Your marketing strategy needs to produce results. Budgets are tight and every dollar counts. Investing in approaches that produce results is essential. One marketing method proven to deliver more leads and increase sales is by using video.

Episode Transcript

Rod Rodriguez:             00:00                Your marketing strategy needs to produce results. Budgets are tight and every dollar counts. Investing in approaches that produce results is essential. One marketing method proven to deliver more leads and increase sales is by using video. We will talk about the stats and numbers behind why you should make that jump into video in today's episode. .

Rod Rodriguez:             00:36                Hello and welcome to inbound Academy brought to you by Rizen. I'm Rogelio Rodriguez, the CEO of the company and I'm going to be taking over the interview chair today and switching seats with our regular host, Jeff Lambert. Jeff heads up our content here at the company and he's an expert on video. So we're turning the tables to get him to share some valuable insights with you. Jeff, thanks for coming on.

Jeff Lambert:                01:01                Thanks for having me. Rod. This is a, this is a little different. I got to say switching roles here, but I'm excited to do this.

Rod Rodriguez:             01:08                Fantastic. Yeah, well come on. I'm excited to take this role this time and you know, why don't we get started with what do you mean when we talk about video marketing?

Jeff Lambert:                01:20                So video marketing, I guess we can break it down into two terms. You know, basically what it comes down to is, you know, anything or any way that you decide to market your product you're using, you're using film, you're using the video as the medium to be able to get your message across to be able to market your product. And you know, that's, that's changed. The video marketing strategy that you would use in 2019 is not the same that you would use in 1970 or even 2007 that things have just changed so much. But what hasn't changed is that video is a really strong way or businesses or marketers to be able to promote their product.

Rod Rodriguez:             02:03                Why don't you sell us on some reasons why marketers and business owners should be using video to advertise their product and services? Isn't TV dying?

Jeff Lambert:                02:11                I mean, yeah, you're 100% right. TV is, is going out, at least in the, in the form of what we're used to. Right? So I think we all have that image in our head when we think of TV of the family getting around, you know, sitting on the couch to watch something after dinner. You know, your favorite show comes on at eight o'clock and that was kind of what the family did before the kids went off to bed or maybe parents stayed up and watched the show after the kids went to bed. So you were kind of building your schedule around when TV came on that you enjoyed. And that model is just really going away and it's being replaced with on demand video where you can watch really anything you want when you have the free time to do it. And then on top of that, it's not just a handful of networks that are creating video.

Jeff Lambert:                02:59                Anybody can create something of value, you know, using video as a medium because we've really democratized the process. I don't have to go pitch a script, you know, to one of the big three in order to be able to create a series. You know, if even without bundling, I could do it with just basic tools and market it well enough to be able to reach an audience. So TV is changing and it is dying in the traditional sense, but it's living on in the sense that TV is becoming more about choice for a lot of different you know, interests and things that people enjoy and they can get that through a lot of different channels, through a lot of different services. So it's becoming more about the consumer that we can get what we want, when we want it. And I think there's power in that.

Jeff Lambert:                03:48                And that's why I think so many people are going to the internet now to consume video. So just to give you an example of that, Google did a study in 2018 and they found out of their respondents that six out of 10 people would rather watch a video online than they would on television. That's amazing. That's staggering. And I can identify with that too. We have a useless Direct TV subscription right now. And really the only thing I use it for is live sports. Everything else. I'll get the app on my smart TV and I'll log in using my cable account. But I want to be able to watch the shows on demand when I want to watch them. I don't want to wait til Sunday night at eight o'clock to watch the show. Who has time for that? Forget that. That's so 2004 right? Yeah. So just to throw some other stats at you on that Rod, 85% of people in the U S watch videos online. That was the study that ComScore did. That's a staggering number. 85%.

Rod Rodriguez:             04:44                It's amazing. It's amazing. I mean, and I can imagine, I mean I think I know where most of these videos already live because I use it all the time. The other day I wanted to figure something out with my car and I YouTube it, you know, so I can see how in my own life, how it is a big part of my life now. So yeah,

Jeff Lambert:                05:08                Just the ability to do that. Insane. And you mentioned YouTube, which is, it's a great point Rod, because when we talk about online video and how TV's dying, really the thing that's replacing it, I guess the housing for a lot of these videos, at least on the, the lower end of the scale where people can just start with basic tools is through YouTube. They're the most visited site on the internet. I mean they have a lot of competition and they have, I think over a billion registered users. I believe that that equals about a third of the people who access the internet on the planet. They're going to YouTube, they have active accounts, they're watching videos. So that, that's just think about the market size that can be reached just from that number. It's staggering. Sure.

