​5 ways video marketing can boost your ROI

How can video increase your ROI?

YouTube is the world’s second most visited website –topped only by Google – and it’s predicted that 78% of all web traffic from mobile devices will be directed to video content by 2021.

Having a video marketing strategy isn’t a new idea. But what has changed is its position in the marketing sphere – and just how much of an impact film makes when it comes to brand, product, event and testimonial recall.

Are you currently using video content marketing to boost your business’ ROI? If not, here are five core reasons why we think you should.

1. Education, education, education

72% of people would rather watch a video to learn about a product or service than read about it. That’s a huge opportunity for capturing your audience’s attention, solely by changing the format of your marketing content.

But why is this the case? Simply, video is a more engaging, entertaining and digestible form of content when compared to text or static imagery. The combination of visual and aural communication makes your messaging stick. And that’s important if you’d like to teach your audience something new.

Whether about a product, service offering, trend or intelligence, there are almost limitless opportunities for content. You can use your video to share a product demo, to inform your audience about relevant market developments, or to distribute information about your business in a shareable, concise format. It can be about your business, about your wider network, or about your industry.

The benefit here is that video can quickly position you as an expert on whatever topic you choose to explore. Not only does your messaging stick with your audience, it’s also shareable (which we’ll talk more about below), and there’s no better format for visual brand awareness.

In fact, because it’s easily repurposable, as well as being engaging, it’s a huge timesaver too, and one of the core content pillars of thought leadership marketing.

2. For a strong relationship, get engaged

Did you know internet users spend 88% more time on a website that features video? That’s 88% more time-on-page reading your content, learning more about your offering, and engaging with your brand.

And you can increase engagement even further by using personalised, interactive video that’s driven by customer data.

Data-driven videos are an increasingly popular form of marketing. They work by applying data from your CRM or social audiences to video templates. These templates can then be automatically adapted based on demographics, such as gender or age. It means you can produce multiple videos targeting specific niche categories within your consumer data – all through one initial video outline.

As these systems become even more sophisticated, there’s even the potential to cross-reference video templates with live customer data. For example, if you’re an outdoor furnishing company and it’s unseasonably warm for the time of year, your videos could be enriched with weather data to promote products like barbecues, rather than all-weather log stores.

With an expert eye, that means your marketing efforts can be multiplied and automated too.

It’s the ultimate in real-time, personalised marketing, at scale.

3. Stories aren't just for bedtime

Even with the evolution of data, there’s still a place for more traditional video-making techniques. In the same way that people get emotionally invested in a film at the cinema, we’re equally capable of connecting with a well-scripted and strategically-produced marketing video.

Video is a more powerful storytelling medium than a written article or whitepaper, with its combination of visual, auditory and narrative techniques. Even a relatively short film can make a serious impact.

In fact, video is one of the strongest mediums to form an emotional connection with your audience. Whether you’re instilling consumer delight with a surprising video, entertaining them through character-building, or even pulling at their heartstrings with a purpose-driven film, you’re building a memorable connection with your customer – and the resulting emotion will drive their behaviour, while building positive brand associations.

This is why you’ll also want to ensure your script is written by a professional. An experienced agency will be able to help you produce a video which conjures positive, lasting emotions – think John Lewis’ festive (and now legendary) ‘Monty the Penguin’ and ‘Bear and the Hare’ campaigns.

Whatever story you tell, when you get it right, your viewers are far more likely to remember the knowledge, evidence and benefits you’re sharing with them.

4. Want your CTA to stick? Act now!

Here’s one for your marketing department: research has shown viewers are 95% more likely to remember a call-to-action (CTA) after watching a video, than when reading it alone.

Again, we have the multi-sensory nature of film to thank. There’s a greater chance that even a ‘grudge’ purchase could become irresistible when it’s sold through video.

Getting employees to engage in a company shares programme for example, can be a notoriously difficult sell. At P+S, we ensured our ‘YES!’ campaign for cable giants Prysmian Group was accompanied by a promotional film featuring the employees themselves.

The CTA – in short, ‘Say YES and sign up today’ – repeated visually and aurally by Prysmian people, saw their fellow colleagues’ sign-ups increase by a whopping 100%. We call that a triumph.

And video isn’t just for the ‘difficult’ sell. Adding a CTA can help to speed up your sales cycle, no matter the product, service or offering. By creating an immediate impact – particularly when there’s an emotional driver – your prospects are more likely to ‘buy in’ to your proposition much sooner and act on the spot.

So, if you’re looking to create a direct-response marketing campaign, this could be your ideal medium for the biggest and quickest return.

5. Multipurpose for maximum value

Another beautiful thing about video is its versatility.

Once you have your film ready, it’s easy to adapt and share (or ‘repurpose’) across your entire digital presence: on your website, your YouTube channel, and your social media accounts.

You can alter your video accordingly for different platforms and responses.

85% of people on Facebook watch video without the sound on – so, you might consider adding subtitles or other on-screen text cues to help you relay your film’s message visually. Plus, there’s research to show consumers demonstrate better messaging recall when an advert features same-language subtitles.

Or, maybe you want to create a ‘teaser’ or an advert-length clip. The good news is this is another quick and simple process if done by an expert team of videographers and animators.

The best explainer videos often use this teaser technique to engage their audience in advance of an event or product launch – a little like a movie trailer. This, unsurprisingly, works particularly well across social media channels.

In fact, video content generates 12 times the number of shares on social media as image and text posts – that’s 1,200% more exposure. Videos on LinkedIn are shared 20+ times more than any other type of post, and when Instagram launched its own video option, more than 5 million were shared in just 24 hours. And you can optimise your video for the particular channel it’s being featured on: whether that’s editing its dimensions and length or  adding captions.

So that’s one piece of content, with multiple uses, across multiple channels, with multiplied circulation.

You can supercharge your ROI with video marketing

Using video marketing will result in higher engagement and more versatile content that has a longer-lasting impact (in a shorter period of time), and is more likely to encourage your audience to take the desired action.

Need we say more?

At P+S, we’re not just your standard video marketing agency. We have an in-house team of skilled videographers and animators who work alongside our marketing, strategy and script-writing teams.

We’ve used our video marketing services to promote clients’ offerings, increase brand engagement on their digital and social channels, and educate their customers too.

Get in touch with us today to discuss your video marketing needs.