Video Marketing for Business: 4 Strategies to Try on Your Website

At this point, there’s no question as to the effectiveness of video marketing for business.

Statistics show that buyers love (even prefer) video. As a result, many marketers are creating video right now, and it works:

• According to a report by Wyzowl, 91 percent of consumers have watched an explainer video to learn about the product. In fact, 79 percent would rather watch a video than read text. Google reveals that almost 50 percent of web users look for a video before visiting a store.
• In response to consumer demand, roughly two-thirds of marketers are now using video as part of their strategy. A 2017 Content Marketing Institute study found that 60 percent of B2B and B2C companies are using video. Social Media Examiner’s 2016 research shows similar findings and reveals that 73 percent of marketers planned to use video marketing for business in 2019.
• According to Aberdeen Group, marketers register up to 66 percent more qualified leads and boost their brand awareness by 54 percent when they use video. A separate report by Animoto shows that approximately 76 percent of marketers are finding success with small business video marketing.

The success of video as a marketing tool is determined largely by its placement, the end-goal being to get the message to the right person at the right time.

As the online home of your business, your website is perhaps best suited to house many of your video marketing ideas. Additionally, users spend more time on your site if you have video content.

In this guide, we’ll discuss various strategies that dig into how to use video marketing for business on your website:

#1: Video Introductions and Explainers

Intros and explainers are typically short videos giving a brief overview regarding your business or how a product works. This is a chance to create familiarity with your visitors as well as set the tone for your brand.

When done right, the results are manifested in conversions. Some reports suggest that homepage videos can boost conversion rates by more than 20 percent.

A new website design trend involves using large, full-sized videos as the background for a homepage — a successful attempt at transforming what can otherwise be a mundane static website experience.

A background video can act as a demonstration of products, a look around the office, or any video that showcases your business at its best. Using a plugin like Full Screen Background Images, marketers are able to change the static background design of any page on their websites into a dynamic YouTube or MP4 video.

Introduction and explainer videos are a smart strategy in the digital age. The same information you’d share via text a couple of years ago might perform better today if you instead shared it as a video.

#2: Videos as Gated Content

Have you ever wanted to download a free resource, such as an ebook or report, but had to enter your contact information first? Opt-in marketing has become a popular tactic for generating leads online. Up to 80 percent of B2B resources are gated (they require registration to access).

To gate your video content, you must create a registration form that a user fills in before being redirected to a page with the video (or sent the video via email).

Using tools like Wistia’s Turnstile and Vidyard, you can add gates (forms) at any point during your video. With these same tools, you can also add a call to action (CTA) form at the end of the video.

Here’s what data from Wistia says about the placement of the forms:

• At the beginning of the video results in a 16 percent conversion rate but possibly reduces the number of views.
• At the end of the video gets a 3 percent conversion rate but with more views.
• During the video, 10 to 20 percent of the way through, results in a 43 percent conversion rate.

If you make the video desirable enough, you can successfully generate leads by gating your video content. Resources (research reports, guides, ebooks, and so on) and exclusive videos (members-only) tend to do well.

#3: Video on a Landing Page

Video works great on a landing page, for more or less the same reason it works everywhere else — most consumers prefer watching content to reading. So much so that including a video on a landing page has been reported to have an 80 percent conversion rate.

Of course, this isn’t just because people are lazy.

Video is engaging. It increases the amount of time people stay on the page, giving your message more time to be absorbed. It also brings out the human side of the business. Showcasing the people behind the brand conveys your reality and helps build trust in your business.

To improve the conversion rate of your landing page video, here are some tips to remember:

• Use a good thumbnail. An interesting thumbnail will be that much more tempting to the viewer.
• Position the video above the fold. This makes it conspicuous and attractive.
• Keep it short. People love video but they won’t watch your videos all day. Two to three minutes is probably enough.

Most importantly, start by defining a clear purpose and goals for creating the video. This will help guide the creation of content in addition to the manner in which you feature it on the landing page.

#4: Video Social Proof

Did you know that almost 70 percent of online buyers check product reviews before making a purchase? Additionally, customer reviews are 12 times more trusted than product descriptions and sales copy.

Reviews are a form of social proof and social proof is effective because it puts people at ease. It builds credibility for the brand and positions the product as a universal solution to the problem. While there are many ways to demonstrate, few can match the effectiveness of video.

Some video marketing ideas to showcase social proof include:

• Customer testimonials. Have customers talk on camera about their pain points, how they happened upon your solution, and the results achieved after working with you.
• Case studies. Do a video highlighting how you were able to solve a customer’s problem using your product or service.
• Live streaming. Use a tool like Dacast to stream video live from your website with real-time events that show social proof.

Final Thoughts:  Video Marketing for Business: 4 Strategies to Try on Your Website

To maximize conversions on your website, give video marketing a try. Every step of the customer journey can be optimized by adding video, which has demonstrated solid advantages over text in certain circumstances.

Basing on these video marketing strategies, you’re in a good place to brainstorm unique video marketing ideas for your business that will help you compete effectively in your market. Start by playing with full screen background video by using the Full Screen Background Images plugin.