Video works
YouTube released its top 100 video views earlier this year and the big winner – Charlie Bit my finger – again with over 611 million views. That’s right, 611 MILLION views. For comparison, last year’s Super Bowl was the most watched event in America with about 108 million viewers…oh, and a thirty second spot cost $4 million. What if a video that your company created received just 10% of that total? I would have to imagine that it would be seen as good ROI in helping to create awareness of your business.
Do you remember the Xmas Jammies video (I know the holidays seem like ages ago…but bear with me)? If not, the gist is that a family decided to do a video/rap song instead of sending the age-old Christmas newsletter. You know, reminding everyone why their lives are better than yours…we all love those right? Well at the end of the video, they reveal that the husband decided to leave his broadcasting career and start his own company…you guessed it…developing videos just like this one for corporations! The video was viewed over 14 million times on YouTube. Now I don’t know how his business was affected from this video…but it was an extremely cost effective way to reach that large of an audience. Remember his target market, as he states in the “rap”, are politicians and corporations. Due to the “viral” nature of the video I’m confident that decision makers in the corporate and political arena saw this video - maybe with some coaxing from friends and family - thus increasing his new company's exposure.
Why is creating awareness crucial in marketing your company? Quite simply, the potential customer needs to be aware of your product or service before they buy your product or service.
Since we love stats here at Houndstooth - here are some stats that outline the effectiveness of video:
Users spend 88% more time on a website with video (source: Mist Media)
Emails with video increases click-through rates by 96% (source: Implix)
75% of top senior executives watch video every week (source: Ernest Agency)
A landing page with a video is 53% more likely to appear on page one of a Google search (source: Mist Media)
65% of viewers visit a vendor's website after watching a video (source: Ernest Agency)
Integrating video into your marketing strategy statistically makes sense and small businesses can create compelling and unique videos without breaking the budget.