If you want a prospect on your website or email campaign to watch the video say so. Include a clear call to action text such as “Click to play”, “Click to view” or “Watch the video”. Studies have shown that videos on product pages can significantly increase conversion rates and boost sales.
Don’t just upload videos on the page be specific what you want viewers to do. An image can call 4.75% to action while videos with a call to action text can improve viewership rates up to 6.16%. Also, a larger video format can generate up to 8.14% viewership rate compared to 4.07% generated by a smaller format video.
According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) 2012 Digital and Media survey that surveyed 224 clients in April, online video is continuing to grow.
Online video has registeres the sharpest increase of all media platforms as 80% use it in 2012 compared to 64% in 2011. 95% of large corporations, that earn $10 billion annually, claim to use video.
Use of social media platforms has remained flat and up slightly from 89% in 2011 to 90% in 2012. The most popular social platforms among surveyed: Facebook (96%), Twitter (89%), Linkedin (49%), Pinterest (33%).
Mobile marketing is also holding steady from 74% in 2011 to 75% in 2012. 70% of marketers use branded mobile apps, 67% QR codes, 53% - text ads, 41% non video ads, 25% Video ads.
Is viral video a myth? According to the Venture Beat videos don’t get 1million views without the help of at least one media outlet such as portals, content sites, TV shows, major blogs or news publications. Videos that we know and love are usually the product of well-funded digital campaigns and not just peer-to-peer sharing. However, video virility doesn’t guarantee higher ROI explaining why companies need more than just buzz.
Companies understand the value of connecting with the right audience and want to see video views translate into web visits, coupon downloads, store locator usage and other quantifiable consumer actions.
Achieving these results requires an online video marketing strategy with the rights tools:
Define media actions you want to achieve with your campaign. Viral sharing can be worthless without ROI.
Create valuable content for your target audience that you can effectively repurpose in the future.
Choose distribution partners wisely: Seeding companies, PR companies, Social video companies, Click to play options and blog networks.
Many businesses think that they can take their branded video content or produce a video (live, motion graphics, 2D or 3D) post it on social media sites such as – YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and go viral. Unfortunately it isn’t as easy as it seems.
To make successful video companies businesses should concentrate on 3 types of video views: owned, paid and earned.
Owned views. When you post your videos to your social media properties first you get the views that you own. They happen organically as your social media fan base watches them.
Earned views. These are views that happen because of social sharing. Someone who shares the video either has a relationship or a mutual interest with you. Videos that are shared are usually 3 times more likely to be watched and are watched 3 times longer than videos found by the user.
Paid views. They are online video advertising. They include pre-roll, rich media banners ads and native placements. Native placements are the most effective since they are integrated in user experience and are integrated into contextually relevant content. They can be in the form of thumbnails or links served to the user as additional content that they may be interested in. They are usually priced cost per view basis and offer higher engagement rates, higher completion rates and usually have sharing functionality built in.
The most effective video campaigns use paid views to drive social sharing and earned views in order to generate ROI.
Today’s short attention spans, clients pressed for time, complex information can be quickly overcome by using video content.
The software company recently produced a video that targeted C-level executives who make purchasing decisions. They usually have little time, so 10-page white paper explaining solutions won’t work for them. Video is a perfect tool because it can deliver a fair amount of information very quickly.
When it comes to producing a good video the basic concepts remains – provide useful content, make it interesting, finish with call to action and closely track the campaigns' performance.
The company started by interviewing multiple existing customers to understand the pain points and pushed emotional buttons that mattered to its prospects in their video. Even it was their first video they are already planning to produce the second video and achieve better results.
Online video marketing is exploding and the advertisement industry should strategically rethink the use of both long and short pre-roll videos.
1 to 5 minute long video ads could go viral, but may not be the most efficient form of advertising, since they are way too long to hold one's attention and keep consumers fully engaged.
Short, bullet point oriented ads are undeniably more effective at holding person's focus on it.
Also there are lots of types of pre-roll units to select from depending on the strategy and the main goal of a campaign. Interactive pre-roll let's consumers to directly engage with the advertisement.
BtoB's NetMarketing Breakfast took
place in New York last week and video marketing was presented as the main topic
of the day. And the main message to the marketing world was to keep it simple,
funny and direct.
Cisco served as the immediate example
of the strategy supported at the gathering. Cisco has over 1800 videos on
YouTube. Their main focus remains to keep the marketing message simple, share
interesting stories and not worry about amateur quality. It seems to be working
just fine.
It's clear that nonprofessional nature of video ads, simplicity and
a healthy dose of humor improve video campaign's acceptance.
Professional Audio Production consists of 5 steps: Voice over recording, Music selection, Sound effects & Foley, Mixing and Mastering.
Deliver Your Message Effectively With Voice Over
Once the script is ready, the temporary “scratch” voices are recorded by employees for storyboard reels. Later when the storyboard is approved by a client, professional voice over talent is recorded.
