Navigating the Consumer Highway
We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I would like to add, “A video is worth a million.” Videos can convey much more meaning, information, and emotion than a single picture. They bring your ideas to life for your customers. I know I may seem a bit biased, since I LOVE video, but the proof is in the pudding. (Who doesn’t love a good pudding? Grab a spoon and let’s dig in!)
Caution: Congestion
Consumers want to see video, and companies are working to fill that need. Video consumption is growing at an exponential rate, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down. Forbes predicts that by 2021, a million minutes (that’s 17,000 hours!) of video content will cross the internet every second. It will take a person more than 5 million years to watch all the video that will cross the internet each month in 2020. (Talk about couch potatoes! Start popping that popcorn!)
For businesses, this allows for incredible opportunities, but can also cause some traffic snarls. The sheer volume of video available will require more effort and intentionality to help guide consumers through the congestion and steer them toward your content. This can be done through the power of unique videos that combine storytelling and visual components to emotionally connect to the viewer. We’re looking forward to moving ahead and getting the hard work done.
Know Your Passengers
Of course it isn’t just businesses that are excited about the potential that video can bring to the market. Consumers want to see more videos. According to a 2016 HubSpot poll, 43% of people want to see marketers add more video content. It’s a perfect match! An Animoto survey found that four out of five consumers feel that a video showing how a product or service works is important. It’s so important that one out of four consumers will lose interest in a company that does not use video! Who wants to lose potential customers? Let’s give them what they are asking for.
Before you head to the grocery store, do you hitch Bessy up to the wagon or do you remote start your car from the comfort of your home? Technology has advanced to give us faster, more comfortable, and efficient options to get where we want to go. The way we share information has changed as well. Photos and text alone are not able to fully address consumers’ needs. Video is taking over as viewers discover it allows them to connect to the content in a more meaningful and useful way. People–especially millennials–are looking for video to answer their questions… And these millennials will spend over $10 trillion in their lifetimes. That’s over $200 billion per year! Don’t you want a bite of that? Video can make it a piece of cake.
Smooth Roads Ahead
A mindset that looks ahead to the future will allow businesses to grow faster and move ahead of the pack. That means using video to guide consumers. 80% of millennials consider video content when researching and purchasing products. Hubspot discovered that when given both options on the same page, 72% of people will choose video over text to learn about a product or service. From the business side of things, the Aberdeen Group reported that using video content allows marketers to grow revenue 49% faster than those without video. Web traffic from consumer searches is 41% greater when video is used. Wyzowl just published their Video Marketing Statistics for 2019. Two stats jumped off the page at me. Overall, 87% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool (making a huge jump from 63% in 2017 and 81% in 2018). When it comes down to dollars, 83% of marketers believe that a good ROI is from…video! It’s a win-win situation.
What’s not to love about videos? They are full of immeasurable potential and provide intangible value to your customer. Your business can grow and flourish through the use of video, which is both empowering and exciting. I hope I’ve piqued your interest with a peek into my world. I’m off to pop some popcorn…time to watch some video!
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