- Business
Strategic Marketing | How & Why Video Wins
We've been working closely with a local film agency here in Newcastle on a few marketing campaigns, and I thought I'd share some of the amazing things this adventure has uncovered for us as a business:
1. Just how effective Video is in marketing
Video is really only in its infancy as far as the web is concerned. Yes, platforms such as Youtube and Vimeo have been kicking around for some time and we've seen some really clever media campaigns over the years that involved web media, however, it's really starting to shift gears with the mobile frontier.
It's effective in a number of key ways, however, one obvious one is the fact that people, by watching a video on your site, are staying there longer thus strengthening your brand awareness.
2. There really are 2 schools of thought on how to use video as a tool for acquisition
I came across this fantastic video posted by landing page service Unbounce posted back in May.
You really do have your content marketers sounding their trumpets about Virality, Community and Audience - however, it's not tangible; and here I go again - WHERE IS THE CPA (cost per acquisition)?
If you can't report on it - and ascertain it's value...it's not valuable.
3. A video is an amortizable marketing asset
When it comes to reporting, being able to spread your cost figure out over multiple campaigns makes your CPA results that much sweeter.
4. There are ways to make your video efforts more effective
CTA (call to action) - make sure you have a call to action in the actual video itself; generally at the end is pretty standard. However, we've had success at relating it to content itself at a particular point in the video.
Personalise as much as possible - if you're selling a product or service, visually emulating the experience in such a way that the viewer can imagine themselves using the product or service - you've converted.
Have an acquisition gate - if your targeting lead generation or eCommerce sales; ensure the user journey is seamless and conversion-driven. Don't make them walk through 10 steps to achieve the desired goal.
5. Strategic Marketing
The video above touches on strategic marketing - this is the key.
Creating awareness through any form of marketing channel whether this be social, search or video; the experience or user journey moving forward after this awareness phase is where strategy really needs to be developed.
Understanding what the consumer needs to do once they become aware of your brand is key. Have the tools to report on this so that the strategy can be refined and optimised.
In conclusion - if you've got the budget; get a video. If you don't have the budget; find it. Video is the new frontier, and we really are beginning to work out how it can play a significant role in the web, online & strategic marketing.
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