using the function, many consumers find it to be annoying – and it can also lower screen loading times.
• Use a descriptive, relevant thumbnail when promoting.
• Develop videos which are entertaining. For an example of what we mean, it’s worth checking out BlendTec’s “Will it Blend” During the series they try blending crazy items like an iPhone – and these stunts have launched them straight to the top of their industry.
• If you use writing or titles make sure they are clear and easy to read.
• Any images used should be of the highest quality and never pixelated or unfit for the screen.
• Always keep your audience in mind. Choose to create content based on their wants or needs, and not your own. All content – video or otherwise – needs to be designed in such a way that your audience will relate to it.

All these things combined equate to higher conversion ratings for your business. While written content still has a place in the digital marketplace (and always will), video marketing is the chosen format of the future. If you aren’t already allotting some of your time, effort, and resources towards this sector, now is the time to do so.

Video marketing is arguably one of the most effective marketing strategies for companies. However, if your video marketing misses the mark on certain elements, it won’t be nearly as effective, and you won’t see the return on investment you expect. Smaller companies can’t afford to hire a full-time videographer, so the marketing team creates the videos and pushes them to outlets that draw the company’s target audience.

The total Internet traffic from consumers will be 80 percent video viewing by 2019. The number of daily video uploads grows every year. Now is the time to get your video marketing polished up. If your videos don’t have the following six things, your marketing strategy will fall flat.

1. Brevity

As a company, you have a lot to say to the world. However, people have short attention spans, and they don’t want to watch an hour-long video about what you can do for their bottom line. Instead, they want you to get to the point and get there quickly. One study found out of the top 10 posts on YouTube, the longest video was just over nine minutes, but much shorter videos topped the list as well.

The longer your video runs, the more viewers tend to bounce away from it. This is a problem if you put your call to action at the end of the video and viewers already stopped watching.

The solution? Keep your videos as short as possible. Home in on a single idea, rather than trying to stuff everything you want to say into a single video. Ideal length also varies, depending on which social media platform you’re targeting.

This 30-second video from Marks & Spencer gets right to the point and emphasizes a single item the department store sells — luxury food. The video is bright, grabs the attention and focuses on the food throughout. At the end is a simple tagline that lets you know these foods are available at M&S.

2. Consistency

If you want to attract a following on social media, keep in mind you’re competing with millions of other businesses online. If users know they can count on you to regularly upload videos, they’ll be much more likely to follow you on whatever platform you’re on.

One example of this is Dr. Eric Berg’s videos on YouTube. Berg uploads at least a video per day, and sometimes several a day. The topics are always about eating a keto diet or solving health issues through diet. He has more than a million followers on YouTube alone. The videos are informative and high-quality, but subscribers also know he is reliable and uploads videos daily, so they follow to see those new videos.

3. Series

Creating a video series allows you to keep users engaged as they come back to view additional installments about a topic that already interests them. A series is also a good way to break down complex topics into smaller parts, which helps keep your videos shorter while still covering a topic in depth.

Quincy Compressor takes a complex topic and breaks it down into a series of videos that explain poor compressor quality and the impact of it. The first video is one of four in the series. In the first, an actor talks about toxic air quality and ways to avoid it. The other three videos repeat the theme of “avoid” and focus on other issues that can arise from air compressors that aren’t the same quality as Quincy.

4. Mobile Optimization

Sixty-five percent of those who view videos online do so from their mobile devices. If you aren’t optimizing your videos for mobile viewing, you’re risking losing the majority of your viewers. To ensure your video streams fast and seamlessly, avoid heavy media files or add-ons that bog down video viewing. If hosting the video on your website, use a responsive player that sizes to fit the user’s screen.

5. Soft Sell

One thing that turns off consumers is pushy salespeople. Unfortunately, pushy sales tactics sometimes creep into videos and other online marketing. Users respond better to a video that presents an idea and lets them make up their own minds about the product or service. It’s OK to put a call to action at the end, but don’t use scare tactics. Instead, give the viewer a reason to do business with you by showing them an advantage.

