Video Marketing Trends for Outdoor Brands in 2023
As the world becomes more digitally focused, outdoor brands must keep up with the latest video marketing trends to stay relevant. Here are some of the top video marketing styles that outdoor businesses should consider using in 2023:
360-Degree and Virtual Reality Videos
360-degree and virtual reality (VR) videos are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. These videos allow viewers to experience a location or activity as if they were there. For outdoor brands, this is an excellent way to showcase their products and services in a unique and immersive way.
Several outdoor brands have successfully used 360-degree and virtual reality videos for marketing. Here are a few examples:
- The North Face created a 360-degree video that takes viewers on a virtual reality tour of Yosemite National Park. The video exhibits the park's natural beauty and features professional climbers scaling the park's iconic rock formations.
- REI created a virtual reality experience that allows viewers to explore Moab, Utah's stunning red rock landscape. The video presents mountain bikers riding through the rugged terrain, providing viewers with an immersive and exciting experience.
- Patagonia created a 360-degree video that takes viewers on a virtual reality tour of the brand's flagship store in New York City. The video displays the store's unique design and features interviews with Patagonia employees.
These examples demonstrate how outdoor brands can use 360-degree and virtual reality videos to advertise their products and services uniquely and engagingly. These videos can help outdoor brands stay relevant and top-of-mind for their target audience by providing an immersive virtual encounter for viewers.
Authenticity in Marketing Videos
Authenticity is vital when it comes to marketing videos. This can be accomplished by featuring real customers with product or service testimonials in professionally-produced marketing videos. By prioritizing authenticity in their video marketing strategies, outdoor brands can create a more genuine connection with their audience and stand out in an increasingly crowded digital landscape.
Several outdoor brands have successfully incorporated authenticity into their marketing videos. Here are a few examples:
- Yeti is known for its high-quality coolers and outdoor gear. They often feature real customers using their products for fishing or camping trips. Yeti can build trust and credibility with its audience by employing real people enjoying its products.
- Columbia Sportswear has taken advantage of user-generated content campaigns to reveal real customers using their products in their own ways. For example, they launched a campaign called "Tested Tough," where customers were encouraged to share photos and videos of themselves using Columbia products in extreme conditions.
- Osprey Packs is a backpack and outdoor gear company focused on genuineness in its marketing videos. They often show real customers sharing their impressions of Osprey products for outdoor adventures, such as hiking or backpacking. The brand can connect these authentic experiences with their audience on a deeper level and build trust and loyalty with their customers.
These brands successfully created a more relatable and trustworthy image for their company, which helped them stand out in an increasingly crowded market.
Mobile-First Video Content
With more and more people consuming content on their mobile devices, outdoor brands need to create video content that is optimized for mobile. This means creating shorter, more concise content that is easy to watch on a small screen.
By prioritizing mobile-first video, outdoor brands can ensure their marketing campaigns reach their target audience on their mobile devices. This can increase engagement and drive traffic to their website or social media channels.
Here are several examples of outdoor brands successfully incorporating mobile-first video content into their marketing strategies:
- The North Face has created several short, mobile-first videos that show its products in action. For example, they created a series of 15-second Instagram videos that feature athletes using their gear on outdoor adventures.
- Patagonia has also used mobile-first video content in its marketing strategies. They created a series called "Worn Wear Stories," which feature real customers sharing their adventures with Patagonia products.
- REI has used mobile-first video content to promote its outdoor classes and events. They created a series providing a quick and easy way for viewers to learn more about what REI offers.
By creating concise videos that are easy to watch on a small screen, outdoor brands can ensure that their videos reach their target audience where they spend the most time—on their phones.
User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) is another trend that outdoor brands should consider in 2023. By encouraging customers to share photos and videos of their outdoor adventures, brands can create a sense of community and engagement around their products.
UGC can be used in various ways, such as featuring it on the brand's website or social media channels or incorporating it into marketing videos. Several outdoor brands, including GoPro, REI, and Patagonia, have successfully incorporated UGC into their marketing strategies.
Below are examples that demonstrate how UGC can be used to create a sense of community and engagement around brands:
- GoPro is a brand known for its action cameras and accessories. They have built their entire marketing strategy around UGC, encouraging customers to share their own videos of using GoPro products in action. GoPro then features this UGC on its website and social media channels, boasting the versatility and quality of its products.
- REI used UGC when they launched a campaign called "Every Trail Connects," where customers were encouraged to share photos and videos of themselves exploring the outdoors. The brand then featured this UGC in its marketing videos, illustrating the beauty and diversity of outdoor activities.
