The majority of marketers are well aware of the advantages of video marketing generally, but they are less knowledgeable of its potential for retail. Some brands are looking for ways to employ mobile videos when customers are out and about as a result of advances in technology and increased consumer access to mobile video experiences.
Consumer demand for video is enormous, therefore most marketers are seeking ways to use it. However, instead of focusing on reaching consumers at home, marketers frequently overlook videos’ potential while they are shopping. Mobile video in the checkout line provides the chance to boost sales, enhance the customer experience, and make use of other high ROI marketing strategies.
One of the most compelling strategies for improving customer experiences has been identified as video marketing, particularly now that more people are admitting they enjoy viewing videos.
According to data, in-store video advertising is very efficient in boosting brand memory, recognition, familiarity, and buy intent despite having only a small window of exposure.
Given that an estimated two-thirds of purchasing choices are made in-store, in-store video advertisements can only be beneficial.
In fact, research by the Digital Marketing Association found that 30% of consumers claimed to have made an impulsive purchase after viewing (a product) in-store video advertising.
What is video marketing?
Video marketing is the use of video content to promote and market a company’s brand. While video marketing is still small compared to traditional advertising methods, companies are using video marketing as a valuable asset for business success.
Video marketing helps businesses gain customers, increase sales, improve credibility, and build trust. There is no denying that people love watching videos online, whether they are advertisements, entertainment, or educational.
In fact, according to HubSpot research, 89% of marketers say that producing engaging content is critical to their digital marketing strategy. As YouTube continues to dominate the online video space, many businesses have begun to invest in video marketing strategies. This can help businesses reach out to consumers where they spend most of their time: YouTube!
The following are some examples of how video marketing can be useful for your business.
Connecting Customers to Your Brand & Business (Better Lead Generation)
It’s hard to get potential customers to remember who you are, let alone take the action of contacting you. But if you can put yourself in front of them and create a connection, you may just be able to convert these potential customers into paying clients.
By creating short-form instructional videos about your business, you can show how to solve problems, showcase products, inform customers of promotions, explain services, and answer frequently asked questions. These types of videos allow viewers to learn about your product or service without feeling annoyed at being interrupted.
These types of videos can easily be shared via social media platforms. When someone shares these videos, they become public and can show up on search engine results pages. If you write good titles for your videos, they can appear higher in search results. Make sure to optimise your descriptions and tags. By doing this, you can make your videos easier to find.
This type of lead generation is often called “product demo videos” and is great for generating interest in your business. You can also use these videos to educate your audience about your industry and your services.
Building Trust Through Transparency
People prefer not to conduct business with murky organisations. That means telling your customers what you are trying to accomplish, why you are trying to accomplish it, and how they can expect to benefit. For B2B businesses, this is especially true.
For example, if you sell software, tell your customer how specific features in the software can help him or her save money. Or, if you sell financial aid, tell the student what he or she can expect to receive after enrolling in your program.
Not only does transparency lead to happier customers, but it builds trust between both parties. When customers feel that a company is trustworthy, they are more likely to buy from them again.
Promoting Your Company Culture
Customers want to know that they can trust a company before buying from them. Showcasing your company culture in your video marketing materials can give prospective customers an idea of who you are as a person and what values you hold.
Evolution of video marketing
Video marketing is not new, but the way we use videos in our business is constantly changing. What was once just a means to get brand awareness now drives customer engagement directly into sales funnels. If you’re looking for a place to start, there are many ways you can make sure you have a successful video marketing strategy in place.
The history of video marketing dates back to the early days of television. Early TV stations would often broadcast educational programming, news updates, advertisements, and public service announcements among many other types of programs.
But over time the industry began moving towards the creation of content-driven commercials rather than informational ones. As technology progressed, advertising agencies started using pre-recorded footage and special effects to create commercials that were more engaging. Nowadays, nearly 60% of people watch some type of video content at least monthly.
Today, if someone wants to engage with your company, they will likely do so through social media, search engines, email, and websites. However, if you want to increase your brand visibility online and drive traffic to your site, then videos are an excellent option.
People spend nearly two hours each day watching videos, and according to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI), the number of internet users is expected to reach 2.8 billion by 2019. That means there is a great opportunity out there for businesses that aren’t currently taking advantage of them.
Advantages of video marketing for in-store customers
- Increase sales
Video marketing has been shown to increase sales by as much as 25%. In stores where they have implemented video marketing strategies, customers spend 30% more than those who do not use video marketing.
Video marketing helps to make shopping easier by showing product details and features, and showcasing how products work. By providing information about products and their uses, consumers can learn what makes each product unique, and what it does well.
When it comes to in-store sales, these initiatives outperform traditional video advertising by a wide margin, according to many firms that use mobile technologies in the retail sector. When analysing the outcomes of an in-store mobile video campaign, major retailer Walmart stated as much.
The company found that the effectiveness of this campaign in boosting sales was two times greater than that of its typical video advertisements. Timing of advertisements is important, and in-store advertising provides the best opportunity for these messages. Customers can learn more about your company and products through video, which can help improve the customer experience.
- Engage in longer sessions
Shoppers tend to browse online for quick purchases, but they tend to purchase items at brick-and-mortar locations after learning more about them. In addition to making purchases, shoppers often visit physical stores to find out more about products and services, and to ask questions. Videos allow shoppers to watch videos while shopping and to stay longer in stores.
- Lower customer service costs
The average cost of customer service for companies has increased over the years. Companies spend $10 billion annually to provide customer service and manage complaints, but video marketing can reduce these costs significantly.
Customers feel more comfortable watching videos than reading text, and they know that if they have a question they can simply click “ask” on a screen instead of calling or sending an email.