Rod Rodriguez:             05:51                Well, I mean it's the reason why they're making so much money from it, right? Google itself.

Jeff Lambert:                05:58                I mean you have all those people in one place. There's no other place where you can get that kind of saturation. Now there's a lot of, there's a lot of content to be sifted through, but when you have over a billion registered users that you can reach with your product, like in one place that, I mean, talk about a silver bullet.

Rod Rodriguez:             06:16                Absolutely, absolutely. So there's a lot of compelling reasons. What about any other reasons why video marketing works for today's audiences?

Jeff Lambert:                06:27                Yeah, I, I think that, you know, again, we talk about TV is dying. It's not the TV's dying, it's just evolving. So the traditional way that we consume TV is going away, but people still like video and that, you know, I think there's reasons for that. You know, that's coming from an educator's background, I mean it's, it's, it's easy to see that because of the, you know, a lot of the bombardment we have with the lights on our phone and you know, the ability to get everything on demand and when we want it, you know, they call it "the microwave generation" right now where they can just automatically get things in the blink of an eye. People have shorter attention spans. So when presented with a 1500 word article or a five minute video, most people are gonna take the five minute video because it's not only is it going to hold their attention longer, but it's just, it's a more visual means of being able to get information processed and that's what we desire. That's what we want. That's how our brains have really been rewired.

Rod Rodriguez:             07:29                No, absolutely. I mean we're spending a lot more time on these, on these screens and I mean, there's so many, so many different tools that we use every day.Things to stay connected like Facebook, you know all these different elements that really binds us to our screens. I'm sure there's applications for you know, for video and all those mediums that we're stuck to every day.

Jeff Lambert:                08:00                Oh, completely. You know, like it, just to throw some stats at you on this one, for those of you looking for that concrete evidence to show that marketing using video works. Forbes did a study that the, the average user that they surveyed, they'll spend 88% more time on a website that has video available. So if you click on a blog post and it has a video on it, chances are that you are going to stick around and consume that content more. And, and case in point YouTube number one visited site on the internet because of the fact that they have video content to consume. Socialbakers did a study that Facebook videos, they catch 135% more organic reach than just a photo. Just organic reach. Not paid. People just automatically interacting with that content.

Rod Rodriguez:             08:50                Amazing. Amazing. Yeah. I mean it's like all these are all tips, right? Get started on videos for marketing. Yeah.

Jeff Lambert:                08:59                The evidence is there. Like when you really sit down and look at it, it's like, man, you know, video should really be at the top of everybody's list when it comes to marketing their product. It has to be a part of the ballgame and it has to be a part of that strategy. And if it's not, you're missing out.

Rod Rodriguez:             09:13                Absolutely. No, absolutely. And I know I heard a fact that something like 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound.

Jeff Lambert:                09:26                We've all done it, right?

Rod Rodriguez:             09:27                Yeah. I mean, I do it all the time. I am, I'm somewhere where I can't make noise or, or, or, or something. And you know, I, I appreciate the video of the marketers that actually like invest the time and putting the captions at the bottom during those times.

Jeff Lambert:                09:42                Yeah. Yeah. It's great. And you just reminded me of another stat I had written down here in my notes that, you know, a lot of times, especially if you're selling more, a more technical product, you have to be able to get across to your audience why your product is valuable or what it does. You know, so there was a study that insignia did and they found that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it as compared to only 10% who read about it. So if you have a complicated, I shouldn't say complicated, like a complex product where you have to really explain why it's beneficial or how it works, which, you know, if you're selling anything technologically based or anything that maybe is a new you know, a new, a niche product that people haven't seen before, you have to explain how it works. So you could write a blog post on it or you could create a video on it. One of them is definitely more effective.

Rod Rodriguez:             10:38                Absolutely. Okay. Video. So how does this, you know, we kind of mentioned that a little bit with Facebook, but how does video tie in into social media?