- Patagonia has also used UGC in its marketing strategies. They created a campaign called "The New Localism," which encouraged customers to share photos and videos of themselves enjoying local outdoor spaces. The brand then highlighted this UGC in its marketing initiative to demonstrate the importance of protecting these spaces for future generations.
Interactive Videos
Interactive videos are another trend that is gaining popularity with brands. These videos allow viewers to interact with the content by choosing different paths or outcomes. This could mean creating interactive videos highlighting different trails or activities for outdoor brands.
By providing viewers with an engaging and interactive experience, outdoor brands can create a more remarkable and impactful marketing strategy. Interactive videos can also help increase engagement and drive more traffic to their website or social media channels. Several outdoor brands, including The North Face and Columbia Sportswear, have already started incorporating interactive videos into their marketing strategies.
The North Face has included interactive videos in its marketing campaigns. They created a video called "The Pinnacle Project," which allowed viewers to choose their own adventure by selecting different paths throughout the video. This interactive campaign allowed viewers to feel like they were part of the journey and see The North Face's products in action.
Columbia's interactive video marketing content is another excellent example of how brands can engage with their audience in a more immersive and personalized way. By using action-based elements, Columbia has created a captivating and unforgettable experience for its viewers.
One of Columbia's most notable examples of interactive video marketing content is its "Tested Tough" campaign. This campaign features a series of videos about the durability and performance of Columbia's outdoor gear. Viewers can interact with the videos by clicking on hotspots revealing additional information about the featured products. The campaign also includes a quiz that tests viewers' knowledge of outdoor gear and provides personalized product recommendations based on their answers.
By keeping up with these emerging trends, outdoor brands can ensure that their marketing campaigns reach their target audience effectively and stand out in today's crowded digital landscape.
At HARNESS, we understand the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest trends in the outdoor industry. As an award-winning video marketing agency, we can help outdoor brands incorporate these trends into their marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition.
If you want to incorporate video content into your marketing strategy, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation. Our team of experts can help you develop a customized plan that aligns with your brand's values and goals.
How to Quickly Energize Your Inbound Strategy with Video Marketing
As video consumption continues to rise year after year, getting your brand on board to using this medium as a viable marketing strategy will prove to be a winning move for your business.
You see, video is one of the most powerful tools to fostering engagement and building a true connection with your audience. Brands who successfully implement video experience traffic to their websites, improved lead conversions, better follower engagement on social media, and increased sales. It’s simply a win-win!
Executing a video strategy for your brand can position you to accomplish these coveted goals for your business. Here are 4 unique ways on how you can energize your inbound marketing using video!
#1 Repurpose Popular Blog Posts
An underused content strategy but incredibly effective, repurposing your blog articles allows you to work smarter in your marketing. It offers your audience different ways to indulge in your content to expand your reach and influence. With repurposing, you’re simply taking one content piece and converting it into multiple forms to market on various platforms.
In this case, you’re converting your content into video. Visit your website analytics to find out which blog posts are generating the most traffic. Create a video for each, highlighting your major key points and expanding a bit on the topic. Include any recent information that applies to your content. End your video with a call-to-action sharing the blog link where viewers can check out the original post.
#2 Publish Social Videos
Social media videos are a big hit. In fact, social videos generate 1200% more shares than text and image posts combined! With these videos auto-playing right into newsfeeds, followers are compelled to stop and stare to see what interesting things you have to say.
Facebook Live, Instagram Stories, and Periscope are driving tons of engagement as well. People are spending more time watching these videos than ones that have already been recorded. Videos simply create that impact!
Optimize your social media marketing by publishing videos on your pages. Use the following tips to get started or to improve your current strategy:
- Upload videos directly to your social media page from your mobile or camera device especially on Facebook. This network tends to favor organic videos and will give you greater exposure
- Report breaking news or host live Q&A sessions using live streaming video. Get your followers involved by encouraging them to ask you questions in the comments for quick responses
- Add value to your follower's timelines by sharing product demo and informational videos (more on this later)
- Take your audience behind the scenes to give them an inside peek at how you do business
- Curate video content particularly ones that are trending or relate to your industry
#3 In-Depth Product Tutorials
A huge advantage to inbound marketing is the ultimate focus of converting your customers into loyal raving fans of your brand. Happy consumers share their positive experiences with others. They will promote your brand sending new referrals your way.
One way to delight your customers is by offering video tutorials that show them how to achieve the best results from your product. Videos are easier for users to understand versus text instructions. People can grasp the concept quickly and move forward to accomplishing that said goal.
