The Benefits of Video Marketing

87 DAYS.

That’s the number of days it took Adele’s record shattering “Hello” to reach 1 Billion views on Youtube. Yes, we said billion. That’s a staggering number, especially when you consider the following:

If you
…counted a billion seconds it would take you 30 years.
…walked a billion feet you could travel around the earth over 9 times.
…could meet a billion people, it would take you 12,500 lifetimes.

Now, hang on a second, and just think about that last one for just a moment. One video has had face time with 1 Billion people, give or take. One source estimates that the average person meets about 80,000 people over the course of a lifetime. If we do some quick math those numbers suggest that for the average person to meet 1 Billion people, they’d have to live around 975,000 years. The average lifespan in the United States is roughly 78 years, so that would mean 12,500 lifespans.

How many of us wouldn’t love to reach 1 Billion people with our message? If you’re a sales person, what could you do for your brand in 12,500 lifetimes?

Those numbers tell us something about the power of video and the potential reach it can add to a website and a brand.

The truth is anyone with a smart phone, computer, some free time and creativity, already has the tools to get started. Maybe your chances of getting a billion hits on Youtube aren’t as high as they would be if you hired a production company to create beautiful, captivating, thought-provoking content that will resonate with your audience (see what we did there?), but the benefits of adding video far outweigh the risk of not doing it at all.

Of course, one extreme example of a wildly successful video starring a famous person may not be enough to convince a person of the benefits of web video. That is understandable. So, we’ve listed some benefits along with a few key ideas to help you on your way.

THE BENEFITS

Showcase Products & Services – Video can improve conversion rates on websites by up to 85% (source). Video can be used to show product or service benefits, the product in action, and even training videos.

Improve Trust & Sell Your Brand – whether it is a product or service. This requires more than just putting a website online. It requires building trust. Online video lets your website visitors see that you are more than just a company. You are real people who care about their needs.

Improve On-Site SEO – Search engines love new content. More than that, they love engaging content that holds the interest of your website visitors. Video helps in both ways by allowing you to add website content that engages people and leads them in the right direction, which in turn will help to improve your search engine rankings.

HOW TO DO IT

Express emotion and personality. Text and images can only convey so much to website visitors. Video, on the other hand, allows you to show your personality to potential customers. It can make it much easier to get your point across. Video can also make it easier to connect with site visitors on an emotional level, while holding their attention.

Spend some time crafting the conversation you want to start with your audience and film a fun and creative piece around that message. Try adding humor if this fits, as people tend to remember and even share something they find funny (and that’s part of the goal here, after all). Maybe your message isn’t a humorous one; no biggie. Then you can work to be authentic and open with your video in order to jumpstart the conversation.

If you have the ability to create and post video to your website, you have every reason to do it. Whether you offer a product, service, or information, video is one of the best ways to get your brand in front of people and get them involved with who you are and what you offer.

To show you that content can be short and simple and still be effective, here’s a look at a 15 second spot we recent produced for Jim’s Firearms.

Jim’s Firearms | Outdoor Lifestyle from Lumehouse Studios on Vimeo.

We created the concept so it could be filmed in one location over a half day of shooting.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of video for your website, or how Lumehouse can help you start the creative process, we’d love to chat with you today!