Jeff Lambert:                10:49                Yeah, so social media is where everybody is nowadays, right? That's, that's what we're doing the most on our phones. We're on Facebook, we're on Snapchat, we're on Instagram, we're on insert whatever social media, you know, a network is important to you. And I think we did an episode on that. I'll see if we can put that in the show notes. We did a whole episode on which social media networks attract which groups and how to best optimize your profiles for those groups. So you know, there's a difference between people that frequent Facebook and people that frequent Pinterest and you can reach them in different ways. But anyways, I'm getting off topic, but yeah, social media is where everybody is. So it's important to have a strong social media game. And some people think it's enough to just create a Facebook page or post once a week with a picture of a cat saying, "hang in there" or something like that. It's not just that, right? It's more than that. And video's a really powerful way to reach people on social media. So again, I'm just going to throw some stats out at your run. In 2019, Facebook reported that 69% of us adults have an account on their platform. 69% of us adults in the United States. How many people live in the US? Almost at like 300 million?

Rod Rodriguez:             12:10                Amazing. Amazing. 69%. Yeah. That's a huge amount of individuals that are active on Facebook. And I mean it just reminds me of how, how things are changing to more video. Cause I remember at one point Facebook had had nobody, you know, and they added it to become more engaging. As well as having all these other platforms that are coming out. Instagram is video, you know, Snapchat has been video, TeikTok has video and music. So all these different platforms vying for our attention are, are, are definitely, they're onto something, right? If you see the trend through all these different systems or platforms, you can stay up prizes as to what to stay on top of as a marketer. So videos seems to be where it's at.

Jeff Lambert:                13:02                Yeah. You're 100% right. Rod, like that's where people are. So like we talked about, people are watching video online, they prefer to watch video online and people are on social media. So if you're creating video content, it makes sense to put it on the social media networks where your audiences are. And you know, I just want to throw some more stats out. I'll go through them quick because you know, Hey I don't want to bore people too much. This wasn't supposed to turn into a statistics lesson, but more than 60% of people under the age of 30 have an Instagram or a Snapchat account. Facebook generates 8 billion video views per day. Rod, 8 billion video views per day. That's insane. Youtube users watch over 500 million hours of videos a day. I don't even know how, how could you explain that to like Abraham Lincoln or you know, Alexander Graham bell or someone who has no understanding or concept of how this medium works and you have to say, "yeah, there is a place where you can go to watch moving pictures and there's 500 million hours of content available and that's just what people consume in one day." Like, how could you wrap your mind around that if you didn't live in this era? I just don't know how.

Rod Rodriguez:             14:29                Yeah, yeah. No, I think we should hashtag that. #movingpictures. For sure.

Jeff Lambert:                14:38                Or #whatwouldAbrahamLincolnthink?

Rod Rodriguez:             14:40                You know it sounds like it's important to have a diverse content approach. Every, every, every platform has a different that seems to be like almost a following, you know, from Instagram to Snapchat to Facebook and I think we have to, we as marketers, we have to figure out, you know, how to deliver this video on social media networks to in order to attract that, the type of people that we're looking for.

Jeff Lambert:                15:07                Yeah, definitely. And you know, I want to be clear to rod, like I know we're talking about the benefits of video. I'm not saying just use video. You know, to use the, the, the statement that you just said, it has to be a diverse approach. You know, you should be doing paid ads, you should be doing written content. You should be doing visual content that's not video related. Like infographics. Podcasts are a great medium that's still exploding right now. You know, hence the reason why we started this podcast is audio can reach people in ways that video can't, may not be as popular, but it still fills a really important important niche. So, yeah, I mean, be diverse in how you market your product. But man, I mean, these stats are clear, right? If, if, if social media networks are where people are and people are consuming the amount of video they're consuming every day, then you know where to go and you know, the type of content that you should be at least partially producing as part of your strategy.

Rod Rodriguez:             16:01                No, absolutely. Absolutely. And this is all great. I love all the stats that you're covering and the importance of this as an entrepreneur. I care deeply about the results, right? And the bottom line for the business. So how does video translate into sales?

