Video content is not only possible for small businesses but important.
With 85 percent of the online market watching online videos, and one minute of video content equaling the impact of 1.8 million words (a whopping 3600 typical web pages) according to latest research, video has never been a more important piece of marketing strategy than it is now.
The same experts said that 62 percent of respondents consuming online video from smartphones.
Smartphone users watch, talk about, and share ads and content from retailers more than TV viewers or desktop users. They also view video content on smartphones as a more intimate experience, developing a personal connection with brands at two times the rate of TV viewers.
The psychology of videos
Why do consumers respond to video content so powerfully? Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., consultant to brands such as Disney, Amazon and Walmart, explains that there are four reasons why humans love video:
1. Our brains are wired to respond to faces – we tend to trust faces as a believable source of information.
2. Voice helps us understand content more readily.
3. Emotions appeal to our senses.
4. Movement causes us to pay attention – from primal stone-age times we have had to be alert to movement as a potential sign of danger.
These four factors are all things we cannot get from reading, and can only partially get from audio content.
Videos as website freebies
One simple way you can leverage the appeal of videos is through free video content on your website, or a free video training series as an email opt-in series.
Many websites give away free content in exchange for capturing email addresses. A survey conducted by marketing automation company thinkCongo found that over 90 per cent of prospective customers prefer videos to white papers, case studies, webinars, free trials, toolkits and ebooks.
Okapi Digital Marketing 