Create a video tutorial for each of your products highlighting the benefits and giving clear directions on its use. Include the video in your email strategy by sending it to new customers who’ve recently purchased your product. Helping your customers get results fast increases your chance of keeping them around for the long run!
#4 Advertise Your Content
Including a video on your landing page can significantly boost lead conversions. Landing pages are vital content marketing tools that focus on one goal: capturing your visitor’s contact information for the opt-in. Your landing page highlights a content offer (i.e. eBook, free template, coupon discount, checklist, free workshop event, etc.) that aligns with the ad users clicked on to get to your page.
The beauty of using a video to advertise your content is that it gives you a chance to build a relationship with those just getting to know your brand. With no previous connection established, a video can bridge the gap of being unknown to now being a trusted brand.
Simply put, people love videos. Use them to your advantage to improve conversions and grow your list.
Conclusion
Videos add zest to your inbound strategy. The benefits you gain from using them are too compelling to ignore. Incorporate a few of the suggested tips to see improved results in engagement, conversions, and retention. Leverage an editorial or content calendar to help you maintain consistency with your video strategy. You’ll stay current with today’s consumers as more begin to use video to engage with brands online.
Are you ready to amplify your video marketing? We're equipped to help you get in front of your audience and create results in your digital marketing with video. Reach out to us here and let's chat!
How to Effectively Use Different Types of Video Marketing (Part 2)
How to Use Video Marketing for Consideration Stage
The beauty of using video here is that they’re highly successful in moving viewers to action. This is especially important for growing your email list. Giving a clear call-to-action in your video that directs users to the next step will have a tremendous impact on your conversion rates.
Here’s how to put it to use:
#1 Video on Landing Page
Landing pages that include video can increase conversions by a whopping 80% (Source: Hubspot)
#2 Webinars
Webinars allow you to showcase your expertise and knowledge in a given area. You can dive deeper into topics and give people a chance to ask questions for further understanding. It also bolsters your lead generation as each participant must register before joining your broadcast
#3 How-to’s and Instructional Videos
YouTube and live-streaming are ideal platforms for how-to and instructional videos.
#4 Promote Your eBook
eBooks are ideal sources for product comparisons, how-to’s, or giving detailed instructions. Shoot a video that promotes your eBook and shares how viewers can opt-in to get their copy
#5 Mini-Video Series
Consider repurposing your popular, evergreen, or long-form blog post into a mini video series that you can distribute on social media or use as a lead magnet. Repurposing content fills your content calendar, giving you ample material to share with your audience.
Decision Stage
Your prospect is now closer to making the financial decision to solving their problem. Through your email nurturing tactics, they’ve been cultivated by your content (whether blog posts, videos, infographics, etc.) and perhaps ready to make the purchase. Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads (Source: Emma). Your video marketing strategy is about to pay off big, but we’re not finished yet!
The content used to help close the deal will be different from the content leveraged in the previous stages. Your focus here is to make the sale, so it’s vital to create a smooth transition to the transaction.
How to Use Video Marketing for Decision Stage
Videos will help get the job done. Hubspot also shares that after watching a video, 64% of users are more likely to buy that product online. You’re using the right tool to convert leads into customers.
The following ways show how:
#1 Gather Customer Testimonials
User-generated content and sharing testimonials are incredibly useful in boosting sales revenue. It builds trust with your audience and shows that what you have, works! Compile your customer’s social videos into one, compelling marketing video to share with your list
#2 Live Demo
Show prospects how your products work live and in living color by hosting a webinar or live-streaming video on social media. Outline the benefits, features, and how people use it as their solution. Allow an opportunity for participants to ask questions for immediate response.
#3 Share Your Story
Storytelling is a powerful strategy for pulling your audience in and connecting them with the vision of your brand.
#4 Product Videos
Create an extensive video for each of your products and services. This can be evergreen content that you can use forever that highlights the details, advantages, and how viewers can purchase.
Final Key Pointers
Video marketing is a powerful tool in the inbound marketing box! By honing on your video strategy, you can significantly boost brand awareness, get more eyeballs on your content, grow your leads, and increase revenue. The key is ensuring that you’re leveraging the different types of videos appropriately to move your audience effectively.
Use this blueprint as a guide to creating your video marketing strategy. Be consistent and patient with your results. Regularly test your outcomes to discover what’s working best with your audience and what needs to be modified. In due time, you will experience the desired growth in your business with video.