GoPro shows what their product is capable of by taking you on a trek into the wilderness with Travis Rice, a professional snowboarder. The viewer goes with him to the top of a mountain and down the other side as GoPro captures the entire exciting journey. The video ends with their logo, an image of the product and the tagline “Be a Hero.”

6. Engagement

One survey indicated 64 percent of viewers would like to interact with a video and will watch more of the video when allowed to do so. Rather than presenting a static experience, an interactive video offers the viewer options that customize the entire experience. Add elements such as quizzes and mini-games to engage viewers.

Video Marketing Strategy

Consider these missing elements the next time you create a video. Of course, video marketing goes way beyond making and posting amazing videos. You also need to know where to share, the best times to post the video and how to keep the buzz going. However, if the video itself falls flat, all the other elements are pointless.

Many videos are competing for consumer attention. Any small improvement gives you an edge over other companies in your niche. Videos allow a connection with your customers and an opportunity for engagement that is more powerful than most media. Think of a video as a two-way conversation with customers and potential customers.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

Captivating, original content drives site engagement. Video content continues to rise in popularity, with viewers watching over 500 million hours of videos on YouTube each day. Today, web users are embracing video content — and content creators are catching onto video’s viral potential and ability to relay information in an engaging format.

Websites looking to boost their site engagement with videos must decide on several things, such as what types of videos they should publish, in addition to when and where they should post the videos. If you’re interested in learning how to boost your site engagement with videos, consider the following eight tips:

1. Show Your Expertise

It’s simple enough to produce written content.

A video, however, provides more convincing evidence of a site or speaker’s expertise, especially since your tone and confidence comes across as more persuasive than text. Typically, it’s easy to tell whether someone is well-informed or just reading off a teleprompter in a video. For informative videos, a confident presence combined with useful information can lead to a convincing result.

Home staging expert Tori Toth uses video to highlight her expertise, fitting the footage in between informative and relevant text. The video also features “Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran, further cementing Toth’s legitimacy.

The page also mentions that Toth is a best-selling author and lifestyle expert, with the video and celebrity addition making it even more than apparent that Toth’s credentials are legitimate, which can help drive engagement and trust.

2. Provide a Transcript

Including a transcript of your video offers multiple benefits. For one, website visitors unable to watch the video have an immediate way to explore the content. If they’re on public transit, for example, and forgot their headphones, watching a video isn’t an option — unless they’re that person. In any case, a transcript can prove beyond useful.

Additionally, a transcript of the video — with placement below it — can have a positive impact on viewers searching for relevant topics. For example, someone searching for how low engagement produces high bounce rates may come across the above video from Denamico because the website includes the video’s transcript.

By listing the content within the video, Denamico caters to everyone, whether they’re partial to video or text, without excluding either audience. Plus, the site offers support for viewers with hearing impairment, making their content even more accessible.

3. Embrace Live Video

A surefire way to showcase expertise and drive engagement is to host live video events, particularly in the form of a tutorial or Q&A session. Facebook Live is an ideal platform if you have an established customer base. It also offers a familiar interface for users, plus provides the chance to connect with and engage site followers, while also cementing your website’s expertise.

Martha Stewart excels at championing her brand with live video. In this example, Stewart and Kevin Sharkey explore her favorite outdoor decorating ideas. During the video, they answer questions from commenting viewers.

So far, the video has thousands of likes and over a half-million views, driving engagement for the Martha Stewart brand and its online presence. Although this live video example is on Facebook, you can link to the video event via your site and embed it within your site’s content.

4. Post the Video During Peak Hours

It’s ideal to post your video content during peak hours, which is evenings on the weekdays. If you’re uploading the video to YouTube, it’s a good idea to upload during weekday afternoons to give the platform time to index the videos and deliver them to subscriber feeds.

