Video content conquers the market by leaps and bounds, crowding out other types of content. Not using it in your marketing strategy is unwise. In this article, you will find the newest video marketing trends and will learn how to use them to boost your conversions.
What Is Video Marketing?
The definition of video marketing is rather simple: it’s a type of marketing strategy where you use video to promote your brand, product, or service. Video marketing can also be used to help companies educate and entertain their target audience.
Why Does Your Business Need Video Marketing?
Today, video is expanding across the entire marketing funnel. More and more people go to YouTube to discover new stuff, get inspired, and find guidance so they can be sure in their purchase decisions.
The statistics speak volumes in favor of video content:
91% of video marketers believe that video is an essential part of their marketing strategy (Wyzowl).
85% of businesses now have internal staff and resources to produce video content in-house (Hubspot).
Video ads were the #1 way for consumers to discover a brand they later purchased from (Animoto).
Video marketing can help you reach a wide range of goals:
- Increasing your brand awareness. You can accomplish this by posting short in-stream videos and splash ads. Creating ‘how to’ videos and other useful content also works well.
- Growing brand confidence and building a loyal community. This goal is inseparably linked with the production of valuable content for the audience — valuable means entertaining, educational, and involving.
- Improving consumer behavior. Proper integration of videos on your website increases the time customers spend on its pages. This can improve Google search results for your business.
- Expanding audience reach. On YouTube, you can “catch up” with those users you couldn’t attract through other marketing channels.
- Providing a long-term competitive advantage. Diversification of your marketing channels allows you to attract customers consistently in the future. Furthermore, video is a great way to sparkle among your competitors, especially if there is not much video content in your niche.
The Purpose of Video Marketing
Video marketing, like other ways of interaction with your audience, should have a purpose. And the more specific the goal is, the easier it becomes to organize the process.
When you start creating video content, it is vital to be deeply aware of the purpose. If you are not sure of the role of video content in your marketing strategy, it is better to stop and take a step back. Prioritize creating new content and only then continue your video production.
To clearly understand the purpose of your video content, you need to perfectly know your target audience. If you have an already established online business, then analyzing your audience will not be difficult. You can check your Google Analytics reports from the Audience section regarding demographics, interests, and geography to get a general idea of who comes to your website.
If you are planning to run a video marketing campaign at the very beginning of your business activity, you will have to get audience data in different ways. You can order research from a marketing agency or make it yourself.
The Most Engaging Types of Video Content
Creating quality video content requires time and money. Therefore, it is important to clearly understand what types of videos are suitable for your audience.
Here are 5 categories with the most popular video content types you can use:
- Advertising and Promotional Videos
Producing video ads is a great way to market your brand. The traditional forms of video advertising are the product promotional video, the product demo, the launch video, live video, event video, etc. All these types of videos are aimed at drawing attention to your product or service and moving your customers further down the sales funnel.
2. Customer Videos
Some people may not really trust you talking about your own product, but they may find someone else’s story about your company trustworthy.
Some customer testimonial videos, third-party product reviews, or unpacking videos can drive away your prospect’s hesitation.
3. Company Videos
This category of marketing videos focuses on the brand itself. Company vlogs, behind-the-scenes videos, and corporate interviews allow you to open up the curtain and let your prospects and customers understand who you really are.
4. Public & Community Relations Videos
Corporate responsibility videos are meant to explain to people why they should buy from you beyond just quality and price.
5. Customer Support Videos
You can give your customers an opportunity to save their time by creating FAQ Videos. This will allow them to help themselves whenever they run into trouble with your product or service, especially in case they don’t feel comfortable calling customer support.
2021 Video Marketing Trends
What exactly should you know if you want to start creating marketing videos in 2021? This list of trends will set the tone.
Trend #1. Overall improvement of video content quality
Bloggers, brands, and ordinary users realize that video is the future of content marketing. However, only a small percentage of videos on the Internet become popular or viral. The audience demands them to be useful, consistent, beautiful, and, most importantly, engaging. Make sure your video content quality matches these requirements.
Trend #2. Personalized videos
Personalization allows you to build a relationship with your audience by providing them with tailor-made experiences. This can help you stand out from your competitors, giving consumers a reason to purchase by addressing their requirements and pain points. You can also become more memorable as a brand that provides relevant solutions and recommendations.
Trend #3. Videos optimized for specific social platforms
People spend a lot of time consuming content on their phones, even more than on their computers or tablets. This is why it is essential to adjust videos to different platforms. Make sure that all your video content meets the requirements of each specific platform, like square videos for Facebook and vertical videos for Instagram.
Trend #4. 360-degree VR video marketing
360° VR video is all about bringing customers to a place they can explore virtually. It allows users to click and drag the picture or move their phone to look around, which creates a sense of immersion. This works especially well for the travel, event, and real estate businesses, where virtual tours are appreciated the most.
Trend #5. Shoppable videos
Another huge digital retail opportunity is shoppable videos. People are 27,4 times more likely to click on a video ad than a standard banner ad. This means you can monetize your videos on a whole new level – by making them shoppable. This will allow you to provide better customer experience and increase revenue. By creating shoppable videos, you also position your brand as innovative, which makes your brand more approachable for Millennial customers.
2020 Video Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2021
We also want to highlight several video content trends that will stretch out from 2019:
- Educational and training videos will expand. Online tutorials and masterclasses are already a huge part of the Internet. This trend is growing continually, as brands and businesses are creating their own content to teach customers how to use their products.
- 1:1 video experiences will continue. Videos of one person talking to another person live still have a place, and this type of content retains its popularity. The ability to see another person and to share screens works well for technical support. It can also be an excellent way to teach.
- Instagram stories will continue to dominate. The experience of live media is still an incredibly captivating one. People like Instagram stories because they feel more trustworthy than most of the content posted on social media.
Video Is Your Biggest Opportunity In 2021!
Creating video content is a perfect way to reach those of your audience whom you failed to attract with other types of content. Video speaks to consumers on the emotional level. It also engages the audience more effectively than any other channel.
Never stop exploring new trends in video marketing! Trying new promotional methods is the best way to innovate and out-compete your rivals.