Ready to ramp up your video marketing? We are equipped to help you get in front of your audience and achieve results in your inbound marketing. Reach out to us here and let’s chat!
How to Effectively Use Different Types of Video Marketing (Part 1)
It’s been established that video is one of the most effective ways to promoting your brand in an ever-evolving digital age. YouTube consumption rises 100% every year, and marketers are taking full advantage of using this tool to get in front of their audience, bring awareness to their brand, and leads viewers to take action.
The key to an effective video strategy is ensuring that your content aligns with each stage of the buyer’s journey.
You see, your marketing will attract different prospects who are at different phases in your sales funnel. You may have a visitor who is ready to invest in your service yet another who merely wants information. It’s essential to create content that suits these needs at each stage that moves them to the next step in your funnel.
The ultimate goal is to convert prospects into buying customers. Video marketing is a top tool in inbound marketing to help you achieve this objective.
In this guide, we’ll outline the three stages to the buyer’s journey and how to effectively use different types of video marketing in each phase for maximum success in your strategy.
Awareness Stage
In the awareness stage, the prospect is in the discovery process of your brand. They understand they have a problem and begin researching ways to resolve the issue. As a result, they land on your content as the solution. Your prospect is merely looking for educational material that will help them quickly overcome their pains and challenges.
Your goal in creating video content for the Awareness Stage is to do just that build awareness of your brand. Here, you’re positioning your company as a resource, expert, and solution in the industry. It’s where you let your audience know what you offer so buyers recognize what you do and how you can help them.
Therefore, you want to engage your visitor in a way that encourages them to indulge more in your content by focusing on their pain points, not your products or brand.
How to Use Video Marketing for Awareness Stage
Here are the typical content types that work best in the Awareness Stage using video:
#1 Social Videos
Social promotion is an excellent medium for building a following and community around your brand. It’s also a tremendous asset to getting your video content in front of an engaging audience.
There are three types of videos to consider when posting on social media:
- Sharing videos from your YouTube channel – an excellent way to feed your followers with valuable content while increasing views
- Uploading organic videos directly to social media – you’ll obtain greater reach with your audience using natural videos (Source: Social Media Today)
- Live-streaming video – apps like Facebook Live, Periscope and Instagram Stories are generating massive engagement on social media. It is an excellent tactic to build exposure to your brand fast
#2 Add Video in Blog Content
Search is still the #1 source for content generation and the perfect platform to create quality rich-content that educates your audience while increasing visibility of your brand. Add videos to enrich website-experience and keep people on your page longer (improving SEO)
#3 YouTube
As the second largest search engine, building your channel is smart towards growing brand awareness. Be sure to optimize your videos for better ranking.
Consideration Stage
Good news! Your prospect has warmed up to your brand, and you’re now viewed as a credible source. They’re also clear on their goals, are committed to addressing it, and now looking at options on how they can handle their issues. At this stage, they’re actively looking for content related to solutions.
Content in this phase needs to be incredibly informative and help the prospect gain clarity on how to solve the problem they are experiencing. In the Consideration Stage, you’re also focusing on capturing qualified leads by leveraging compelling lead magnets to get them in your sales funnel.
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Stay tuned for part 2!
How Can Health Care Providers Incorporate Video into Their Marketing
When looking at some social media sites, you will come across everything from 'homemade' cell phone videos of patients and procedures, to just a slideshow of still (stock) photos with generic music in the background.
If healthcare professionals want to capture potential patients attention, they need to be effective with their presentation style.
It's common for someone to ask a friend for a recommendation to a dentist or doctor and word-of-mouth is the absolute best advertising. The crucial point is when the person getting the recommendation goes to search out the care provider to find out more information. The health professional only has one choice for a first impression when potential clients get to their website or social media page. Using quality video content is one key way of creating a positive impression (no pun intended).
Going to the doctor is a not-so-pleasant experience for some people, so they need reassurance that they are in the hands of professional and caring people. A quality video will portray precisely what the potential patient needs to see to feel comfortable picking up the phone to call for an appointment.
Here are some critical facts about video marketing:
- 70% of marketing professionals report that video converts better than any other medium
- The average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video than without.
- 64% of consumers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video about it. - Forbes
- A successful video campaign is just one aspect of an overall marketing and relationship-building strategy. As a health professional, you are an absolute expert in your field, having spent hundreds of hours studying and learning your art. The one thing that is not taught in medical colleges is how to market yourself. This is where you need to seek out a professional who has spent their time studying their field of marketing. Partnering with a consulting firm that has a successful track record will benefit your practice immensely.
