There has recently been a huge shift across the video marketing landscape. Using any type of video in your campaigns has been a novel way to set yourself apart and show you are cutting edge in your industry. But now we are on the verge of something entirely different. More companies are incorporating high-quality video into their marketing campaigns and it’s becoming less of a luxury item and more of a necessity.

There can be lots of reasons why people can connect with your video. Some like the human factor when they can relate to a person on screen or the story being told. Others like the high tech effects that make the products shine.  Others simply prefer watching a how-to video over reading written instruction. Whatever the case may be, video is becoming the power player in the digital content world.

The one thing that I love about all the new tools available for marketers today is the ability to have more transparency in your analytics and show the ROI for each piece of content you produce. Without hard metrics it’s tough to convince anyone in your company (or yourself for that matter) that the investment was really worth it.  Regardless about where you stand with your vision of video marketing, the numbers don’t lie.

Let’s take a look at some compelling reasons why you should be including video in your campaigns. Everyone knows how important SEO is for your website. Without it you are just another result far below your competitors. By adding video to your website and optimizing it properly you can actually increase the chance of a front page Google result by 53 times. I’d say that a good start! Also the use of video in email campaigns has shown to double click-through rates.  Recent research has also shown that 71% of marketers say video conversion rates are outperforming other marketing content. Again with that human connection, audiences are about 10 times more likely to engage, embed, share and comment on video content than blogs or related social media posts.

Obviously those are great reasons to add video to your campaign, but sometimes it’s hard to know where they fit in and what type of video works best for your unique situation. The great thing is you can use video throughout the buyer’s journey.  By creating a series of videos you can really nail all stages of the buying cycle with content that the customer can really appreciate.

Top of the Funnel (TOFU) videos are a great way to capture customer interest with content related to your industry that just about anyone will be interested in. TOFU videos can decrease your bounce rate and increase time on the your site by a significant amount. Customers will begin to trust you as a thought leader in the industry that can provide great content and industry news that will help them make decisions about their future purchases and their own business decisions.

Middle of the Funnel (MOFU) videos are great to keep people on page for even longer. They should be related to the original content piece and should provide more info about the original subject matter. These videos must be placed in a content string so your viewers can easily keep learning about the subject. If you keep providing more related content then your visitor will continue to eat it up. The content can vary from each market, but the idea is the same. Time on site increased!

Finally, you have the Bottom of the Funnel or BOFU content. Now this is where the buying cycle should end. After you have captured consumers’ attention and led them down the funnel they should pretty much be ready for a purchase or this BOFU content will likely push them over the edge. This content is sniper accurate with its intent and will most likely be product or solution centric. If they have made it this far then you know they are interested. I suggest even gating this content for lead generation as you have already proven they are interested in your company and are ripe for hot lead status. If they don’t make a purchase after viewing the BOFU content at least you have their contact info and can nurture the lead with a drip campaign until they are ready to buy.

Do you need more proof that video content is right for you? OK sure, why not. Let’s go deeper into the human psyche and back to that human connection I keep mentioning. When someone watches a video they are much more likely to feel emotional about the content than they would say over a white paper. Video has lots of relatable elements that people can connect with. Whether it’s the song they like, the voice they hear or the face on camera, people tend to become more connected to video than any other multimedia content. Experimental results have shown video-based multimedia content provides the best learning performance and most positive emotion for verbalizers. Dynamic multimedia material containing video and animation are more appropriate for visualizers than static multimedia material containing text and image. Studies also show that stories are 22 times more memorable than facts alone. Also we are engineered to relate to stories and visualization. Our brains can process visuals 60,000 times faster than text!

Yes, your competition is doing it. Fifty two percent of marketing professionals name video as the type of content with the best ROI. Seventy six percent of marketers plan to use video to boost their brand awareness campaigns. Ninety six percent of B2B companies are planning to use video in their content marketing over the next year. Are you already feeling left behind? Well don’t because it’s not too late to incorporate video into your campaigns and see why everyone is so excited about what it offers. Cisco predicts that consumer internet video traffic will go from 64 percent in 2014 to surpass 80 percent by 2019. Not only is it becoming easier and more affordable than ever to produce but it is also quickly becoming the best way to provide transparency into your metrics, create lead generation and prove ROI for your campaigns. So… what are you waiting for?!

Need help incorporating video into your marketing budget? Give us a call at 701-478-1111 and ask to speak to a Marketing Advisor or visit absolutemg.com/contact. We have a full video team with the expertise to deliver high quality videos for your brand.