Ideally, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday tend to work well. If posting on the weekend, stick to between 9 p.m. and 11 a.m., or risk getting distracted with other weekend responsibilities.

5. Think About Your End Goal

What’s the purpose of the video? Is it to gain new followers? Inspire discussion among readers of the site? Gear your presentation, content and tone to the type of audience and content you have in mind, whether it’s introducing yourself to new viewers or continuing a weekly video series for members already familiar with the format.

6. Keep Production Time in Mind

If you’re new to video content, it’s vital not to tease upcoming content too far in advance. Video production times can vary and include project delays, so it’s best to avoid a specific date for a video release until you’re confident that production’s wrapped — or have a sense of humor to deflect comments about your procrastination, like YouTuber Natalie Tran.

7. Tag the Video

Tags are an excellent way to gain visibility for your social media and website content. On Facebook and Twitter, they can inspire people to find your video. Seek out your competition’s videos to determine which hashtags they’re using to get a feel for smart tagging. Make sure to incorporate some tags outside of what your competitors use, though.

8. Push the Video

Great video content isn’t worth much if nobody can find it. When uploading a video, promote it on social media, newsletters and general word-of-mouth. Provide a screen capture of the video, along with a link, in emails to website subscribers to pique their interest. Connect with online communities as well, like Reddit, to share your video.

No matter your website’s focus, you can use video to boost site engagement. Keep in mind your expertise, audience, end goal and approach to promotion, though, because it’ll help your web content reach new heights in visitor engagement.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

We’ve all seen how rapidly the use of video is growing. The number of videos created for marketing or brand-building purposes increases in huge strides every day, and you don’t want your brand to be left behind.

There are hundreds of ways to use video, but using video in these 6 ways will help you strengthen your brand. Let’s learn how you should start using video today.

1. Always Tell A Story

Selling a product and making your brand more noticeable in videos doesn’t always have to focus on the “sales” aspect. Instead, try to focus on the story in some of your video marketing.

Storytelling connects your brand with your audience in a more raw, emotional way. Instead of buying into a singular product, a storytelling video helps your customers to buy into the feeling and emotions of your brand.

Personalized video can tell a beautiful story that will touch the hearts of customers, employees, and future partners.

2. Ignite Emotions Through Promotions

It’s become common knowledge that one of the reasons video marketing is so much more engaging to modern audiences is because of the way that visuals can ignite more emotional connections than traditional media marketing.

One great way to harness these emotions is to work with promotional partners that have their own audiences that align with your own target audience.

Consumers may be skeptical about adding a brand they have not heard of before to their “trust” list. By working with promotional partners such as Youtube vloggers, popular bloggers, or well-known community voices, you can build this type of trust in your brand.

3. Go “Live” With Your Brand

Live action video gives your brand a level of authenticity that you simply cannot manufacture. This means that taking advantage of the live features on social media outlets such as Facebook and Snapchat can build a stronger backing for your brand.

Not all live-action videos need to be broadcast in real-time for the authenticity to help your brand grow. Simply creating videos that bring the true face of your brand to life through the daily situations that happen within your company is enough to give consumers a first-hand experience of what your brand stands for.

4. Let Your Customers Testify On Your Behalf

Testimonials are a great way to strengthen your brand’s reputation, and all it takes is working with already existing customers to share your message.

Turn customers into your brand ambassadors. This will build trust because hearing and seeing people on camera helps future consumers make subconscious but very real connections to the message. That’s what makes video so relatable!

Work with your customers to create a message that you not only value your customer’s feedback, but you also want to engage more customers.

5. Have A Call To Action

No matter what type of video marketing you decide to use to continue building your brand, make sure that you always include a direct call to action for the video’s audience.

What is the goal of the video? Do you want them to watch more of your content, purchase a product, or send your feedback? No matter what the end goal is, make sure to tell your audience what you would like them to do. You need to ask the audience clearly if you expect to see results.

