Video content is hugely powerful – 52 percent of marketers worldwide rate it as the type of content with the best ROI. This leaves no doubt that you should be using video to promote your brand. But how do promotional videos work, and how should you integrate them into your marketing plans?
What is a promotional video?
Promotional video is one of the widest, and most widely used, of all video categories. It encompasses every video promoting a product, service, event or cause; and due to its wide-ranging nature, there are many different styles. They are linked by a strong call to action, as the sole purpose is to encourage the viewer to take an action – usually to buy.
Here’s an example we created for Villa Maria Catholic Homes.
Villa Maria Catholic Homes NDIS Generations of Care by Rockmans Creative Media
What makes a good promotional video?
As with all video marketing, the key to a successful promotional video is content. It’s possible to build huge audiences online by presenting the information in an interesting or entertaining way.
Many companies now use storytelling techniques to engage audiences and make them feel an emotional connection with the brand. Others choose to offer viewers value by making their videos more educational, so viewers feel they understand the topic better and are therefore making more informed purchase decisions.
Voice Over Artist Recording Promotional Video
Promotional video is also a highly effective way of showcasing a product, as it gives viewers a much more realistic idea of the product than text or images – they can actually see how it works.
We see video everywhere these days – on websites, social media and television, at the cinema, in business waiting rooms and even in the supermarket. This is why, if you’re going to use video to your advantage, it’s essential to think about its purpose and the audience you intend to reach when you’re deciding where to place it.
Including promotional video on your website
Consumers love video. 57 percent feel more confident about purchasing a product online if they’ve watched a video about it first, and 50 percent feel more engaged with a brand as a result of watching videos about its products.
This is why more and more companies are now including promotional videos on their websites, landing pages and squeeze pages – including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by as much as 80 percent.
Including video on your website can also have an extremely positive effect on your search engine rankings. Having a video embedded on your website makes you 53 times more likely to appear at the top of Google search results. This can increase organic traffic to your website by a huge 157 percent.
Promotional video on social media
Video can be a highly effective means of raising brand awareness and encouraging purchases on social media. Over 48 percent of millennials and Generation X-ers follow brands on social media, and 70 percent are more likely to purchase from brands they follow.
The top five reasons why people follow brands on social media are:
- Promotions and discounts
- Information on the latest products
- Customer service
- Entertaining content
- Offering feedback.
Video, if done well, can cover the top four; engaging with your followers on social media who comment on your videos, can provide the fifth.
Promotional video in fundraising
Causes and charities are now frequently using video content to raise awareness and donations as it is such a good medium for storytelling. 57 percent of online donations are now inspired by fundraising videos, and crowdfunding pages raise four times as many donations if they are promoted with video.
Below is a heart-warming example of a Fundraising Video for Villa Maria Catholic Homes and their Early Childhood Intervention
Approximately one-third of all online donations are made as a result of peer-to-peer fundraising, where supporters of a cause raise money on its behalf. This method of fundraising is sometimes also known as social fundraising, because of its popularity on social media. The more shareable the content is, the more people become aware of, and donate to, the cause.
This makes video the ideal medium for peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, as video content is shared 1,200 percent more on social media than text and images combined.
Watching an Interview on a Video Production Monitor
Promoting events using video
Video can help to promote upcoming events by raising awareness and interest, and encouraging registrations. Previous event footage is commonly used for this purpose, as are messages from sponsors and speakers. Putting names and faces to an event makes people more likely to attend as it creates a human connection.
Video is a hugely powerful medium with a wide number of uses, and it looks as if it’s here to stay – 43 percent of people would like to see more video marketing content from brands online. So if you’re not using video as part of your marketing mix, it’s about time you were.
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