We all love videos. Whether it be spiraling down a Youtube rabbit hole or a video on social media that gives you a break from reading. One thing is for sure, videos are entertaining and capture the attention of billions of consumers around the world.
Take a second to think about your favorite brands,
- have they implemented video as part of their marketing strategy?
- Have you been far more informed about what a brand does and/or sells by simply watching a short video on social media?
If they are a successful brand in their industry, they have done video marketing. Here’s the kicker though, how do companies know that video will help them do anything? Will it increase my sales, or am I just spending money to entertain strangers? Our good friend data is here to help explore why video is used by most successful brands around the world.
Above you can see the data from the Hubspot Content Trends survey. When posed the question of what you want to see from your favorite brands, video taking 54%. This is not just a metric, this is why companies see value in video marketing. A survey done by Wyzowl in December of 2019, interviewed 656 online consumers and video marketers also offers us a better understanding of the value of investing in video marketing. Here are some of the results from that survey:
- 87% of video marketers say video has increased traffic to their website.
- 83% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads.
- 95% of video marketers say video has helped increase user understanding of their product or service.
- 96% of consumers have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
- 84% of consumers say that they have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
- 86% of consumers would like to see more videos from brands in 2020.
(Wyzowl, 2020, Video Marketing Statistics 2020)
When we look at the history of advertising, video has played a lead role since July 1st 1941, with the first video ad for Bulova Watch Co. Think about the transition from television to social media. These major organizations such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have created a virtual highway where ads, like billboards, reveal themselves as you continue down the highway. What about a highway billboard that makes you pull over and watch it? That’s why video has become so popular since the dawn of social media.
Okay now that you know you should care about video marketing, le’s head into the grey around of cost.
Not often are video marketers met with a client that has an unlimited budget for a blockbuster-style video to play in movie theatres around the world (10-100k+). On the contrary, it can be tough as a video marketer to get out of bed for anything less than $1,000. If we keep in mind, video marketers have been educated, trained and deliver quality work, to which they would usually interrupt your conversation to showcase their previous work to you.
Where the grey area gets most foggy, is how to price a video. Experienced marketers would usually ask primary questions to uncover a business owner’s goals by investing in a video. Is it to drive traffic to their website? Is it to drive sales? Is it an explainer video?
By identifying objectives before any practical work begins, allows for the ROI to be gauged by the set objectives before production. From our experience with over 25+ long-form documentaries and countless short videos for our clients, videos for content marketing specifically(most common) can range from $1,000 to $15,000. That being said, every day of the week there are lost opportunities as the result of pricing.
Here is a few examples where the deal doesn’t make sense to a video specialist to pursue:
Example 1 – The customer has allocated a budget of $500 but wants filming on location, drone footage, voice-over and an animated intro.
Example 2 – The customer has allocated a budget of $2,000 for event/location filming in several locations and dates across Canada.
Example 3 – The customer is not willing to place a deposit on high-quality video production, audio mastering, and animation. A huge risk for the marketer.
These examples are to offer some insight into how and why a deal may not go through, but if we remember that video marketers want to do great video work for their clients, so there is usually some wiggle room on price if the project outline does not change mid-production.
Below is a shortlist of the most common types of videos used by small to large companies:
- Explainer
- Corporate culture
- Product showcase
- Industry trends
- Brand awareness
- Seasonal promotion
- Virtual tours
- VR tour of infrastructure
- Branded informational
- Branded mini-documentary
- Crowd-funding / Kickstarter
- Events
- Customer success
- Product reviews
- Corporate Social Responsibility (Green initiatives, employee care)
- Animation
While the spectrum for how video can be utilized is quite vast, determining what is the most effective for your business and how to begin the process is just one reason to get in touch with an experienced video marketing agency. They can offer additional insight into the psychology behind the key messaging, how to implement branding effectively, where your target demographic engages on which social media, and what length is most effective for specific mediums. As an example, below are the recommended video lengths for each of the most popular social media platforms:
| SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM | LENGTH FOR OPTIMAL ENGAGEMENT |
| 30 seconds to 2:00 minutes | |
| 15-60 seconds | |
| 30 seconds | |
| Youtube | 1 to 2 minutes |
| Snapchat | 10 seconds |
| TikTok | 5-60 seconds |
While the world continues to evolve and social media continues to change, the advertising world changes with it. Those that don’t will be left behind. Take some time to think about your favorite brands, check out how they have effectively implemented video as part of their marketing strategy. We are confident that video is absolutely the king of content marketing and will continue to be a favorite for consumers moving into 2021.
