What Role Should Video Play In Your Business?

We see them all the time: snappy, elegant, catchy videos from a wide variety of companies. They show up as advertisements, website popups, social media posts, and many other places.

Undoubtedly, seeing these videos makes small business owners and any business owner without video wonder if video production is something to look into.

Key Stat: According to YouTube, mobile video consumption grows by 100% every year.

Video Turn Offs

The biggest reason a business owner will decide not to do video is cost. A video production company will often charge $1000/minute or something around that. Why can’t you just point your phone’s camera at something, film it, and put it on YouTube?

Well, you can, and there may be scenarios where that works. That brings up the topic of video tiers.

Video Tiers

Informal

Use your camera phone for informal introductory videos, short update videos, and sneak peaks at new products or services. These types of videos are good for social media posts, but not for advertising.

Semi-Produced

Use a tripod and a nice camera, but don’t fuss around with animation and elaborate video effects. This works great if a fully produced video isn’t in your budget.

Produced

This is the type of video you’d want for big launches, or for big marketing campaigns. These are the type of videos that are crafted to be sharp, professional, and elite.

Video is projected to claim more than 80% of all web traffic by 2019.

Why Video Is Awesome

There are reasons why video should actually be the first priority when it comes to what you spend on for marketing. First, video increases response rates. People won’t read an article, but they’ll watch a 30 second video, especially if it looks nice or is interesting. That’s just the way things are today.

Take email marketing for example. Research suggests that adding a video to emails increases click-through rates by more than double.

Second, videos help people make purchasing decisions. Everyone knows you can doctor a photo. But doctoring a video is harder. Seeing a video of a product or service can create new believers like photos and text can’t. In fact, more than half of consumers who watch a video about a product are more likely to buy that product.

Should I Try Live Video?

Live video can be awesome, depending on your brand. Live video about a chef making a new recipe is gold. People will tune in. Live video with a lawyer explaining legal procedure, not so much.