Here are some areas where videos can be successful:
- A promotional video that explains who you are and what you do. A smiling, confident face goes a long way in making someone comfortable. If you have a team practice, then that video should show you as a team.
- A virtual tour that shows what your facility looks like, highlighting any new technology along with anything that helps make the patient experience that much more comfortable. You can even include short clips of some simple procedures; something that sets you apart.
- Patient testimonials that communicate your practices value, expertise and professionalism. Word of mouth is the best advertising and having real people give favorable testimony will go a long way to building confidence in a potential patient.
- Stand out from the competition by adding a video to your business listing in online directories
- Partnering with a professional consulting firm makes it simple to accomplish these goals.
Some of the other, finer points of videos in marketing include:
- Using videos to drive traffic to your website/social media. Search engines love video, and with proper video SEO, you can use video to drive lots of traffic to your site.
- Use targeted keywords when titling and tagging your videos
- Create a variety of videos, each focusing on a different search term
- Use multiple video sharing sites to increase links back to your main website - Lifewire
As pointed out earlier, video is just one aspect of a successful marketing program. Tying in all of the other tools available with professionally produced videos will ensure that your practice attracts new patients and continues to grow.
You can download our free e-book "Video Marketing Road Map" to give you an idea of what we can help you accomplish in your practice. You can contact us for more information or with any questions.
Why Videos Are the Best Tools in Your Inbound Marketing Strategy
Did you know that consumers prefer videos over text when discovering more about brands and products? In fact, four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than to read about it (Source: Hubspot).
Marketers have noticed a surge in engagement, conversions, brand loyalty, and customer experience when leveraging videos in their inbound marketing strategy. Videos have a fantastic way of capturing attention and drawing your audience into your message. It’s one of the best tools to humanizing your brand and getting people to take action.
Let’s review what video and inbound marketing are and why it’s essential today
What is Video and Inbound Marketing?
Let’s begin with inbound marketing. This strategy focuses on attracting ideal prospects and customers to your brand through valuable content that solves problems, educates and informs. Rather than using traditional outbound marketing like cold calling, buying email lists (spam), and ads, inbound embraces sharing content that your audience will find useful and relevant.
As a result, you’ll be viewed as an expert and valuable resource. In a digital era where a search is a top source for finding information, inbound marketing positions you to show up when your audience is looking for you. Therefore, you’re utilizing platforms like your business blog, social media pages, video and podcast channels to share your expertise and give value.
This is a much better approach than chasing prospects…you’re drawing them in, making them more qualified and receptive to your content.
Now, video marketing is a part of your content marketing strategy which is a subset of inbound marketing. You see, your content includes blog articles, images, infographics, email messages, eBooks, checklists, videos and much more. A video is a tool leveraged with the intention of either increasing brand awareness, capturing leads, or generating sales.
Why Videos Are More Effective in an Inbound Marketing Strategy
The benefits of using videos in your inbound marketing strategy abound when you consider the impact and influence it has on moving viewers to action. Videos give your audience a chance to experience your brand’s culture, making you relatable and trustworthy. It significantly bolsters the know, like and trust factor which are key ingredients to getting people to do business with you.
Here are several top reasons why videos are incredibly useful in an inbound marketing strategy:
- It dramatically improves lead conversions. Including one on a landing page can improve opt-ins by a whopping 80% (Source: Hubspot)
- Creates more opportunities for customers to find you on Google and YouTube, boosting brand visibility
- 62% of B2B marketers rated videos as an effective content marketing tactic in 2016
- Adding video to an email accelerates engagement, leading to a 200-300% increase in click-throughs
- Allows you to build genuine relationships with your social followers, email list, and potential customers
- Video appeals to mobile users, a significant benefit since more people use their smartphones than desktops
- Videos can help explain everything. Whether you’re launching a new product or idea, attempting to explain a difficult concept or need to dive deep into a topic, you can be as creative as you want to help viewers understand
How to Implement Videos in Your Inbound Marketing
With a clear understanding of what video marketing is and how it can positively impact your numbers, the following provides a step-by-step blueprint on how to incorporate it into your inbound marketing strategy:
#1 Be Clear On Your Audience
Having clarity on your target audience and knowing their pains, problems and challenges is the prerequisite to a solid content marketing strategy. One of the best ways to understanding your market is by developing buyer personas. This process will help you to create winning topic ideas that you can share in your videos that appeal to your audience.