Jeff Lambert:                16:19                Yeah, so that's a good question. It's fair. You know, if you're creating video and you're putting it out there and you're spending money on marketing content through this medium, you know, it should work. You should be getting a return on your investment. So I have some stats to show that as well. So just to give you an example, a WiseOwl did a study. They found that currently 87% of marketers in the United States are using video as part of their, their, their diversification strategies. So I just want to establish the point that this is an overwhelming amount of individuals that see the value in video and they're taking advantage of it. So this isn't really like a cutting edge. Like, you know, like this is gonna be big in 15 years. Like now people are using this, this medium as a way to market their products. Video marketers or marketing agencies that use video, they get 66% more qualified leads per year. That's, that's a significant uptick from what I think marketing agencies would be getting if they were not using video content. Is that a fair statement?

Rod Rodriguez:             17:27                No, I absolutely, I've noticed those individuals, or at least on the pages that we've developed that have video explainer videos specifically. The people that ended up calling us are way more qualified than those. They came in through simple form submission. It's fantastic. It's amazing to see that they're taking them, the individuals are taking the time to learn through the video and by the time they call you, they've sold themselves almost, right.

Jeff Lambert:                17:57                Yeah. Saves us time. That goes back to that stat that we mentioned previously that people, they learn more. They, you know, they're able to internalize information better using video than they are by reading. One of the thing I want to toss out at you to ride the, you know, HubSpot put out a report and they said that 64% of respondents said that they're more likely to buy a product online after they watch a video related to it.

Rod Rodriguez:             18:22                Amazing. Amazing. That's amazing. I mean that, and it's that that in itself would make me want to go and market my product through video. 64%. That's significant. You know if you're trying to reach a younger audience, do you have any stats of how video influences those individuals?

Jeff Lambert:                18:47                Yeah, that's a good point. We just did an episode a couple a couple of weeks ago about "Gen Z" and they're the up and coming group that people are paying attention to. And you know, millennials, even now it feels like because you and I are millennials, whenever people talk about millennials as though what we're wrecking or what we're doing wrong, I would, I would point the finger at the baby boomers personally. I mean if you really look at it, but I guess we're not in the business support and fingers. Right. So, yeah, let's talk about Gen Z or even millennials. Because I think this applies to us too, but really the younger the customer, the more likely video content is going to influence what they buy, their purchasing decisions. So just to give an example of that Animoto did a study. They found that 4 and 5 millennials will consider video content when they're researching a purchase decision. So they're actively seeking out video content to learn more about a product or service before making a decision. That's specifically for that medium. I mean, that's great. That tells me that we need to think about the buyer's journey as we're developing this video content. I think it's going to be essential to the success. Yeah, absolutely. And the same would certainly apply for Gen Z. I mean, anybody who has a kid knows and the kid can be as young as two or three. I have a three year old son. They love video content. That's how they want to consume information. And they learn a lot from that as well. So again, it's kind of a two pronged attack here for marketers. Maybe attack is not the right word, but you know, not only are you informing, but you're educating.

Jeff Lambert:                20:28                I mean, if you can accomplish that through one medium, why would you not make that a major part of your marketing strategy?

Rod Rodriguez:             20:35                No, absolutely. And what about marketers that are currently using video? I mean, are they seeing results? Do they consider themselves effective? Is it working for them?

Jeff Lambert:                20:51                Yeah. So, you know, in addition to what I'm saying, 87% of marketers, they're currently using video. Hubspot did another study and they found that 88% of marketing firms that use video are reporting complete satisfaction with their return on investment. So, you know, you asked me if it helps the bottom line, if you're getting that return on investment, 87% of people of marketers are currently using it and 88% report complete satisfaction. You can't get better numbers than that. I mean, if you're getting an 88% satisfaction guarantee, I mean, when's the last time we even saw movie on Rotten Tomatoes get that kind of score?

Rod Rodriguez:             21:33                Sure, sure. And that's great. That's great. I mean, that's amazing. So we, we've talked about why, we talked about the how and how it affects the bottom line. So how do I as a marketer, make sure the videos are reaching my target audience? How does that happen?

Jeff Lambert:                21:55                Yeah, that's a good question. You don't want to just create a video and throw it into the void. I mean, it's just like any other piece of content, especially if you're following the inbound philosophy. You want to create it and make sure that it's gonna get in front of your audience. So a lot of the same principles apply. So just to give you an example, when you create a video, wherever you host that video, you know, it could be through YouTube, it could be through the Vimeo, it could be through a lot of different options to be able to host that content. You still have to optimize it for search. So keywords still apply here. So, you know, just to give you an example, you want to make sure that your title has the keywords that you're trying to attract. So if you're trying to attract an audience, let's say that you are selling boat propellers. Whenever you create the title for your video, you're gonna want to make sure that it includes a keyword that has to do with you selling boat propellers or something that the boat boat propelling crowd finds interesting. But you know, if I own a boat, I'm going to be interested in videos that have to do with taking care of my boat or new products coming out. So you have to include that in the title because when you go to YouTube and you type in something in the search box, it's still using Google's algorithms to bring up results, or Bing or the Vimeo or any of these platforms. It's still using search features to bring the top results. So if you don't optimize your content, it's not going to show up in front of your audience.

