Why Retailers Should Use Video Marketing

Why Retailers Should Use Videos to Market their Products Online

Videos are effective in getting customers to purchase products online. They have been so successful that retail giants have used them to increase sales and conversions on their websites. Major British retailer, Marks and Spencer, features videos on their product pages. A shopper that visits the page of their latest blue cardigan will see a video that shows a lady modeling and wearing that piece of clothing. This aids customer decision-making and ultimately leads to a sale.

Ariat, an American equestrian footwear manufacturer, also has videos on their product pages. A buyer who looks at their boots online will also see how-to videos of how to properly wear and clean boots. These videos are not only useful to Ariat’s prospects and customers, but they also lead to a higher conversion rate for the company, higher than the website’s average. Zappos, an online shoe and clothing shop, also has a similar experience as pages with product videos show an increase in sales ranging from 6% to 30%.

Why are online videos so effective? Videos cater to the visual and auditory needs of customers. They make use of facial expression, body language, imagery and music to connect to customers and bring across brand messages that are easy to understand. In essence, they help customers “experience” a product in a way that pictures and words alone or combined can’t. Studies related to video marketing show that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after watching its video.

This gives retailers an opportunity to reach out to new and existing customers. While video commercials and advertisements are the norm, other more informative and subtle formats can be used to get the job done. Product videos are great for educating customers about the product. They can paint a picture of how great a product is and convince customers to purchase it. They save customers time and money by helping them decide whether or not to buy a product. How-to videos, on the other hand, give tips and guidelines of how customers can use, fix or clean a product. They are quite helpful and informative and can increase awareness and build brand loyalty. There are also videos that allow customers to buy products directly from the video instead of leading them to a website. These videos definitely add a new dimension to online marketing and selling of products. They are called “shoppable videos” and some of the best examples include Debenhams, Gucci and Ben Sherman.

With the rise of video marketing, it is not surprising that most businesses are using more videos in their marketing campaigns. However, is video marketing here to stay or is it just a popular trend that will eventually fade? A quick look at the articles online about video marketing will show that videos are gaining popularity and are being used by more and more marketers. They are dubbed as “the future of content/online marketing.” With more people watching videos online, more frequently, more companies will want to include video into their marketing strategies.

Make Your Marketing Video Awesome

How to Make an Awesome Marketing Video

There is a strong interest in video marketing these days. Companies are now using videos online to market their products to customers. While there are agencies and services that can help them create successful content, companies have to contend with competitors to vie for the attention of their target audience and customers. Just having a video for the sake of having one simply won’t do! A video needs to stand out and add value to its audience. With these in mind, here are some tips from video marketing contributors and experts that companies can use to create great marketing videos:

  1. Be clear. Jennifer Jager, a Creative Director at Plum Productions and a Contributor at Entrepreneur.com, shares that most clients and companies consult her without knowing what to do with a web video. She shares that companies want a new video for a website or a campaign, but either have too many ideas for a 60-seconder video or have none at all. They need to be guided as to what they want to achieve with a video. Before hiring a video crew or consulting a video marketing expert, companies should know what their goal is and who they want to reach. A good rule to follow is to be clear. Be clear with your goal. Be clear with your audience. Be clear with your message.

  1. Invest in production. Have you seen a TED talk lately? Although most lecture-type videos are boring, TED videos are compelling and fascinating. Although they last longer than music videos, TED videos have a million views and are widely shared. What makes them successful is that TED invests in quality. TED invests in production value. Chris Anderson, TED’s Founder and Curator, shares that they put a lot of thought into each lecture. They make it like a music video and play with lighting, camera angles, graphics and audio mixing. When creating a marketing video, get professionals to do it. They can add creative insights and solve production issues that come along the way. This helps companies and marketers focus on what’s important -their strategy and message.

  1. Be creative with content. Companies and marketers can be more creative with their content. Instead of having a company CEO or VP talk about a product in front of a camera, companies can tell a story. This need not be a company or brand story. To have a compelling story, the characters must be relatable and must have a journey that viewers would want to know and follow. Aside from storytelling, companies can also help customers or viewers by giving tips or hints. They can show on video how to use, clean or fix a product. They can also share new information related to their product or industry.