#2 Brainstorm Content that Aligns with the Buyer’s Journey
Your viewers will each be at different junctures in the buyer’s journey. This is important to recognize as you want to create videos that target each stage to increase your reach. These include the Awareness, Consideration, and the Decision stage. Think of video content ideas for each stage to have a well-rounded video marketing approach.
#3 Use an Editorial Calendar
Plan, organize and schedule your video content by utilizing an editorial calendar for consistency. By mapping out your topics, you’ll get a holistic view of when your content will publish, so you’re constantly feeding your audience with quality-rich content. Google Calendar is an excellent tool to schedule your videos.
#4 Create and Publish Your Videos
Videos can take on many forms such as YouTube videos, webinars, social videos, and live-streaming video. Decide on the types of videos you will use for your topics and begin publishing.
To create stunning videos that capture attention and exudes your brand personality, leverage a team of experts that can help you stand out in the crowd!
#5 Promote Your Videos
Get more eyeballs on your content by promoting your videos. Synchronize them in your social media, email and blogging strategy for maximum impact. Effectively promoting your videos improves its viewership, SEO ranking (if on YouTube) and brings more significant exposure to your brand.
Conclusion
Videos are one of the best tools you can implement in your inbound marketing strategy. Adding them today can catapult your business goals, increasing brand awareness and generating engagement from your audience. Given the way people consume content online, amplifying your video marketing will position you to reach more of your audience.
4 Tips for Creating a Strong Video Marketing Series
Many people think of marketing videos as one-off commercials or testimonials. They will hire a video marketing agency to shoot a few specific pieces and then move on. However, this is overlooking a massive potential to build on the success of their video content.
More and more companies are discovering the value of an informative half-promotional video series that shares exciting information on a regular basis with their customers and website visitors. A video series has the potential to become a popular monthly or weekly event for people who are involved in or curious about your industry or the content you've chosen to provide, creating a compelling video marketing strategy.
Here are a few tips to building your series:
1. Choose An Engaging Topic
Pick something, anything, in your industry that your customers are interested in. While you may be tempted toward product highlights or service descriptions, go for something that more directly connects to your target audience. How-to's, day-in-the-life, and customers stories are more likely to be the kind of content you're looking for.
When choosing your topic, also consider how long each video will be and what kind of attention span you're preparing for. We can use two parallel examples to give you a good idea of the concept:
2. Be Casual and Genuine
Connect with your future viewers through the camera as if you were speaking to them in your living room or personal workshop. Being casual and friendly with your customers allows you to invite them to your video content.
Most modern consumers have been tuning out television and radio commercials for their entire lives and have become resistant to the 'radio announcer voice.' Instead, stay as genuine as possible, up to the point of keeping a few 'bloopers' in to show that you're a real person. This will make you inherently more relatable to them, and they will want to learn from you because you're not an actor hired to speak empty lines.
3. Innovate with Every Video
Don't let your content go stale, make sure you are covering the new and interesting ground with every new video. This is what keeps viewers coming back and sharing with their friends. You want your viewers to be excited wondering what you will show next, then fulfill that anticipation with another installment of high-quality content. Strong content themes are great, but you want to avoid posting similar topics that share content too close together.
4. Keep the Formula Consistent
Once you've got a hooked viewership, they are coming back to see you almost as much as the content you create. This means staying yourself and maintaining the video layout and style is essential.
Feel free to improve, of course, but don't stray too far. The formula is, in fact, the glue of your video series. It gives you a way to hold on to viewers even if you run out of good variations for a single topic. This means that if you started as, say, a camping survival guide, you could transfer into segments on wilderness sports like rock climbing by merely introducing your viewers to it from one video to another.
The Right Formula
Strong video marketing skills rely on a combination of content, charisma, and responsiveness to your audience. Make sure to read the comments on your videos and invite viewers to leave feedback. Anytime you have anew idea for your series, just run it by your videographers and let the cameras roll.
For more information about video marketing or to schedule a consultation, contact us today!
4 Unique Ways to Boost Website Traffic Using Video Marketing
One of the most common challenges businesses face in digital marketing is driving visitors to their web pages (Source: Hubspot). Traffic generation is the start of any successful inbound marketing campaign; the more quality visits you have, the more opportunities created for lead conversions and sales.
Video marketing has proven to increase website visitors, foster engagement, and elicit users to action. Video drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engine results pages (SERPs). This is huge considering search is a top tool for consumers to locate brands and find solutions to problems.
If you’re seeking ways to drive more people to your web pages or want to amplify your video marketing, here are four unique tactics for boosting website traffic using video in your digital strategy.
