Why video is essential to your marketing mix

(And 7 Steps to Powerful Results)

WHY VIDEO IS ESSENTIAL TO YOUR MARKETING MIX (And 7 Steps to Powerful Results)

A growing number of B2C and B2B companies are looking for ways
to incorporate video into their marketing strategies, and with good
reason. As of May 2011, more than 48 hours (two days worth) of video
are uploaded to YouTube every minute (see Figure 1). And viewers are
consuming all that video in droves. In the same month, the site’s hun-
dreds of millions of unique visitors worldwide catapulted YouTube past
the 3 billion views-a-day

While YouTube is the undisputed king of online video-

sharing sites, others including Vimeo and Blip.tv are

serving an audience hungry for video. In the US in July

2011, the total number of online video viewing ses-

sions was nearly 7 billion per comScore. It’s no wonder

that the use of video-sharing sites is steadily rising (see

Figure 2).

But what does all this mean for your business? This

whitepaper aims to help those in charge of social me-

dia marketing understand how to harness the promise

of online video for business success.

Figure 1. More than 48 hours of video are uploaded to
YouTube every minute

2


ONLINE VIDEO YIELDS MEASURABLE BUSINESS IMPACT
Perhaps you’re still skeptical about investing your resources to produce video. These three real-world examples should
convince you that your money and time will be well spent.

Video-sharing site usage over time: 2006 - 2011
% of internet users in each group who visit video sharing sites (total and on a typical day)

Source: The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, April 26 - May 22, 2011 Spring Tracking Survey. n=2,277
adult internet users ages 18 and older, including 755 cell phone interviews. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.

Figure 2. Internet users are increasingly visiting video-sharing sites

3


Visits to event sites skyrocket power of live video with an automated system for man-
Event producer C3 Presents integrated the Facebook aging viewer registrations, con rmation and follow-up
Connect feature with its Lollapalooza and Austin City Lim- emails, and audience statistics reporting. As a result, it was
its Music Festival websites to automatically disseminate able to track and convert leads and report the ROI of its
video from its sites via the YouTube network. The results? video project.
Page views soared by 99%, pages viewed per visit were
up 34%, and average time spent on the sites rose 20%. Correction-tape brand engages
potential customers
Correction-tape brand Tippex launched an attention-
grabbing campaign on YouTube called NSFW. A hunter
shoots a bear!, showing a reluctant hunter faced with
shooting a bear. At the end of the video, viewers can
choose from one of two buttons: to shoot or not. Regard-
less of which button viewers pushed, the hunter decides
not to shoot the bear. Here’s where the video gets really
interesting – the hunter reaches outside the frame for the
Tippex tape dispenser shown in the ad alongside the vid-
eo to erase the word shoots from the video’s title. Viewers
are then invited to replace the word shoots with a verb of
their choice, then hit Enter and see what unfolds. In the
rst few weeks of the campaign, the video pulled in more
than 6.3 million viewers.

Medical device manufacturer generates
leads
But online video isn’t just for businesses in the media and
entertainment industry. A medical device manufacturer
used video webcasts to market a device used in heart
surgeries. Live video webcasts let surgeons around the
globe—all potential customers—see the device in action
during actual operations. The manufacturer coupled the

7


Create once, deliver twice:
spread across social
networks

To get the most from your video – and

your social-media campaigns – you want

as many of your targeted viewers as pos-

sible to see what you’ve produced. The

beauty of video is that you can create it

once and deliver it across multiple social

networks to extend your reach. Whether

you post your video on YouTube, Face-

book, Vimeo, or ickr, Tweet the link on

Twitter, embed it in blogs, and announce

it on LinkedIn and Google+. Once your

social networks start buzzing, measure

video e ectiveness in terms of views,

comments, shares, and likes across all

those channels.

Right side images: A Hunter Shoots a Bear! Video


Choosing the Right Video
As you can see, both B2C and B2B businesses are e ec-
Video is for More than
tively using video to attract attention and cultivate inter-
action with prospective customers. Your business can do YouTube
the same. The rst step is to select the type of video that
will best convey your message and engage your audience. It’s easy to get swept up in the YouTube phe-

The three main types of video are: nomenon and forget that online video can
Informative deliver value on your own site or when sent
Instructional or how-to
Entertaining via email. Here are just a few examples:

Interactive training sessions
Informative Video sales presentations
Because online video is an immediate media, it’s a terri c
vehicle for sharing the latest news, analysis, or opinion on Live meetings with prospects
a hot topic. As long as it appeals to your prospects, cus-
“Video voicemails” recorded and sent
tomers, or valued stakeholders, consider getting the word
out via video. The hundreds of videos on the WebMD site with just a few clicks
are a great example of using informative, timely video to
Live or recorded video played back from
keep an audience in the know and educated, while estab-
lishing WebMD as the expert in its eld. your Web site