  1. Maximize video use online. Brenton Williamson, a Video Producer at Bamboo HR – the No. 1 online HR software for small and medium businesses, shares that companies can maximize a video by knowing how to use it online. First, videos are great for brand awareness. They easily reach people who have not heard of your product or brand. Second, videos reinforce brand validation. The videos that are embedded on their website act as “the windows into their company.” They give clients and prospects an idea of what their company is and what they stand for. Third, videos educate their prospects. Their videos highlight their software’s features and advantages. These not only inform, but they also give prospects and clients confidence in their product. Fourth, videos help retain and educate existing customers. They have hints and tips videos that help customers use their products.

Video Marketing – Stage 5

Onto the Pulpit: Know Where to Distribute your Video

The final efforts of video production for marketing purposes will shift to how the video will be distributed. Choosing the right distribution method is crucial to reaching your target audience. No one platform is the best for all types of videos so choose judiciously. Because of the abundance of websites where you can upload your videos, the selection may seem daunting, but fret not, here is a guide to the primary choices available right now.

1. YouTube

The web titan is obviously the first thing that comes to mind. It boasts of the highest number of viewers as well as videos uploaded; hence it is undoubtedly the most popular video destination in the world.

Uploading of videos in YouTube is free and very simple so here you’ve covered the cost effective aspect. What’s more, YouTube is owned by Google so you are assured of its quality and features and perhaps an influence in their search engine. Youtube channels also enables users to generate a fan-base and provides useful statistics. Lastly, it allows ads and links to be placed on your videos.

On the other hand, because of Youtube’s large domain, your video might get lost amidst the millions of videos uploaded regularly. Your chances of standing out in this venue is not very high. YouTube is also infamous for the notorious comments of viewers and some businesses do not want to associate themselves with its content. Nevertheless, because of its dominant standing, posting marketing videos in YouTube is almost obligatory. To expand your horizon though, you may cross-post in another portal and your website.

Vimeo

Vimeo is more selective in the videos allowed for posting. The website shies away from television clips, video game footage and music video, and focuses on art and quality videos. This narrowed content aids in building a community that share common interests and paves the way to creating long-term relationships with a common audience. The guidelines of Vimeo also strictly prohibits personal attacks and insults so unlike YouTube, there is almost no possibility of receiving crass comments.

On the flip side, the focused content and numerous restrictions might hinder the content of your video to be posted. Also, because of their smaller audience, your video might not easily find viewership and commercial content is not allowed. Lastly, only the basic account which allows 500MB of upload is free and beyond that, you have to pay.

Metacafe

Metacafe promotes original, short-form video content but they do get 40 million visitors monthly. Because of the short content (a Metacafe video averages only 90 seconds), full-length movies, television episodes and news stories are not allowed. They’re not as strict as Vimeo though; any kind of user is allowed to sign up and they let the community of users on their own when it comes to using the site. The highest rated videos also get a cash reward and they have a zero tolerance policy for defamatory material and comments.

The downside of this site is its content limitation, both in length and genre. They also seem to focus more on video game content. Compared to Youtube, their audience size is still relatively small.

These are just among the video platforms you can use. When it comes to marketing, do not limit yourself on just this list. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used to spread the word about your video marketing and access your desired audience.

Video Marketing – Stage 4 Editing

The Trials, Tribulations and Rewards of Editing

Even though the filming is done, the project is not yet over. Post production in video marketing is all about putting everything together and coming up with an end product that holds up the message for the audience and ultimately meets the business goals. Post production involves a lot of editing and video integration, but it takes you much closer to your end goal, so this step should not be taken lightly.

Editing the Picture

Editing the video that has been filmed should be done in an organized manner since it is time consuming and quite a laborious process. The first step of editing is importing raw footage and converting them to appropriate files for the computer. Always make sure that you create a back-up file of such footage for safety purposes. Then arrange them roughly into place. Stock footage, retakes, talking heads, even B-rolls (shots that do not focus on your primary subject) — there are layers and layers of videos that should be gathered and brought together, not to mention they need to be trimmed and properly paced. The painstaking task of frame-by-frame editing requires more than creativity and skill, the editing professional should have utmost patience.