Always add a message asking something of your audience at the end of your videos. If they have taken the time to watch the content, they are your best chance to build up a following for your brand.

6. Strengthen From The Inside

Building your brand doesn’t always involve outside video marketing. In fact, using videos within your company is a great way to make your employees feel more connected to your brand.

Employees are the best advocates you could have for your brand, so it’s important for them to feel valued and connected to the brand they are working with. It’s been proven that brand messages shared by employees are re-shared 24 times more than those distributed only by the brand, proving that employee advocates have a lot of power.

Create content that excites and engages your employees on a regular basis. These videos will be a welcome break from text and email correspondence. When the time comes, they’ll be ready to share your brand message with the world!

Using video in these versatile ways will help your brand grow more robust and help you stand out from the crowd.

Author Bio:

VideoRemix is a video software company that allows users to create, edit, personalize, and publish production-quality video campaigns to engage their audience. Clients can feature these personalized videos on websites, landing pages, video-sharing sites, and Facebook.

Copyright: aradaphotography / 123RF Stock Photo

Cartoon animations used to be a central part of life for many of us growing up. As kids, many of us would immerse ourselves in hours of chores or study in exchange for a few hours of screen time on Cartoon Network. Over time, many of these cartoons had a profound impact on us, and it’s not hard to identify at least a lesson or two that you lifted from an episode of Tom & Jerry.
 

 
Thus, the power of animated videos can never be underestimated, especially for small businesses that are struggling to survive in a competitive business environment. Animation videos, especially those that carry an inspirational message, can help boost your marketing campaign while making your customers more endeared to your brand. They enable you to communicate your brand’s story in a more memorable and believable platform. And best of all, you can relay that story within a few seconds.

Here’re a few ways that inspirational animation videos can help you promote your brand and message.

Improved online visibility

The online potential of a good video can never be underestimated by small businesses with an online presence. A small business that uses video as part of its promotional campaign stands a better chance of higher rankings on search engines compared to businesses that stick with other forms of digital marketing.

In many cases, a simple explainer video can increase a website’s visibility by extending the average time visitors spend on the site, sometimes by up to 1500%. This tells Google and other search engines that your website is legit enough for the high table, which sees your site going up in search rankings.

Additionally, animated videos can get your small business gain mileage with YouTube, the world’s largest video search engine. Viewers can watch your animated videos, get inspired by your brand’s message, and find their way to your website.

Increased conversion rates

So, with more people hanging around your website, there’s a chance that a good number of them will proceed to purchase your product or service after watching your video. In fact, up to 85% of potential customers often go ahead to complete their purchase soon after checking out your product/service video.

An inspirational animation video combines a potent mix of emotions, voice, sound effects, text, music, and other forms of media that efficiently sums up your brand’s message and enables the customer to make a buying decision quicker.

Better user engagement

Videos are a master in the art of engagement. The modern world is filled with tons of distractions all baying for attention from potential customers. This is why only a few people will have the time to go through the web pages on your website, trying to find information about your company or product.

On the other hand, if you use a short animated explainer video on your landing page to explain your brand, product, or service, you stand a better chance of engaging with your target customers effectively and for a longer period, resulting in better brand promotion.

Improved brand awareness

For small businesses, establishing and communicating the brand message can be a challenging endeavor. You have to compete with established brands offering the same product and service within your area, which can make it difficult for potential customers to identify with your brand – or “the new guy.”

Animation videos can give your small business a head-start when it comes to promoting your brand. One of the many ways animation videos can be beneficial for brand awareness is by promoting your brand’s color. In fact, 85% of instantaneous buying decisions can be attributed to color alone, which also helps to describe the personality and nature of your brand. In essence, animated videos help to color your brand, literally.