Selecting female or male voice over talent and recording them to make sure they deliver the message effectively. We usually record at least 3 different takes and select the ones that fit the project the most. Here is a video demo of visuals and Voice Over added.
Improve Likelihood of Purchasing with Music Selection
Music creates the right emotional tone for your project. Music includes a variety of genres: classical, jazz, rock, hip hop and more. It can also be selected by mood: ambient, happy, inspirational and etc.
Music variables such as appeal, fit, melody, mood and tonality can influence consumer attitude toward the ad and the brand, recall, pleasure and arousal, and purchase intention.
Looking for the right music piece can take time. The mood change of the project – fast vs slow, light vs dark many times requires combining a few music tracks to express the correct mood. So why is it important to spend time and select right music? Research shows that when music does not fit it can have an adverse effect on attitudes toward the ad. (Shen & Chen, 2006) and when music is used to evoke emotions congruent with the symbolic meaning of product purchase, the likelihood of purchasing is enhanced. (Alper et al, 2005). Watch this demo to see how music made this project more lively.
If royalty free music is not an option custom music, specially composed for the project, might be the only way to go to make sure it matches the mood and the script.
Improve Selling Power with Sound Effects & Foley
Sound effects & Foley includes recreating “live” sound elements and background like – traffic noise, opening doors, birds chirping and etc. Here is a good example from D.A.D.D.Y. about sound effects and foley.
In advertising Sound Effects & Foley – such as sausages sizzling in a frying pan - can strengthen your message and make a positive impact to your selling power.
Action movies wowed us with sound effects and it is very enticing to add extra sound effects to make the project look/sound “cool”. However, sound advertising research (Saint Joseph's University, Journal of Media Psychology, Volume 12, No. 3, Fall, 2007) suggests that overload of sound effects or when they are being paired with different events through the presentation can be intrusive and distracting. However, relevant and integrated sounds help understand the materials and motivate viewers to pay more attention.
For special projects sound effect libraries might not be enough. In that case our sound engineers like to go to the field and record them. Watch the example how sound effects made this project demo look modern, high tech and progressive.
Don't Loose Viewers With Poor Mixing
30-second project on average can have 30-70 audio elements such as music, sound effects and Foley. Accurately matching sound effects to events in the presentation is extremely important since incorrect pairing can be intrusive and distract your video viewers. Therefore, high quality mixing keeps your project interesting and can increase completed video views.
Mastering - Make Your Audio Mix 0 Distortion
Mastering is the final step of the audio production process. Audio engineers produce a uniform level of sound to a music or sound mix with zero distortion. Mastering is the final step to tweak your audio mix and make it shine, no matter what form of delivery it is.
Where To Distribute Online Video and Maximize Return On Video Investment
Businesses hesitate to add video to their marketing mix due to a high video production cost. However they don’t realize how many various marketing channels video can be utilized for to bring more leads and pay for itself.
Promotional Video can be repurposed for numerous marketing channels.
Post Video On Your Website
Video is the most effective online format to positively influence purchase decisions. Retailers such as Zappos saw an increase in conversion rates up to 30% after using video. Emarketer.com reports that businesses add video on their websites to keep customers longer and enhance their experience with the brand.
Google, Yahoo and Bing search engines give priority listings to websites that host video content. Websites with videos in Google's universal search had a 41% higher click through rates than plain text.
Post Video on YouTube and Other Video Sharing Websites
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. When you upload your video on YouTube, make sure you add a compelling title, description of the video and keywords. Use that space to advertise your business, add your web address and always list your most important keywords first. Optimizing your video for searches will help it to be found or recommended. Combined with other web sharing websites, you will enable more ways for your customers to find you.
Post Video on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Other Social Media Sites
Video is a great way to encourage interaction, fun and enjoyment amongst the online community. Post your video on social media sites and invite people to comment, engage and share it. Online video has a great potential to become viral and be seen by the masses, creating an online word of mouth effect.
Use Video for Email Campaigns
Integrating video in your email campaigns can increase click-through rates by 2-3 times (source: Forrester) and lift conversion by 50% (source: Constant Contact).
Posting business videos on business directories such as Yellow pages, Google places, Yahoo! Local and Yelp can help drive more traffic to your websites, increase incoming calls, and store visits.
Increase traffic, incoming calls and store visits.
Use Video For Trade Shows
Trade show is a great place to use a video to showcase your products and services. However, not all videos can be effective. Since most people pass by fast, video needs to grab attention and invite to come inside the booth. Read our article about 5 don’t for a trade show video.
Use Video for Digital Signage
Video production for Digital Signage depends on the retail location and your strategy. Product videos might be a way to capture attention and draw to the product. Points of purchase videos at retail stores are becoming extremely popular due to its ability to increase product sales. Talk about benefits, provide information and show environments where the product can be used at.
Use Video for Sales Support
More companies incorporate videos into their sales presentations that can help sales people to more effectively deliver their marketing messages and sell products. These introductory videos demonstrate how products work, dissolve common objections and show the testimonials of satisfied customers.
Video is frequently used for training, sales suport or advertising.
