Video Content Marketing: Should You Include It in Your Strategy?

Online video ad spending accounts for nearly 30% of total display ad spending globally. Cumulatively, brands devote almost $75 billion to online video ads, signifying a massive shift toward content marketing with video. The question is, should you jump on the video content marketing bandwagon? Absolutely!

Video content marketing is a fan favorite among consumers, marketers, and even business leaders, making it a great tool regardless of whether you are in the business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) space. Here’s everything you need to know about video content marketing. 

What Is Video Content Marketing?

Video content marketing is the process of using video as the primary medium to communicate your brand’s message, educate your audience, and engage customers. Unlike traditional marketing methods, video content marketing offers a dynamic, visually compelling, and easily digestible way of presenting information.

When you need to get your message across in a fast, concise, and engaging way, video marketing is often the best approach. While it has not made other marketing techniques obsolete, it is quickly becoming a premier strategy. 

Content Marketing vs. Video Marketing 

As you dive into the world of video content marketing, you’ll encounter lots of different terms and buzzwords, two of which are content marketing and video marketing. Content marketing is an umbrella term that encompasses various forms of content, including blogs, infographics, podcasts, and yes, videos. 

Video marketing is specifically focused on the use of video to achieve your marketing goals. It’s a subset of content marketing, offering a unique and engaging way to reach your audience. Video marketing is simply a type of content marketing, but not all content marketing assets are video.

B2C vs. B2B Video Content Marketing 

When it comes to video content marketing, the approach you’ll need will vary based on who you are trying to reach. B2C videos often focus on storytelling, evoking emotions, and creating relatable content that resonates with individual consumers. B2B videos tend to be more informational, focusing on product demonstrations, testimonials, and thought leadership to engage other businesses.

The big difference is the mindset of the audience. Consumers typically want fast facts, engaging visuals, and an enjoyable experience. B2B audiences are less emotional and more methodical in their approach, considering a variety of factors like cost, accessibility, user-friendliness, and the potential ROI for their business. 

Fast Facts About Video Marketing Content

Still not sure if video content marketing is right for your brand? Let’s look at some facts demonstrating why adding video to your marketing mix is vital.

• 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool
• 91% of consumers want to see more online videos from brands 
• Video content accounts for 82% of all internet traffic.
• 90% of video marketers report increased leads, and 87% claim video content has boosted sales

Content Marketing Video Examples

There are lots of different types of content marketing videos. The most common is advertising video, which is designed to introduce audiences to a brand and encourage them to make a purchase. Some other content marketing videos you can leverage include:

• Brand Videos: These introduce customers to your brand or nurture existing customers to make them more loyal
• Case Studies: Use these to showcase how your products or services benefitted past clients 
• Explainer Videos: Common among software companies, explainer videos break down how products or services work, often through animation 
• Educational Videos: Get audiences up to speed on what your company or products are all about through educational videos 
• FAQ Videos: Answer common questions in a short video
• Live Videos: Go live on social media, answer questions from followers, and interact with your audience in real-time
• Event Videos: Recap recent events like conferences or community meetings with expertly-edited video content

These are just a few ways to use video content in your marketing strategy. With video, the sky’s the limit. If you can dream it up, you can turn it into an engaging video. 

How to Do Video Content Marketing

Building a content marketing video strategy requires a dynamic, data-driven approach. If you want to tap into the power of marketing video content, you’ll need to:

• Identify Your Target Audience: First, you must decide who you want to target and segment your audience accordingly
• Understand Their Needs: Do your homework and get to know the audience segment’s needs, preferences, and interests 
• Define Your Goals: Clearly define what you hope to achieve with your video content marketing campaign 
• Choose a Type of Video Content: Select a video style and format that best align with your audience and goals 
• Develop a Concept: Pick an idea for your video and build a story around that concept 
• Bring Your Idea to Life: Transform your idea into a captivating video
• Publish Your Content: Finally, distribute your content on the platforms where your target audience is most active 

A lot goes into creating a great video. Remember, publishing a piece of video content is only the beginning. You’ll need to measure the impact of your video, analyze that data to better understand your audience, and adjust to increase the impact of future content. Adaptability is key to thriving in the world of video content marketing. 

Top Video Content Marketing Tools

There are lots of tools out there to support your video content marketing efforts. These tools range from free to very expensive, so do plenty of research and find a platform that best aligns with your goals and needs.

While using a free tool might seem like the most pragmatic option, it likely won’t have all the features you need to create a great video. In most cases, you should go with a program that offers both a free version (or free trial) and a paid version. If you like it or need more features, you can always upgrade your subscription. Additionally, you’ll avoid the headache of switching systems as your video content marketing strategy evolves. 

Benefits of Using Video for Content Marketing 

Video content marketing provides all sorts of benefits for your brand and most of all, your customers. Business benefits of video content marketing include:

• Improved Reach
• More Diverse Content
• Higher User Engagement
• Better Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
• Increased Sales

From the customer’s perspective, video content makes interacting with your brand frictionless. They can effortlessly learn more about your products or services, brush up on how your solutions work, and more. Videos are also a great way of conveying complex information and forming an emotional connection with your audience. 

Measuring the Impact of Content Marketing Videos

To understand the effectiveness of your video content marketing, you need to measure its impact. Some metrics you should keep an eye on include:

• Views: Views is a foundational performance metric for video marketing that tracks how many people have watched your content
• Watch Time: This metric reveals how much time users spent watching your content 
• Click-Through Rates (CTR): Video CTR reveals what percentage of viewers watch your video from start to finish 
• Conversions: This metric gauges what percentage of users respond to your call to action (CTA) at the end of your video

Each metric provides a piece of the puzzle, together revealing whether your video content marketing efforts are impacting your bottom line. 

Should You Use Video Content Marketing Services?

Creating impactful video content requires time, skill, and resources. It will likely involve quite a bit of trial and error, too. Working with a third-party marketing services provider can be a smart move if you are struggling to channel your inner director or want to condense the time to value of your video content.

The top providers handle everything from conceptualization to production and distribution. They will ensure your videos are professionally made and aligned with your marketing strategy. That said, there is nothing wrong with trying your hand at video content marketing, especially if you’ve got the time and resources to experiment. 

Ready to Jumpstart Your Content Video Marketing Strategy? 

Video content marketing represents a powerful and effective way to engage with your audience. If you want to compete in the current advertising environment, you need a robust video content marketing strategy. 

Not sure where to begin? Consider partnering with a video content marketing firm. With the right team, you can win at content video marketing, craft some great video content, and take consumer engagement to the next level!