In 2019 there’s just no getting around the fact that video is the future of marketing. There are a lot of reasons for this, but really it boils down to a few key points:

• Your audience are consuming more video content than any other form of content, meaning they will come to you over your competition if you tell them the same thing using video.
• Your audience will consume more of your content if it’s available in video form than they would otherwise, reducing your bounce rate.
• Your audience are better able to retain the information they see and hear from videos than other forms of content, making your content and message more memorable.
• Your audience are more likely to return to you for more content if they caught one of your videos than they are if they stumbled across a blog post or meme on social media.
• Once you have content in video form it can be converted into any other type of content and repurposed incredibly easily. You’ll get the greatest ROI in terms of content creation from investing in video.
• Generating engagement and reach on social media is infinitely easier when you’re using video, and currently completely impossible on Facebook without video.
• And the single greatest thing you can do to boost your SEO in 2019 is include a video in your content.

When it comes to creating a successful marketing strategy and ensuring your business’ continued growth and success, any one of these points would be absolutely crucial. The first four alone ensure you’re hitting some of the biggest requirements of an effective marketing campaign: standing out from the competition; reducing your bounce rate; creating a memorable brand; and nurturing long-term relationships with your audience.

If content is king (or queen), and honestly it is, video is the Maharajah of marketing.

The best part about video marketing is its versatility. There are a lot of ways to incorporate videos into your content and online profile. You can do all of them, or you can do whichever feels most comfortable and fits your budget. If you’re scratching your head trying to figure out what’s going to work best for you, here are five super easy ways to use video marketing to create huge growth and success in your business…

#1 Start A Vlog…

We all know that regular updates are a must-have for any website. If you’re not already blogging regularly then (if you’re honest with yourself) you know you should be. It’s time-consuming, it’s frustrating, it’s expensive, it’s a great many things, but blogging really is the core of any digital marketing campaign for so many reasons.

Again, I could wax lyrical about the various fabulous benefits of blogging, but succinctly put a regular (by which I mean weekly) blog post that’s properly planned and optimised will:

• Build your brand’s credibility and visibility.
• Ensure you’re ranking well on those SERPs
• Attract the perfect prospects.
• Demonstrate your expertise
• Prove the value of what you’re offering.
• Build long-term relationships with your audience.
• And naturally convert them into paying clients.

What’s an improvement on blogging?

Vlogging.

As I write this Team Acrylic are in the process of filming for the launch of our own vlog, and while it’s a major investment in terms of time and resources (if you do it yourself) or money (if you make the smart choice and outsource all the grunt work to the pros), it’s so worth it.

The addition of a video version of your blog will work wonders for your SEO. Not only that, the video can be repurposed across multiple platforms, and converted into multiple other formats (audio, text, etc.), making it the best form of content creation from an ROI perspective.

If you’re on the fence as to whether it’s worth the investment, ask yourself this: when was the last time an interesting video popped up on your Facebook feed, or was suggested by YouTube while you were watching something else?

How often do you end up watching more videos from people you previously watched, thanks to the suggestions of algorithms?

And how many times have you bought, hired, or visited someone, something, or somewhere that you first saw online in a video?

Flip that around and ask yourself, when when was the last time you saw something interesting on your RSS feed? When was the last time you added anything new to your RSS feed? In fact, do you even have an RSS feed anymore?

Be honest, really.

Who does?

A video takeover isn’t imminent. It happened in 2017.

#2 Upload Your Videos Natively To Your Social Channels…

I’ve mentioned reach and engagement, and from a social perspective these are the two hugely valuable, virtuallly-impossible-to-generate-any-other-way benefits of video marketing. By using video in your social media campaigns you’re going to reach more people, engage more people, attract more followers, drive more traffic to your website, and drive more conversions and sales.

This is one of the reasons vlogging is such a great investment. Not only are you creating and maximising the impact of those regular updates on your website, you’re also creating a massive amount of high-quality, highly consumable, highly shareable content for your social channels.

No need to record different things for social media (although extras are never going to hurt!) simply repurpose your vlog content and upload it natively to your social platforms of choice.

The odds are you’re hosting your vlog on YouTube, and it’s very tempting to simply share the links to your YouTube videos on other platforms.

DON’T.

Upload everything natively. If you’re on Facebook, get those videos uploaded to your page. If you’re on Instagram you want to be rocking IGTV as well as YouTube. Even Twitter and Pinterest now allow video uploads in various forms, take advantage of the ways in which social channels are creating their own video platforms.

