Video marketing: Look beyond the hype to reap the benefits

There is a lot of hype around video marketing. It is often driven by affiliate marketers who want to sell the latest DIY, promote-your-business-on-autopilot products. The result? An Internet spammed with low-grade, ill-focused and ineffective videos which look like your 3-year-old niece could have made them.



The poisonous "must have" fallacy

Small business owners are simply bombarded with an ever-growing list of online "must haves" … you MUST Tweet, you MUST have a Facebook fan page … if you don’t use YouTube you’re stupid … it makes my head spin sometimes.



And what utter rubbish! Yes, there is no denying that these tools, applied correctly, can be hugely beneficial to your business. But on the flipside, there is nothing worse for your business and brand than having a Facebook fan page with 3 followers (2 of which are your own kids) and a lonely status update saying "Hello World".



I see many, many examples of these, where small business owners attended a course by some "social media guru", excitedly opened up a new Twitter account, pasted links to said account all over their website, email signature and monthly newsletters … only to leave the account dormant and sadly unattended because they do not have the time, knowledge or inclination to make it work for them.



The same holds true for video. Many people will disagree with me here, but I cannot see the point of spamming YouTube with crappy-looking, ineffective, slideshow-based videos "promoting" your business. OK, so sometimes really cheap videos can be extremely effective, but there’s an important word in that sentence – sometimes.



First, you must ask some important questions

When it comes to online marketing, there are some points you need to address before you press "record" or post a single Tweet:



Who is my target market?



Where do they congregate?



How will they find my content? Search engines? Social bookmarking? Social networks?



What will I offer them that is unique / entertaining / thought-provoking to make them come back for more?



What are the desired outcomes? Brand recognition? Direct marketing? List building?



How will I measure performance against these outcomes, and how will I improve performance?



Video marketing: A specific example of a successful application

One of our clients, T2 Direct Ltd, sells Home, Garden, DIY Products & Homeware online and via mail order.



THE CHALLENGE



• To add an extra dimension to complement their existing offline marketing efforts



• To show the features and benefits of their products online and re-enforce their brand values



THE METHOD



We decided to produce instructional videos showing products being used in a home environment, emphasising the key features and benefits. Rather than just sell, they aim to educate as well.



THE RESULTS

They started with nothing, but have since clocked up 170,000 video views on their YouTube channel

The videos were embedded on their e-Commerce website, and the conversion rates for video products increased by up to 77%. That’s pretty impressive, right?

One unexpected benefit has been the impact the videos have on customer enquiries. The customer service team can now refer clients to the videos when they have questions about using the products. This makes customer service calls more efficient, cuts down on follow-up calls and ultimately saves time and money.



BUT TAKE NOTE

These videos were made with a specific objective. They were planned, scripted and shot with professional voiceover. They were not made "on the fly".



A lot of the YouTube channel views were attained through the videos being embedded on paid-for advertising sites. In other words, video marketing has enhanced and complemented their existing marketing efforts, but it has by no means replaced them.



THE POINT

Don’t be a Luddite, but don’t be a fad junkie either. Yes, embrace and use the latest tools such as video marketing but know why you’re using them and have a clear, measurable strategy to adapt and improve.