3 Ways Video Can Make the Marketing Star

First of all, apologies for the Video Killed the Radio Star pun, we couldn’t resist. Renegade recently received a report examining, among other things, the effectiveness of video content in marketing efforts. Granted, this has been a trend for a while, but there’s never been a stat-based case for adding video to your toolbelt quite like the current one.

Here are a few key stats that do a pretty sound job of selling video:

• Video engagement is 67% higher now than it was pre-COVID
• 51% of marketers name video as the content type with the best ROI
• 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they’ll likely choose video.
• LinkedIn video content generates 5X more engagement than image- or text-based content.

So, these stats from three sources (here, here, and here!) all point to the effectiveness of video. More anecdotally, we’re sure you’ll agree that video is a bit more eye-catching when scrolling through a feed. We’re certainly more likely to listen if there’s a person talking rather than a wall of text. Now, let’s briefly touch on what will make video work well.

1. Be conversational

Your video should be human. It can be scripted, sure, but don’t talk as if you’re reading off of a script. Conversational, personable tones (like, how would you sound if you actually, casually spoke with someone on this subject?) will work best. Obviously, in certain areas, you’ll need to incorporate drier, more technical lingo, and that’s fine—try to give things a conversational feel and people will be more likely to listen. You may also use a Real time captioning service so the target audience has the option to read captions and better understand the information you wanted to relay.

2. Be concise

For most social media video marketing, concision is your friend. Longer video content is fine, but social feeds move quickly, and people often won’t watch a full-length video. Try to keep video segments brief, and highlight key points quickly. If you have longer video content like a full webinar, you can create a shorter video promo to inform people about the longer piece and direct them to it. You can use an online video editor to help you create this short-form engaging content.

3. Be helpful

The best video content (really, the best content) will be helpful and not salesy. Even though video is often innately more engaging for people (see: human vs. wall of text), that won’t magically make a sales pitch more palatable. Try to keep your subject matter valuable in a way that doesn’t rely on whatever product or service you are selling. Do you sell a marketing analytics solution? Talk about a new trend in the analytics world. That’ll attract people and demonstrate authority on the subject. A pitch explaining that your product will guarantee a 500% increase to revenue will most likely get people to keep scrolling.

There are plenty of other subtleties to the art of video, and other ways video is suddenly more relevant (Drew had a great chat with Michelle BB on Renegade Thinkers Unite about her immensely successful virtual, video-based event, check it out here), but that could probably fill a whole book. If you’d like to chat a bit more about effective video tactics, or the general marketing landscape (it’s changed quite a bit lately, as I’m sure you know), just reach out!