There’s a reason they’re all pouring so much time, money and resources into their respective video platforms: video is the future of social media marketing.

That future is already here.

If you’re not already using regular video content on social media I’m willing to place money on the fact your engagement and reach are in the toilet and you’re wondering why on earth you bother with social media at all.

If you’re on Facebook, and don’t have video, give up now. You’re never going to get anywhere without native videos.

#3 Go Live On Your Social Media…

Speaking of native videos, if scripted and pre-recorded videos aren’t for you, and you’re really more of an off-the-cuff, fly by the seat of your jeans marketer, live video is the way forward.

Going live on your social platforms is an amazing way of generating huge engagement, as well as showcasing various aspects of your business in a genuinely relatable way.

Something interesting happening in the office? Give everyone a sneak peak!

Starting a new competition or promotion? Hop on Facebook Live to announce it. (Check out one of our clients doing exactly that to promote their latest challenge.)

Running a competition? Announce your winners live on your social. (Just like we did during our massive 12 Days of Christmas giveaway).

Got an exciting event happening? Livestream it! (We recently did this to great success with the BBC for a charity Strictly Come Dancing event.)

#4 Show People Who You Really Are…

One of the hardest things to achieve in marketing is trust.

Ensuring your audience genuinely know, like, and trust your brand is pivotal. They will never buy from you if they’ve never heard of you. They’re never going to give you money for anything if they don’t trust you will follow through on the promise of that product or service. And they’re not going to pick you over the competition if there isn’t something about you that’s inherently more likeable (either in terms of personality, values, or distinctiveness) – something that sets you apart.

Video is the perfect way to allow people to get to know who you really are as a business. If you’re filming the real people in your business, going about their genuine tasks, servicing your customers, working for your clients, and generally getting on with life behind the scenes, you’re giving everyone a peek behind the curtain.

That’s what they want.

It’s what they need.

It’s what they frequently require in order to believe a word you say.

Behind the scenes videos are amazing for demystifying the various processes that go on in your business. If you know there are areas that are problematic in terms of trust, show what really goes on throughout! If there are elements of your business that are controversial, explain them!

Get your face in front of that camera and let your audience see who they’re dealing with. Let them hear you speak your message in your own literal voice. Let prospects come to feel they know you as people, rather than empty words, marketing slogans, and advertisements.

#5 Explain The Value Of What You’re Offering…

Another amazing way to use video marketing to grow your business and make a huge success of any product or service is to harness the power of video to educate your audience.

A lot of the time, people don’t know they need something until you explain to them just how much better, easier, more efficient, more fun, happier, healthier, profitable, calmer, or more manageable life would be if they just had what you’re offering.

Before you can sell someone your stuff, you need to sell them on the fact they need your stuff.

Then you need to sell them on the fact your version of your stuff is better than anyone else’s.

Then you need to sell them on the fact the price you’re asking is actually well worth it.

In other words, you need to explain the value of what you’re offering before you can expect anyone to want it, or be willing to pay what you’re asking for it.

Explainer videos are the perfect way of doing this. If you have a new product or service, create a video that showcases exactly what they are, what they do, why they’re so great, and why they’re worth the asking price.

Sure, you can say all of this in your web copy and your blog posts and your newsletter. But remember what we were saying about people preferring to absorb information in video form? And remember how they paid attention to video for longer? And remember how they retained all that information so much better when they’d watched it as a video?

The best way to sell your stuff is to use a video to show people why they can no longer live/work without it.

And Finally…

Well on board the video train, raring to go, but have no idea where to begin, what equipment you need, how to film stuff, how to edit stuff, where to upload it, or what on earth to say in your videos? Don’t worry! If you’re a business in Northwich or the surrounding areas of Cheshire and the North West and you’re looking for a cracking video marketing service, look no further. Video marketing is my obsession, and Acrylic are here to handle all your video marketing needs for you. Book a free consultation below, right now, and we’ll have a chat about exactly how you can use video marketing to skyrocket your business…

Author Profile

Hazel Butler

Our Head of Marketing, Hazel Butler, is an award-winning author, copywriter, and editor. Part ghostwriter, part blogger, part videographer, and part strategist, when she’s not endlessly penning content for our clients Hazel’s happily concocting the perfect marketing plans to propel their businesses forward.
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