Whiteboard animation videos are especially effective at driving brand awareness. For instance, Spiel Whiteboards, a company that specializes in whiteboard animation videos, has created dozens of memorable, thought-provoking videos for brands such as the National History Museum in Britain and eBay. Their designers often combine engaging storylines with the right assortment of colors and creativity that leaves the viewer with a permanent impression of the brand in question.

Reduce marketing time and costs

Animation videos are comparably easier and less costly to create, distribute, and track compared with other marketing platforms. You can actually get a simple animation video with your own message, logo, and other brand information for free from many online providers – that is, if you’re willing to overlook time limitations and annoying watermarks.

Still, even if you were to buy a plan from the likes of PowToon or GoAnimate, you’d still be making a lot of savings compared with shooting and marketing a professional video.

Plus, a video can remain on the internet for eternity, which means you don’t have to keep on renewing your ad plan when it runs out like with TV ads. Additionally, with a little bit of effort, you can link your animated videos to your social media channels and have them shared freely and endlessly.

With the right inspirational message, animated videos can provide your small business with a limitless pool of marketing resources and help you compete with bigger brands within your area of business.

About The Author:

Irene Fatyanova is a content writer, working with TechnicalMindsWeb.Com who loves reporting on the latest web design and online marketing trends, WordPress and eCommerce solutions. Apart from writing tech articles, she’s keen on photography and has a couple of cool Photoshop image retouching tricks up her sleeve. You can Irene on Twitter, and Google +.

Image Source: Skitterphoto

Running a company online means you need a strong website. With so many other pages on the web, you have a lot of competition for gaining your prospective audience’s attention. One of the best ways to improve the value of your website is to include video content.

But putting up videos on your page isn’t always enough to attract credible attention. You must be strategic about the video content you upload if you want to improve your site’s worth. To get the most out of your videos, here are five ways video can get your site more attention.

1. Video Keeps Your Viewer on the Page

When a visitor comes to your website and is greeted with only text, they may be quick to leave. After skimming through your content, they may return to the search page to look for something else. Not only can boring text make you lose a potential customer, it hurts your bounce rate — pushing your page further down the search results list.

Video keeps your visitors on your page long enough to capture their attention. If they don’t need to read an entire page of content but can watch a video and get the same information, they are more likely to learn the full extent of who you are and what you can provide.

2. Video is Easily Shared

Customers love sharing videos they enjoy with friends and family members. When you share a company video on your website or social media pages, there is the potential for that video to go viral. The more shares on your video, the more eyes on your company and the more customers you can connect with.

Each time your video is shared, you create a link back to your website. The more links you have going to your page, the stronger Google will assume your content is. Viral videos can dramatically boost both your exposure and your search engine ranking.

3. Videos Promote More Sales

If you sell certain products, displaying them in a video may increase your sales. Certain products that may be difficult to use can be featured in how-to videos, making them more appealing to customers.
 
Don’t believe us? This one video that cost $4,500 built this company into what it is today.
 

 

Other e-commerce websites may want to take advantage of video for displaying clothes or other products that look different in motion than on a still mannequin. By using videos to show what the clothes look like on an actual moving model, customers will better understand what they’re buying and if it’s right for them. This can improve sales while also reducing the number of items returned.

4. Videos Give You Access to Other Search Engines

The most common search engines we use include Google and Bing, but they’re not the only search engines around. While we may think of YouTube as a type of social media platform, it is actually considered one of the most popular search engines online today. To appeal to searchers on YouTube, you need to create videos and host them on the platform.

When you host on YouTube, you can optimize your videos for certain keywords or phrases like you would on Google or Bing. This means your videos will appear when a user searches for those phrases, improving your chances of getting noticed by YouTube users you hadn’t considered reaching before. You can also use your YouTube video throughout social media and your website, pushing visitors to your YouTube page to check out other videos you’ve created.

5. Videos Allow You to Show Your Personality

To connect with your audience, you want to show your personality in a creative way. By creating videos that give you a better opportunity to connect with past customers and potential new customers alike, you can really show off your brand through a great video.