#1 Leverage Video in Your Email Marketing
A video is the fastest way to communicate quickly with your audience. And since they increase engagement and conversions, it makes sense to use video in your email marketing campaigns to create optimal results.
Your email strategy is crucial to converting leads into customers and customers into raving fans of your brand. It’s a top channel for increasing revenue, therefore, using tools that improve list engagement is vital to your overall business goals.
Use the following tips to leverage video in your email marketing and promote traffic generation:
- Reduce customer service cases by creating FAQ videos versus text. Add the video in your email message and mention the full-length website or blog post link for more detailed instructions
- Repurpose a favorite blog content into a video series, using each subheading as a new video. Create an email campaign around this topic, sharing a video daily over a period. Include the blog link in each email for recipients to obtain the original article
- Using the word “video” in your email subject line has been proven to increase open-rates
- Share customer testimonials with your subscribers. It’s an excellent way to foster trust and get new leads to do business with you
- Practice email segmentation to send personalized, tailored content to your recipients that speaks directly to their needs and interests. This is one of the best ways to increasing open-rates, clicks and shares
#2 Include a Video on Your Landing Pages
Videos are persuasive and authentic. It draws viewers into your message, quickly building trust and establishing common ground. This is why videos are ideal for your landing page content.
How does this relate to traffic generation? Wordstream notes that having a video on a landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on the first page of the SERP for your keyword. Many consumers are experiencing your brand for the first time on search. Introducing your business via video creates trust and ways for people to connect with you.
Do a split test of your landing pages, having a video on one and full text on the other. Measure your results to discover which is producing favorable outcomes concerning traffic and lead conversions. In the video, be sure to state a clear call-to-action that tells viewers to opt-in and what they can expect in return.
#3 Post How-To Videos on Social Media
Another way of boosting website traffic using video is through instructional content. How-to videos perform exceptionally well on social media. Typically, these videos need to be short (about 30 seconds long) to keep your followers engaged. Doing product demonstrations or illustrating how to achieve a specific result on your audience highlights your brand as an authority and go-to source in the industry.
Produce a series of how-to videos to edit for social media. The goal is not to sell your product but demonstrate its uses, so viewers understand the benefits and features. You want to boost your credibility and the value you bring to newsfeeds.
Additionally, address common problems in your niche. Show followers a better way of reaching a result by demonstrating the process on video.
#4 Optimize YouTube Videos for SEO
YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine, boasting 1.5 billion logged-in monthly users. With only 9% of U.S. small businesses using this medium to reach their audience, there is an excellent opportunity to separate your brand from competitors and get in front of your consumers. This is a unique channel to increase website traffic using video because viewers are more likely to follow instructions from video than other sources.
The key, however, is leveraging YouTube SEO tactics to boost visibility.
Here are a few pointers to optimizing your video content to rank on YouTube:
- Optimize your title by including your longtail keyword. Make it descriptive by mentioning the benefit viewers will gain from the video. If feasible, try to have your keyword as close to the beginning of the title as possible
- Create a full description, naturally sprinkling your keyword throughout. Be sure to add your website or blog post link to access your content easily
- Encourage engagement in your video. Ask viewers to subscribe,like, and click. These are key ingredients to improving your overall video SEO
- Make your video awesome. Follow an outline, so you hit on your major key points and avoid rambling. It’s important to get to your topic quickly to keep people on your video...another factor for SEO
- We can help you create amazing videos that get in front of your audience, captures attention, and entices viewers to take action. Reach out to us here to discover how we can help amplify your video campaigns.
Conclusion
Implement these tactics to being increasing website traffic using video marketing. Not only will you experience a surge in site visitors, but you’ll also notice a boost in engagement and conversions. The benefits (and results) are too compelling to ignore!
Steps to Create a Strong Video Marketing Strategy
Did you know there are more than 2.08 billion users of smartphones? That's right, and you need to be connecting with them via video marketing. If you do not yet have a video content marketing strategy in place, here is a look at five simple steps you can take to get started.
Step 1: Define Your Strategy Purpose
Before you set off to develop a comprehensive video marketing strategy, you first need to define its purpose. Do you want to educate viewers about your products? Are you looking to entertain them? Ultimately, you want to steer clear of anything that pressures them into buying your product or service. When you define your content strategy purpose, you can then create content that centers around this objective.
Step 2: Choose Your Topics Wisely
You want to choose video topics based on the viewers' needs. If there are already a ton of videos being shared about an item you want to focus on, you must come up with an angle that causes your video content to differentiate itself positively.