Rod Rodriguez:             23:31                That's great to know. I mean that, that is great to know.

Jeff Lambert:                23:33                So yeah, make sure you optimize your title, use the keywords and you know, we have a lot of blog posts and some videos on our website that people could find more about how to optimize your content for SEO, for search engine optimization. The same applies for video. So I guess a little hot tip for people. Not only do you want to optimize your title but make sure every place you upload your video you have an opportunity to put a description there. And most sites will give you about 5,000 characters to be able to list what your video's about.

Jeff Lambert:                24:08                And this is where you want to use the complete sentences and kind of really provide more of an in depth explanation of what your video is about as opposed to the title. But I think an important thing to keep in mind is that when people type in to a search engine, what they're looking for, you get the result, you get the title, and then you get that little blurb underneath what it's about. People only see the first 120 characters or so. So I guess what I'm trying to say is when you write your description for your videos, you're going to want to front load the most important information in the first couple sentences in those first 120 characters. So don't wait until much further down to talk about what your video is and what value it serves. You know, if you're creating a video showing people how to replace windshield wipers on their car, make sure you talk about maybe the model that you're going to be showing, how to replace them, or what service is sponsoring this video.

Jeff Lambert:                25:07                You don't want to put that towards the front of the description. So it shows up in the search results because people aren't gonna see it unless they click on the video and go to the video. And you have to kind of keep that, that mindset of you're trying to attract people to go see it. But optimization is the key. So you want to optimize your title. You want to make sure that your description has those keywords. Most sites let you tag your videos. So if I create it again, if I create a video that has to do with men's fashion, something like that, I'm gonna want to make sure that I tag it in the men's fashion category. That way when people are searching in that category, they're going to see my videos.

Rod Rodriguez:             25:45                Great. Great advice. Great advice. Any other tips?

Jeff Lambert:                25:50                So, yeah, I mean, keyword optimization is really important. I can't say that enough. I think the other thing that I would recommend is don't just expect people to find your video either. I know the inbound philosophy is about placing yourself in front of the consumer that way when they need it, they're going to find it. That's obviously the goal, but you also work hard to build up a following with your organization, with your brand, with your product. Let people know when you put out a new video that they might find interesting. Don't just hope they're going to find it, you know? So, you know, diversify how you market that. When you put out a video on YouTube, that's great. People that are subscribed to your channel, they're going to find out. Post it, post a link to the video on your Facebook profile, and the next day maybe post it on Twitter.

Jeff Lambert:                26:39                So that way you're spacing out when you're announcing the video. And when it's out, maybe, you know, three months from now, make a note to bring it up again. As you're going through what to post as part of your social media strategy, you have to be intentional about letting people know that you have something valuable that they might find interest in. And when you do that for your social media channels, you're talking to people that are already interested in what you're selling. You're not forcing yourself in front of somebody else who has no interest in your product. I mean, they're following you because they're interested or they're going to tag a hashtag group because they're interested in that topic. So make sure that you are publicizing these videos. Don't be ashamed to do that. It's important. You put the time in to create it. Let people know it's there and show that you're doing something of value for your audience. That's what they want.

Rod Rodriguez:             27:33                Oh, absolutely. I totally agree. That's fantastic. It's great to have you on the team as a leader of content, as well as a a video expert. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for joining us everybody on today's episode. You can expect a new episode every week, always filled with advice that will help you grow your business. Remember, if you're looking for an experienced, friendly, and results-driven team to help you check us out. You can go to gorizen.com or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and soon to be TikTok at RizenInbound. And you can also help us reach new people by leaving a review on your podcast app of choice. Thanks for your support and we'll see you on the next episode.

Jeff Lambert:                28:27                Bye everybody!

Jeff Lambert:                28:28                Yeah.