Incorporating Music and/or Voice over

To improve the overall viewer experience of your video, you should incorporate the appropriate music. Adding music to the video will make it more interesting but you should pick the tune you will use meticulously. If the budget permits, you can use an original track custom-made for the video. Of course the alternative is to choose stock music. If this is the case, make sure that copyrights have been secured to avoid infringement issues. Nevertheless, not all videos need a soundtrack, and if you do use one, choose one that is suitable for the project and will highlight its theme.

If the video content calls for a voiceover or dubbing, do not skip professional talent. The voiceover could be the one that sets the tone for the rest of the video so hire professional voiceover talents to do the job. Lastly, the use of sound effects is optional but adding it astutely could make the audience more engaged to the video’s message.

Extra Steps

Aside from editing and the addition of music, finalizing the video also entails adding titles and credits, color correction and the use of graphics and/or special effects. The video footage should be edited into a draft and reviewed before finalizing. Try to keep the video no longer than a minute so as to keep in step with the maximum attention span of viewers. It is also advisable to introduce the company name within the first 30 seconds of the video.

Make sure that the person in charge of editing is familiar, or better yet an expert in using the editing software. Stitching together raw footages into not only a comprehendible story, but a perfectly executed marketing strategy, is a significant final step to producing an attention-grabbing an crowd-pleasing video that delivers the intended value or call for action.

Video Marketing – Stage 3 Your Set

The Culminating Stage

All that planning and preparation will take you to this: the actual production. You’re nearly halfway through the video marketing process, but the day of the shoot is when everything you’ve conceptualized will finally materialize.

Production entails filming, first and foremost. With your storyboard, shot and production schedule on hand, you have a multitude of guides on how the filming should go. Here are some tips on the step by step breakdown of the video production.

1. Safety First

Upon arriving on the location, make sure that all safety concerns are covered. Also, the necessary contacts, scripts and equipment should be handed to the crew. A first aid kit is always a must and all crew members should know where it is located. Make sure everyone knows the do’s and don’ts when handling equipment for safety purposes. Beat Murphy’s Law (Anything that can go wrong will go wrong) by ensuring that everyone knows what to do in case of emergency.

2. Final Cast Call

The video’s success is reliant on the talent you have, so get the actors to relax before the actual shoot. Make sure that they are well-rehearsed and take time to ask them about any last minute questions and concerns they may have so they can be addressed before production.

3. Audio Tests are Crucial

Testing your audio equipment before shooting is a smart move. You should have an audio technician check it prior to filming and cover all the bases: microphones, recorders, camera feed, batteries, playback, volume levels and even background noise. You will avoid a great amount of delay by doing this.

4. Lights and Setup

Lighting is highly determined by your setup – whether you’re filming inside a studio or outside in open daylight. Weather changes will greatly affect your shoot so check the weather forecasts ahead of time. Outside or inside filming will have its own set of challenges so knowledge on lighting is quite essential. If you’re shooting outside, consider doing it during the golden hour which is in an hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset. Indoor videos, on the other hand necessitates the use of artificial lighting.

5. Camera Setup

Video production will depend heavily on the images and action captured by camera. It is then obvious that cameras should be fully charged and are working well, and tripods are solid and leveled as they will be used fully during production. The director will determine the settings of the camera by adjusting elements like white balance, exposure, grain and video quality, and frame rate. You might also want to use the Rule of Thirds wherein the camera relies on reference points for good framing.

6. Lights, Camera… Action!

Finally, it is time to shoot. The first couple takes might not always go well, but gradually, you will get the flow of things. Again, as long as you have the script, storyboard, shot list and production timeline, you have all the guide you need to keep track of the filming and determine if it is going according to plan. Take note that shooting multiple takes may come in handy in case anything wrong goes with the original takes.