Step 3: Hire a Professional
This step is straightforward --if you don't know how to create a quality video, don't attempt to. Instead, hire a professional video content marketing specialist to do it for you. This person can help to make sure to include a variety of relevant aspects of your video marketing strategy.
Step 4: Let Viewers Know There is More Coming
At the end of every video, there should be directions for subscribing to the channel to see future videos. This will attract viewers and let them know that you intend to publish more videos soon.
Step 5: Always Include the Option to Share
Even more important than a subscription option is the ability to share your videos. You want viewers to share across a variety of platforms, which increases your brand awareness and attracts even more consumers to your company website.
To learn more about effective video marketing, contact us today.
A Crash Course in Video Marketing Best Practices
Video marketing has become one of the most important tactics for businesses today. Majority of B2Cs have already started producing videos for their brands. Data shows they see impressive returns on this investment.
In some cases, conversion rates increase 80 percent after adding videos to landing pages, an EyeView Digital study found.
Results aren't guaranteed, however. You need to follow video marketing best practices and avoid common pitfalls if you want to be successful. One of the biggest mistakes brands make is by creating a video with no clear audience and, thus, no real purpose.
The first thing you need to do when you're embarking on a video marketing campaign is to make sure you understand your audience.
Look at the Numbers
Use data to hone your audience targeting. Even if you already have a buyer persona, it's a good idea to flesh out details with customer data you've collected. There are some places you can check, depending on the digital marketing channels you use, like Google Analytics, email marketing and automation tools, YouTube Analytics, and social media.
Here is some of the data you should be looking at:
1. Location
Where does your audience live? Are they spread across the United States, or do you have a concentration of customers in one region (Southwest, Northeast, West Coast) that you can hone your message to?
2. Gender
Do you have an even split of males and females? More males? More females? This will help guide your messaging and approach in the videos.
3. Age
What age group does your brand attract? If you have more Millennials, you may need to take a more casual or humorous approach to get their attention than you would with an audience of Gen Y, or Baby Boomers.
4. Device
Are your customers coming to your website on a desktop device, a smartphone, or a tablet? This might seem inconsequential at first, but it offers important insights on the environment people are in while watching your video and how long they will spend watching it.
5. First time or returning visitors
Is your audience mostly first-time visitors, who are discovering your brand for the first time? Or are you getting a majority of returning visitors? This breakdown has a huge impact on your approach to video marketing because these groups expect very different information.
Learn what they want
To get a sense of what your customers want from a video -the type, the tone -try to glean some insights from what you already know they like.
Identify the content that's generated the most audience interest in the past. Conduct a content drill down in Google Analytics to see what pages and posts have:
- The most visitors
- The lowest bounce rates
- The lowest exit rates
- The best time-on-site metrics
Look for any common threads among these articles. Is there one topic that consistently performs well? Do you see a difference in results when content has a conversational or formal tone?
Then, evaluate which types of content attract the most visitors:
- Blog articles that tell them how to do something or explain a process
- 'About us' section to learn about the team
- Product pages to look at your inventory
These are clues about what your audience prefers and the information they are most interested in.
Conduct Competitive Analysis
Identify a competitor with a target audience similar to yours, who you think is creating compelling videos. Do some sleuthing to find out what is working for them, and if they have any ideas, you can borrow as you launch your video marketing strategy.
Here are two ways to do this:
1. Look at social metrics on the website
Some companies posts videos on their websites and the data on these pages can be useful. See if they have social media icons that show how many times the posts have been shared, and find the most widely-distributed video. This is a good indicator that viewers liked the content enough to pass along. Take note of the title, the type of video, the length, the tone, and the content as examples of what your audience enjoys.
2. Look at YouTube
If competitors post videos on YouTube, you can look at their Channel and see which videos are the most popular. Find the videos with the most plays, as well as Likes and comments.
Again, find any common denominators in their most-successful versus least-successful videos. Are they longer or shorter? Animated or live-action? Featuring one person or featuring multiple people?
This should paint a clearer picture of the likes and dislikes of your audience (or at least a demographic very similar to your customers).
Ask your audience
The most straightforward way to make sure you understand your audience is to ask them questions. Conduct customer interviews to learn about:
- What they like
- What they find useful
- What they want more or less of
- The information they still want from you
- The information they wish they had when making a purchase decision
Once you have gathered all of these insights, you should be armed with plenty of data to make videos tailored precisely to your target audience.
Do you want to learn more about creating videos that will help your brand stand out? Contact us to talk about a strategy that can help your business drive conversions online.