In today’s busy world, people want to save as much time as possible when shopping. Consumers prefer to shop online, but do not always have access to computers or smartphones. If a store wants to reach its target audience, it should consider implementing video marketing strategies to keep customers engaged and loyal.
- Build trust
Videos show the company and its employees in a positive way. Shoppers can view videos of workers interacting with customers, or even see how a product works before purchasing. When customers see the face of the business, they can build trust and loyalty.
One of the main objectives of all marketing strategies is to increase customer loyalty, regardless of whether the business is a startup, an enterprise, or a B2B or B2C organisation. Keeping current consumers is less expensive than finding new ones.
However, most modern marketing comes off as forced and ineffective. In order to communicate your business story and cut through all the popular marketing talk, video can help. Video is regarded as a powerful tool by 52% of marketers for fostering audience trust.
Developing this trust is the simplest approach to establishing a respectable brand reputation, and using video to deliver authentic stories strengthens connections with both current and potential customers.
- Reduce risk
Online scams and fraud are becoming increasingly prevalent. Online criminals take advantage of consumers‘ desire to immediately buy things online. People may try to sell fake goods, steal personal information, or infect computers with malware. Videos help avoid problems associated with buying online by displaying the authenticity of a website.
- Improve SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the use of certain techniques to optimise websites for search engines. These techniques are designed to improve the ranking of a site on search results pages.
SEO can improve traffic to a site and boost sales. If the keyword has a lot of competition, just think about the broad organic reach it will have.
Your videos can be posted on YouTube. Give them an SEO-friendly title and description, optimise them for SEO, and then embed them on your website. YouTube belongs to Google. Your chances of getting more traffic, views, and leads increase if it chooses to display your video on the search results page.
- Enhancing Customer Experience with Video
Improving the customer experience is probably one of the marketing objectives that are most frequently used today. Along with providing clients with goods, that experience also entails assisting them in using those goods. In that you’re effectively teaching the consumers new things through your marketing, it’s similar to turning a product into a service.
Due to customers’ overwhelming preference for video over other kinds of media, mobile video in the shopping aisle is perfectly suited for this. Consumers claim that they prefer video content to photos, text, and voice options by about 56%. These movies might offer suggestions to consumers while covertly promoting particular goods.
- Gives a unique competitive advantage
Customers’ purchasing decisions are also significantly influenced by competitors in your market who have similar products. It follows that one of the most notable advantages of video marketing is its ability to position your company as the greatest choice available.
By the time they visit your online business, today’s internet shoppers are more than willing to look into (and likely already have) product alternatives.
- Vivid storytelling
Video marketing has become such a reliable conversion-generating engine in large part because of storytelling. Popular marketing video genres, such as whiteboard animations or culture films, are based on the idea that you should tell your audience gripping tales that will both enlighten and inspire them to make decisions.
The purpose of your video can influence how you tell a story, so it’s really up to you and your understanding of your audience to determine what will appeal to them the most.
The creation of content for your company’s social media presence can also benefit from storytelling.
- Video Can Be Combined With Other High ROI Techniques More Easily
One of the key advantages of video marketing is how simple it is to incorporate with other high ROI marketing strategies like social media and interactions with incentives.
Video generates 1,200% more shares during social media campaigns than image and text combined. Rewarded video, in which viewers gain points for watching videos, also promotes high engagement while enhancing the viewer’s perception of the business.
- The next best thing to first-hand experience
The power of video marketing to demonstrate your items in a way that neither word descriptions nor static images ever could is another enormous advantage that deserves to be discussed.
People have learned to carefully examine every aspect of their purchases thanks to online shopping in order to make sure they gain their money’s worth. It explains why so many e-commerce stores mix their product lists with educational movies that encourage customers to make purchases.
Conclusion
There are a tonne of other marketing goals that video can help you with in addition to increasing conversions, so the list of advantages of video marketing is truly endless.
More people are using video advertising, and it’s getting more common and cost-effective. The usage of video is increasing in part due to technological advancements, but also because it is simple to disseminate around the world.
It takes imagination and understanding of human psychology to create effective marketing videos for your company. These elements together allow for the production of genuine advertising miracles at a low cost.
In a matter of days, clever, emotionally driven video advertising may become viral online and receive millions of views. The only creative thing survives, and this is the whole goal of video marketing!
Retailers are now discovering that the new competitive environment has little to do with product choice or even price. Instead, the client experience has taken centre stage in terms of winning.
The customer experience is now viewed by 62% of businesses as the main competitive differentiator, according to Deloitte. By 2018, more than 50% of businesses will increase their overall investments in customer experience strategies and innovations, according to Gartner. This emphasis has become so crucial.
One of the most compelling strategies for improving customer experiences has been identified as video marketing, particularly now that more people are admitting they enjoy viewing videos.
According to Heidi Yu, CEO and Co-Founder of BoostInsider, an influencer marketing company that works with over 80,000 influencers, many consumers were driven to videos that include influencers that show them utilising a product or service and acknowledging the benefits, immediately enhancing the sense of customer experience for users.
Adding videos to your e-commerce business is crucial to staying competitive, from utilising the power of storytelling and social media attention to offering online experiences that bring potential customers on board with your platform and confidence in making a purchase.
An in-store video solution must be managed like any other broadcast medium in order to effectively enhance the shopping experience. The material needs to be specifically created for the context of the store and its intended placement there. Modern technology should be used, including controlled acoustics for sound.
Finally, careful consideration must be given to the scheduling of material based on an understanding of consumer behaviour at the point of interception. By implementing these best practices, any in-store video marketing campaign will have a greater chance of delivering the kind of good customer experience that will help your retail location stand out from the competition.
So it’s time to start making those videos and enhancing their efficacy for existing as well as upcoming stores. After all, those prospective clients won’t persuade themselves!