Instructional
If you want to share your expertise to cut customer-service sume that producing an entertaining video is a waste of
costs, help customers get the most value from your prod- money and something only the largest of companies can
ucts or services, or simply establish your company as the a ord to do. Kinaxis, a company o ering on-demand soft-
go-to resource, instructional videos may be the answer. ware for supply chain management, produced an award-
These videos can be an ideal way to explain step by step winning series of entertaining videos called Kinaxis Suit-
how to accomplish a task, get a product up and running, emates. Throughout the six-episode video series, viewers
or make a repair. D-Link, a company selling networking are entertained with a satirical look at frustration with
equipment to both homes and businesses, has produced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) o erings for the sup-
a library of short, instructional videos to do just that. ply chain. As of April 2010, the company had more than
tripled its leads, and boosted the number of registered
community members by nearly 38%. The series even
Entertaining
won BtoB Magazine’s Best 2010 Award for creative use of
Whether you’re a B2C or B2B company, you’re selling to
online video to drive site tra c and create buzz among its
people. And people enjoy being entertained. But don’t as-
audience.


7 Steps to Video Success quality tend to garner the most views, links, and
Now that we’ve convinced you it’s worthwhile to add comments. When possible, keep your videos brief or
video to your marketing mix, you’re probably wondering edit down as necessary. If you need to post a longer
the best way to go about getting a video produced and video, embed clickable “chapters” or “sections” using
promoted. Here are seven simple steps: a service such as that o ered by Avitage.

1. Consider what you have to o er and how you can 4. Aim for high quality
best deliver it
If you’ve got the funds, enlist a professional or expe-
Figure out the purpose of the video by determin- rienced videographer to shoot and edit your video. If
ing what you have to share with your audience. For you’re on a tight budget, follow these simple produc-
example, it makes no sense to plunk someone in tion tip:
front of a camera to read your recent whitepaper
on enterprise software and inventory control. But Use good lighting. Whether your lighting is too
you could probably pique lots of interest by show- dark or too light, your subject will be hard to see.
ing a video of your customer’s manufacturing plant, That’s why it’s critical to ensure proper lighting.
interviewing workers who speak to the importance
of automated inventory control, and showing how Dress appropriately. A striped shirt on camera
much happier they are in their daily work. For a live leads to an optical illusion, leaving the viewer
or recorded business presentation with PowerPoint seeing blurry, swirling lines. At the same time,
slides and other rich media elements, you may want clothing with large or geometric patterns can
to try Proclaim from Netbrie ngs. distract attention from the speaker. The ideal
clothing features simple colors that don’t clash
2. Share it with others via sites such as YouTube, with or blend into the background.
Vimeo, SlideShare, or Blip.tv
Pace yourself. If you want viewers to get en-
The beauty of video-sharing sites is that they help gaged and interested, kick up the pace by using
you reach a far broader universe of people than you energetic music in the background and making
can via your own site. So be sure to distribute your tight, quick edits. If you’re telling a dramatic
video across the various sharing sites. Depending story, slow things down and let the emotions
on your business and o ering, some venues will be ow.
more appropriate than others. Do your homework
and then get your video in syndication! 5. Include a call to action

3. Respect the audience’s time Video is part of the marketing mix, so include a call
to action in the video and on the page hosting it
Everyone’s busy so never be afraid to aim for a that drives desired behavior, whether encouraging a
shorter video. In fact, shorter videos with good video visit to a speci c Web page, requesting more informa-


tion, calling a salesperson, or taking some other action
that contributes to your overall goals. For example, on Comment on related videos on YouTube and other
YouTube, you could include a call to action in the eld video-sharing sites and include a link to your video
describing the video and on Facebook you could urge
viewers to leave a comment after viewing the video Keep an eye on related videos and who has linked
your way to promote link building
6. O er options to reach a larger audience
Use tools such as YouTube Insight to see how your
Publish your videos as iPod-ready (or “any other video tra c evolves as you promote your video, then
player”-ready) video les by choosing the right video adjust your approach as necessary
format, size, and data rate (download this guide from
Apple for instructions on preparing your video for the Now that you’ve got a solid understanding of why and how
iPod). This helps you reach a larger audience with vary- to add video to your marketing mix, it’s time to start produc-
ing consumption preferences, allowing your audience ing powerful videos – and results!
to not only take your content with them on the go,
but also decide when, where, and how they choose to
consume it

7. Optimize your videos for search

Videos are searchable so take these steps to increase
the likelihood of them appearing high in the results on
search engines such as Google.

Place relevant keywords in your video’s title, de
scription, and tags

Promote your video on Facebook, Twitter, and
other social networks

Embed your video on your blog or Web site

Choose the appropriate category and adjust set
tings – including those for commenting, voting, rat
ing, and embedding – so your video is easily
accessible


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Why video is essential to your marketing mix

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Why video is essential to your marketing mix