We’re sure that you’ve heard about it. Just like every new kid on the block, inbound marketing is garnering a lot of attention. It’s a whole new approach to marketing, and it’s been revolutionizing an industry that, up to now, was primarily focused on finding new customers through interruptions and clamor.
Inbound marketing is just the opposite. It’s all about offering your consumers valuable, interesting information that helps them solve a felt need or problem. You are available, not confrontational. Helpful, rather than pushy. Educational, instead of unctuous.
Your inbound marketing offers can be in the form of content, ebook offers, downloads, or video. But when it comes to educating, engaging and delighting, there is little that appeals to consumers more than well produced videos.
The Inbound Marketing Video
Wondering what kinds of videos should be used in inbound marketing? There are a wide variety of marketing or corporate videos that can be made to fit seamlessly into an inbound campaign. The primary thing to remember is that your video must offer your viewer something of value.
Let’s review some of the most common forms of inbound marketing videos:
The Inbound Educational Video
These videos are designed to provide valuable information to searching consumers. These can be a how-to video on using a new product feature, an insightful video on a complicated process, or information on a relevant topic that your consumers are talking about. The point of these videos is always to educate, inform, and interest viewers.
Recent studies show that people love to watch educational videos. Up to 75% of executives told Forbes that they watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, while 50% watch business related videos on YouTube. Another 65% will visit the marketer’s website after viewing that video.
Ninety percent of online shoppers say they find videos helpful when making shopping and buying decisions. Retailers consistently report the online products with video sell far better than products without video.
The Inbound Advertisement Video
Commercials or ads might seem like interruptive, non-inbound-friendly tactics, but, when done well with a professional marketing video production team, you can actually reach a large audience.
Here are some stats to prove the point.
- The average user spends 16 minutes and 49 seconds watching online video ads every month
- Recent studies from the Forrester Marketing Group showed that when marketers included a marketing or explainer video in an email, the click-through rate increased from 90 – 200%
The key is to create a video that quickly grabs attention and has an emotional hook.
The Inbound Brand Reputation Video
Company announcement videos, launch videos, and product videos are all about your brand reputation and connecting on an emotional level with your viewers (a HUGE part of inbound marketing strategy!). These videos are enormously useful for keeping your consumer base informed and engaged. It makes them feel part of the team or the inner group, fostering more loyalty for your brand.
An example of an excellent product video are those from BlendTec, the well-known originators of the ‘Will It Blend’ video series. In the past seven years, each video in the series has garnered millions of views and an incalculable amount of brand awareness.
The Inbound Testimonial Video
Testimonial videos are one of the most powerful tools in your marketing kit when it comes to instilling trust in viewers and increasing conversions. According to a study conducted by WebDAM, customer testimonials receive the highest effectiveness rating in comparison to other content marketing tactics.
If you’ve got happy clients that don’t mind posing in front of a camera, or even doing a voice over for a video that focuses on one of their services or products, ask them if they’d be willing to let you shoot a testimonial video. Chances are, if they really do love your brand, they’ll be more than willing to help you out.
The Inbound Delight Video
These are the videos designed to delight your audience. The delight phase is strongly emphasized in the inbound marketing stratosphere, and video is a perfect medium to keep your audience engaged and happy. A video that delights is one that entertains your audience as the primary goal.
Increase your fans intimacy with your brand by showing them behind the scenes looks at your company on Facebook, Instagram, or with Vines. Create videos that give the audience a sense of your personality, not just your products or services. Showcasing your point of view in this way will connect you with your customers in a way unparalleled by any other medium.
Where to Put Your Inbound Videos
Now that you’ve got some awesome inbound marketing videos — where do you put them? This step of the game is just as crucial as the video production, so take note of this answer.
Put them everywhere. All over your website and social media platforms.
Check out these stats:
- Home page – 88% of visitors stay longer on a site where prominent videos are displayed.
- Landing pages – Landing pages with video lead up to 800% more conversions than those without.
- Service or product pages – Viewers stay an average of 120 seconds longer on a page with video than on a page without, and are 64% more likely to convert .
- Blog posts – Incorporating video into a blog post attracts three times as many inbound links as those without.
- Social media pages – Load up your LinkedIn company page, Facebook business page, and Twitter channels with relevant video content. Online video now accounts for 50% of all mobile traffic, and most of this traffic comes through social media apps.
- YouTube – It is still the reigning king of all things video. And, in our experience, having a healthy company YouTube page does impact organic searches. In fact, brand YouTube videos are more likely to be found by Google search than those on the company website.
Your Takeaway
If you haven’t added video to your Inbound Marketing campaign, you’re missing a tremendous content platform that will attract new customers keep your existing audience coming back.
Want to get in touch with us about getting your inbound video marketing off the ground? Our Seattle video production team specializes in creating incredible inbound marketing videos that adhere to all the inbound marketing guidelines. Give us a call to talk about how you can jump start your inbound marketing campaign with video.