Video allows you to get creative with showing who you are. Using digital features like green screens or animation can provide you with different video options that look more professional. They’ll grab more attention and improve your chances of going viral.

6. Video Can Give You a Premium Spot on Search Results

Standing out on a list of search results can be difficult, even if you have made it to one of the top three slots. Lately, rich snippets are getting the most attention from search engine users. To create content that appears as a rich snippet in a search engine results list, consider creating a video.

When a video appears as a rich snippet in a search engine results list, visitors will be more likely to click it because they can automatically tell whether it fits their needs. By seeing a preview of the video right in the search engine list, you eliminate the risk of someone clicking your video only to return to the results page, improving your bounce rate and keeping the visitors that click through entertained.

7. Video Improves Time Spent on Page

Search engines look at more than just your bounce rate when deciding which pages have the most value. They will also look at the amount of time a visitor spends on your site. If you have a video that keeps your audience on your site for a specific amount of time, your average time on site will be quite high.

This indication of time spent on your site tells search engines you’re providing the information the searcher was looking for. This will improve your search engine ranking and keep you within the top list of results on a page.

While you want to include various kinds of content on your website, using video is the way to go. From an introductory video about your company and your values to product explanation videos, come up with some interesting and exciting ways to feature video on your website. You may be surprised at how much value they actually bring to your site and your company.

Author

Lexie Lu is a designer and writer. She loves researching trends in the web and graphic design industry. She writes weekly on Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.

 
Running a business requires the right type of marketing to get your products or services in front of your target audiences. Video marketing has become one of the most influential types of marketing for small businesses. You can see how creative video marketing campaigns have helped companies like Old Spice and Dollar Shave Club reach an entirely new demographic.
 

 
With the right video marketing, your company can reach revenues that you never thought possible without the aid of this amazing marketing tool. A great video has the potential to go viral. This is an amazing way to gain more exposure for your small business that potential clients and customers may not yet already know about.

Keeping Your Video Marketing In-house

Video marketing is going to be a large investment any way that you look at it. If you decide to keep your video marketing in-house, you will not only have to invest in video equipment but talent as well. Creating high-quality video marketing content requires highly talented filmers, editors, and writers. You either need to invest in yourself to learn these skills, or hire individuals who are talented in these areas. Once you have hired these individuals, you will also have to invest in video equipment. Luckily, video equipment has become affordable to the point where you can purchase a professional set up for under 5,000 dollars. Investing in your own in-house marketing is a large initial investment but one that will save you money in the long run.

Hiring a Video Marketing Company

If you do not want to deal with the hassle of hiring a video professional or learning all of the video skills yourself, you can always hire a video marketing company. There are many video marketing companies that have years of experience creating viral campaigns that have helped small businesses reach a whole new audience. These marketing companies also have the skills needed to utilize social media to get your video seen by thousands of new potential customers and clients.

Hiring a video marketing company can be a great idea for those who are looking to outsource their video marketing to a team of professionals who can get the job done right for your product or service. Professional video marketing companies will be able to help you with extra services such as subtitle services or intro logo designs. There are many professional video marketing

Promoting Your Video

There are many different ways that you can promote your video once you have filmed it and uploaded it to the internet. Learning how to promote your videos on YouTube can be an important way to make potential clients or customers aware of your small business.Social media is a key element of proper video marketing in our modern world. Landing pages on your website can also be a great place to use your video. When you run ads that direct potential clients and customers to your landing page, your video can be the main tool that will turn visitors into sales.

Overall, you need to understand the amazing power of video marketing that is done professionally. The money that you invest into video marketing will be well spent. The amazing power of a great video marketing campaign is the staying power that it has. If you create an amazing video marketing campaign, you can yield the results for years to come. Finding the right in-house professional or video marketing company to help you with your video marketing can set your small business apart from the competition. Your videos will give potential clients and customers a great first impression of your company.