Online marketing trends change with every new delivery method and channel. Each year brings new technology, new opportunities, and new social channels to catch user fancy. The big winners in the battle for buyer attention might be early adopters throwing resources into promising new technology that proves successful, or businesses who stick with a particular channel to build a huge following.
Video marketing is certainly not new, but the market is changing, and video has emerged as a clear winner.
Video Marketing Trends
YouTube already dominates the field, with a billion users watching hundreds of millions of hours every day. To sweeten the marketing appeal, YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-old viewers than any of the cable networks.
While YouTube traffic expanded more than 40 percent since last year, video viewing options also opened up. Facebook now offers embedded videos and in-line livestreaming, and services like Periscope and Facebook are starting to attract the bravest of no-do-over video pioneers marketing in real time.
Video Ads in Search Results
Another clear indicator of just how popular video marketing has become is the inevitable launch of in-SERP video ads. Google and Bing are both testing video incorporation into rich search results.
The new True View for Shopping, a product that allows users to order products from inside a demo video, has already yielded impressive results. Sephora and Wayfair test cases report increased viewing time, revenue and ad recall.
With big retailers and eager viewers already on board and social media and SERPs ramping up viewer opportunities, video marketing is set to explode like never before.
Why Video Marketing is Effective
Content marketing and social media changed the marketing game in a major way. Brand storytelling took center stage, propelled by the advantages of humanizing and allowing businesses to connect in a more meaningful way with their customer base.
For small businesses, video is an inexpensive way to level the playing field. Here, big businesses and slick, expensive advertising spots don’t always have the advantage. Smaller companies can stand out in several ways:
- Answering customer FAQs
- Showcasing products in action
- Asking for user-generated contributions featuring real-life customers
- Introducing staff and showing an intimate look around operations
- Demonstrating product use
- Featuring video testimonials
Thousands of small YouTube businesses have built audience and credibility with simple, straightforward advertising, and case studies show that video has a big impact on sales, especially for small businesses and cottage industry. More than half of marketers responding to the 2014 Video Statistics study by Invodo said that video offers a higher ROI than any other type of content.
New Technologies in Your Future
Every aspect of marketing in the last few years has moved toward personalization, targeting and interactive content. New video technology takes the concept to a new level, with engaging videos that move from viewing into response. Data collection forms, surveys, polls and choose-your-adventure videos will become more common.
You’ve seen these formats in Hulu big business advertising for years, but not in heavy use elsewhere. That’s bound to change as new video production programs make fancy interaction cheap and available for any user.
Approximately 96 percent of B2B advertisers are already using videos, but smaller B2C businesses may have been slower to adopt due to production costs or simple reluctance to waste marketing dollars on a technology they may not feel is effective.
Now that you know which way the 2017 marketing winds are blowing, are you ready to jump on board with video marketing?
Related reading: Small Business Guide to Video Marketing
Video Marketing Photo via Shutterstock
Aira Bongco
I think it has something to do with the impact that it has on people. With the Internet getting faster, it is now quite common to market on video.
Chris Grohl
Spot on Megan! Thanks for sharing these points in such a condensed way – we do consulting to SMB agencies, focusing on helping them succeed via visual content and been seeing amazing results with video in these past few months – with everyone changing their tone from “Not yet…” to “WHERE CAN I GET MORE VIDEOS??”
Great to see businesses (big and small, with SMBs surprisingly pushing the envelope on this one) and seeing great results when done right. Facebook and Instagram mostly, and YouTube here and there- we started with self production, then with tools like Animoto (animoto.com) and GoAnimate (goanimate.com) – now we mostly use PROMO from Slidely (slide.ly/promo) – a sign of this big change on video –
I have seen incredible results from both, clients just can’t get enough Promo videos
This (r)evolution from TV to mobile and web is happening and it’s important that businesses (SMBs) that understand their growth will come through digital and join the party ASAP and enjoy the benefits of being (relatively) early adopters.
Cheers and have a great weekend! Adam
Instagram Live is a wonderful thing! I felt enthusiasm with I noticed its availability on my Android phone
Video Marketing is really getting a good response in digital marketing world. People loves to watch videos to get answer of their queries. Videos also increase the creativity. So, Video marketing is definitely a good way to promote things online.
Clint Butler
Let’s face it, people don’t like to read on their mobile phones, at least most people anyway, and that is why video is getting so popular.
It is much more enjoyable for a user to watch a video or live stream than it is to read a 1300 word article about the migrating habits of the red finch.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one medium is certainly affecting the popularity of another and its the smart marketer who leverages that for their clients.
Video marketing is the hottest trend this year. We also started creating our own videos about entrepreneurship and it really helped us drive more traffic and engagement.
It is so much more enjoyable for most people to watch a video than to read something. I can’t wait to voice to text works well and is standard for video so that you can skip to the part that you are interested in on a long video.
Video is amazingly powerful for building rapport with people and also getting more traffic. Great article- thanks!
Nischay Jain
Thanks Megan for the great post.
I am starting to make some videos to promote my blog and the tips you give me a better perspective on that.
Can’t wait anymore 😛
Thanks again for sharing this insightful post.
It is crucial to stay up to date with the latest video marketing trends and adopt the best one that fits your business goals. Make sure to do it and do it well. There are plentiful tools and technology to help you with video marketing so begin now to build out a quality video strategy.
David Asarnow