Why Video Marketing Is Worth the Investment

Questioning in case you ought to add video to your advertising technique? The reply is a convincing sure! A whopping 93% of the companies we surveyed for our 2024 State of Video Report say it’s an essential a part of their advertising technique — and so they’re seeing outcomes.

One of the best half? Video advertising isn’t as costly or difficult because it sounds. Let’s discuss why video is value each penny and find out how to dive in with out breaking the financial institution.

Almost all marketers agree that video brings a great return on investment (ROI) throughout key areas like gross sales, model consciousness, and buyer retention. It’s as a result of video helps:

Build trust and connection with your audience

Video provides your model a face and voice — actually. When folks see and listen to you, they really feel a stronger connection and usually tend to belief you. That’s one thing textual content and pictures wrestle to match.

Increase user understanding

When prospects or prospects absolutely perceive your services or products, they’re extra possible to purchase it or hold utilizing it. That’s the place video is available in. It reveals precisely how your services or products works and the way it solves their issues.

Get your brand in front of more eyes

Movies are the content material MVP. Folks can’t get sufficient of them, and social platforms understand it.

Social media algorithms prioritize movies over different content material sorts as a result of they hold customers on the app longer. So if you wish to enhance your natural attain on social media, all you gotta do is submit partaking movies.

And right here’s the cherry on high: In case your movies get robust engagement (likes, shares, and feedback), they’ll be pushed in entrance of much more folks.

Drive conversions and sales

Due to all of the above causes, video is the last word nearer in your advertising toolkit. It may develop your viewers and provides them the boldness to click on “purchase,” join, or e-book a demo.

You don’t want deep pockets or a manufacturing crew to make partaking movies that convey outcomes. Our State of Video Report reveals that audiences love genuine, low-budget movies (like a speaking head video recorded with a webcam) — generally much more than polished productions.

That makes video extra accessible than ever, particularly for smaller manufacturers. That can assist you take step one, we’ve rounded up some ideas for creating movies in-house on a funds:

1. Use what you already have

Received a smartphone? Use it! Newer smartphones shoot in HD or even 4K, which places them on par with high-end video cameras. And in case you’re creating vertical videos for social media, a smartphone is the best way to go.

Received a inventive staff? Faucet into their expertise for scripting, storyboarding, and filming. Received a number of clothespins, LED bulbs, and extension cords mendacity round? Put collectively a practical three-point lighting setup. For those who’re lacking something, a fast journey to a big-box retailer like Dwelling Depot ought to do the trick.

2. Use an end-to-end video platform like Wistia

It’s straightforward to create movies, however doing it successfully isn’t. Video advertising is a complete course of that entails creating, internet hosting, sharing, and analyzing movies, and also you’ll have to juggle a number of instruments to make it occur.

That’s the place end-to-end video platforms like Wistia are available. As a result of they provide all of the video instruments you want in a single place, they simplify and velocity up the video advertising course of.

Consider it just like the iPhone: Earlier than it got here out, you wanted separate units on your digital camera, telephone, emails, and music participant. Now, you’ve received all of those instruments in a single system. You may take an image after which textual content or e-mail it to somebody inside seconds with out having to obtain or add something.

Finish-to-end video platforms work the identical approach. Take Wistia, for example. It has a built-in screen and webcam recorder, video editor, and customizable video player, amongst different instruments. Meaning you’ll be able to create a recording, edit it, host it, and share it multi function place.

3. Use AI to speed up the video production process

We’re fortunate to stay in a time when AI takes care of the heavy lifting to allow you to concentrate on what you do greatest — being inventive. Whereas it gained’t substitute you as a video creator, it could actually assist you:

• Generate content material concepts: AI instruments like Whimsical AI might help you brainstorm and offer you a head begin on planning.
• Automate video enhancing: Some video editors (like Wistia’s built-in editor) use AI to tug essentially the most partaking clips to share on social media.
• Enhance accessibility: Some video platforms (like Wistia) use AI to generate correct captions and transcripts.
• Accomplish that rather more

Right here’s a have a look at our favorite AI tools, and right here’s a guide to using AI at each stage from pre-production to publishing.

4. Start hosting webinars

Webinars are a superb place to start out once you’re dipping your toes into video creation as a result of:

• They’re cost-effective. You simply want a pc, a superb webcam, a high quality microphone, a stable web connection, and a reliable webinar platform.
• There’s no stress to create excellent recordings. Audiences don’t thoughts once you stumble over a phrase or alter your slides mid-presentation.
• There are different advantages, too. Not solely are webinars a good way so that you can get snug with video manufacturing, however they’re additionally a good way to interact along with your viewers, seize leads, and scale back churn.
• You may create many video property out of 1 webinar recording. As soon as the occasion is over, you’ll be able to repurpose the recording into social media clips, polished on-demand movies, and extra.

5. Start with short videos

Like webinars, short-form movies (movies which might be as much as 5 minutes lengthy) are a low-barrier, high-impact approach to dive into video advertising as a result of:

The key? Hold it easy. Concentrate on delivering one clear, compelling message that grabs your viewers’s consideration and leaves an enduring impression.

6. Repurpose existing content

Take your best-performing property (like weblog posts, social updates, or buyer testimonials) and switch them into partaking movies.

By constructing on what you have already got, you save time and sources whereas stretching your content material additional. Once we hosted a webinar to go over our findings for the State of Video Report, we recorded it and turned the recording into three on-demand assets. Inside three months, these property made up 70% of the full views.

You don’t want a blockbuster funds to create partaking movies. The secret is to start out small, experiment, and study as you go. Take a look at completely different types, concentrate on content material that displays your model character, and see what resonates along with your viewers.