Let’s be honest, adding video production to your already packed content development schedule is something you may not want to tackle. The fact is, however, that video helps increase your website traffic and positively impacts user experience. According to MarketingSherpas, video attracts two to three times as many monthly visitors, doubled time spent on a site, and has a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines.  Like any inbound marketing tactic, video marketing starts with mapping the content to a specific buyer persona at the top, middle and bottom of the funnel stages. Understanding your buyer and the buying stage they are in is essential to executing any video marketing plan. The next few paragraphs will provide a high level view of the practice of video marketing and how it can help improve the experience of the users visiting your website.

Video marketing is the use of creative and informative videos with the purpose of promoting and explaining your company, product or service. The use of video helps attract and build credibility for your brand as well as support relationships with your customers and internal teams. Videos are utilized to engage with your audience in a way that pictures and text may not be able to. Videos are used on website homepages, landing pages, blog posts, email campaigns and social media. Video is a great way to capture your audience’s attention and can even break down some trust barriers, providing you with the greatest chance of engagement.

Stimulate the Visual Processing Centers of the Brain

The reason why video marketing is essential to your marketing campaign can be explained best by science. Mindtools states that 65% of the population are visual learners. In addition, the consumer is always on the move, which makes reading and interpreting information a time consuming process. The brain is a powerful tool and can process visual images 60,000 times faster than text. More and more people are watching video and you should use this to your advantage. If you are still asking yourself if video marketing will improve your marketing campaign, the answer is absolutely! According to Animoto, 73% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after watching videos that explain a product or service. Animoto, 2014

Video Makes Complex Things  Easier

Now let's go a little further and think about the user and how video marketing is going to affect the experience on your website, blog and social media.  Always keep in mind that you as the business owner know your product and services best, so let's keep that in perspective when selling to someone. You have to ask yourself, is my product complicated or very user-friendly?  Many times, a video can break down complex ideas and turn them into easily digestible bits of information.

For example, Hubspot is a very powerful and robust marketing automation platform that helps you manage your inbound marketing strategy. Now, unless you’re an expert on Hubspot like we are at Rizen, a video like this will put a complex idea like marketing automation in perspective for you much quicker:

How easily is your message being communicated from your business to the visitor? Videos help simplify the message. Videos will allow the user to understand the solution you are offering, making it easier for the user to act on what they have just learned from your video, and make a more informed purchasing decision.

Videos Add Color and Personality Through A Story

Stories help us connect with our target markets in a way that bullet points, graphs, charts and statistics cannot. Stories also help shape information into meaning. Think back when you were a child and you had your parents recite to you a story over and over. You already knew the story but the impact of that particular story to you was strong. Recently, I was researching different Jiu-Jitsu schools (a form of martial arts) near my area and I ran into a school that did an excellent job of telling their story.

“Over the last 50 years, three generations of the Valente family have learned Jiu-Jitsu directly from Grand Master Hélio Gracie.”

“The practice of Jiu-Jitsu not only provided a powerful tool to cope with bullies but also a source of confidence that gradually taught him alternatives to physical confrontation.”

The story is long but worth reading to understand a great example of a business story. A good story helps differentiate your business from others. In the above example, the 50-year history, which can be traced down to the original creator Grand Master Hélio Gracie, made their story that much more powerful and unique to me.

Public speakers use stories to make their presentations memorable. The same way a writer or public speaker uses story, as marketers, we need to leverage videos in our storytelling throughout our landing pages, blog posts and other marketing materials.

Attract Attention

Within landing pages, emails and other marketing collateral, videos have the ability to attract a user’s attention. Sites that include video have on average an extra two minute dwell time compared to sites which don’t. Marketers should not see videos as a standalone service but a complement to an inbound marketing strategy that includes emails, content, infographics, whitepapers, and other presentation formations.

You can use micro-video apps to record quick videos from your smartphone making them idea to share them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Video marketing, if executed properly, will empower the user by educating them, and people like to learn in the easiest way possible. When you teach someone something of value and create a great user experience, you’re increasing the chance of visitors becoming customers and that possibility for greater return on investment will make any business owner happy. The long-term goal of your video marketing efforts should be to provide such remarkable content that it will make your prospects jump for joy and want to share their newfound knowledge, thus creating a domino effect of engagement! When people love your story and are happy with your content, your videos will stay accessible and relevant, allowing for endless sharing possibilities to their networks, which can generate more leads for your business.