Video Marketing explained: theory and benefits

Article by: Ben Janse

Last update: December 3, 2023

Video Marketing: this article offers a practical explanation of Video Marketing. In addition to explaining what it is, this article also explains which types there are, the explanation of community building plus an example, how to apply it and the benefits of video marketing. Enjoy reading!

What is Video Marketing?

Never before have people been watching as many videos as they do now. According to American IT firm Cisco Systems Inc, in 2014, 64% of all internet traffic consisted of video content. The expectation is that this will continue to increase to 80% by the end of 2019.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that many marketing company and strategies are responding to this. The thinking behind it is: if a picture says more than a thousand words, think of what that means for a video.

With the increasingly high-pace development of technology and social media, creating and sharing videos has become both cheaper and easier. Today, video marketing is the most popular form of content marketing. It gives companies the opportunity to inspire others, evoke motions, and determine the needs and desires of their audience.

Video marketing allows for direct, realistic, and authentic interaction and connectivity with the audience. This form of content marketing is a versatile tool for marketers during the entire customer journey.

At the same time, video marketing also provides many opportunities for service teams. Through personal guidance in video calls the customer experience becomes richer. Moreover, additional value is offered to website visitors through knowledge-based videos.

Despite the fact that the use of video marketing is growing exponentially, traditional marketing techniques and questions are still relevant. What are potential customers looking for and where? What platform or service can best be used to reach these customers?

Types of Video Marketing

There are many different ways of using Video Marketing. A common form of video marketing is the explanation or demo video. This is a short video that explains certain products or services. These types of videos can often be found on a company’s home page or product’s landing page. The extremely popular unboxing videos of newly purchased products also fall into this category.

Other popular forms of video marketing include:

Educational Videos

People are motivated by learning new information. The faster and clearer new information can be acquired, the better. Educational videos offer a specific kind of value, which can later even be utilised in daily life. These types of videos do not necessarily have to convince viewers to purchase something.

Offering knowledge in the form of a video is an approach to content marketing that creates a long-term relationship with the customer, without expecting anything in return.

These videos often include animation. An animated video provides ample opportunity for portraying any concept, whether simple and concrete or complex and abstract, and creating context.

Fast-moving images stimulate the senses and leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

Branding Videos

Videos accompanying a company’s brand are often created as part of a larger advertising campaign. These often express the vision, mission, or a company’s products and services. The goal of these branding videos is to raise awareness and attract a target group.

Vlog

These days, instead of spending money on product demos and introductory videos, more and more companies are embracing vlogs. Vlogs provide a more personal experience and are an excellent way of attracting and retaining someone’s attention.

YouTube celebrities have been using vlogs for many years, creating large subscriber bases consisting of hundreds of thousands or even millions of subscribers. Because of the large and diverse audience that can be reached through vlogs, this form of video marketing is extremely effective.

Product Review

Many consumers like to first watch a product review before they decide whether or not to purchase a product. If created by the company itself, this form of video marketing discusses the benefits of a particular product, which helps to build trust with the audience. Product review videos can also be found on YouTube, in which a consumer, independent or working for a company, expresses their opinion on a particular product.

Live Streaming

Live streams are also becoming increasingly popular. Social media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instragram allow users to broadcast live videos to their chosen audience. People are especially attracted to live videos because they don’t know exactly what will happen.

Moreover, there is a sense of missing out if the video is not viewed. Live stream videos offer communication with a community where the goal is to create as much attention as possible. For this reason, live streams are also an important tool for companies. For example, they are often used for product launches, answering live questions, or behind-the-scenes footage.

Live streaming is also used during events. This way, people can attend the event while not physically being there, allowing the organisation behind the event to reach an even wider audience.

Community Building

Successfully engaging audiences to create content results in authentic relationships between companies and customers. Content created by users doesn’t necessarily have to be about the product itself, but should depict the ways in which the product or brand fits into their lifestyle.

A company that has been extremely successful at this type of marketing is GoPro. GoPro produces action cameras that are by definition suited for creating video content. Their cameras are often used for filming extreme situations. In fact, this is actually the company’s niche market.

Every day, over 6,000 videos are uploaded by GoPro users. Every uploaded video shows the capabilities of the company’s tiny cameras. Through challenging, exciting and extreme recordings, viewers are tempted to purchase a similar camera.

Applying Video Marketing

The use of videos in marketing strategies doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated or expensive. Start by determining the goal of the video. Every decision made in the process of creating a video must revolve around the audience. Without a clear goal, creating an effective video will be very difficult.

If multiple people work on the same video, it is important that they all work towards the same goal. Discuss the content and make agreements on how exactly to proceed. Ask yourself and the team the following questions:

Who is the target audience?
What is the goal of the video?
What medium does the target audience predominantly use?
Should it be a live video or an edited video?
How much time should we spend on producing the video and when should it be ready?
What creative elements should be reflected in the video?
What is the budget?

Advantages and benefits of Video Marketing

As one of the fastest growing forms of content marketing, the use of videos differs from other forms in many ways. Nowadays, video is supported by almost all mobile devices, which naturally increases their reach. Viewing and uploading videos is more user-friendly and consumer-focused than in the past.

Moreover, videos are remembered more easily than, for example, a blog article. This is because videos are visually and aurally attractive to our brains. Naturally, when viewers remember the content of a video, they’ll also remember the associated brand or company. Not to mention, people often like to share interesting or fun videos with family or friends.

As a result, the findability or presence of a website or brand increases through the use of videos. SEO, Search Engine Optimisation, can improve significantly because people are led to the company’s homepage via an introductory video on YouTube. Many of these video platforms are also linked to search engines, and they allow for more and more links to be connected with each other.

Now it’s your turn

What do you think? Do you recognise the explanation of video marketing? Are you already using video marketing in your company’s marketing strategy? Or are you planning to, perhaps? What do you think are the reasons for the significant increase in video popularity? Do you have any tips or additional comments?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

Miller, M. (2011). YouTube for business: Online video marketing for any business. Pearson Education.
Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of business research, 66(1), 105-114.

How to cite this article:
Janse, B. (2019). Video Marketing. Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/marketing/video-marketing/

Original publication date: 02/08/2019 | Last update: 12/03/2023

Add a link to this page on your website:
<a href=”https://www.toolshero.com/marketing/video-marketing/”>Toolshero: Video Marketing</a>

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Article by:

Ben Janse

Ben Janse is a young professional working at ToolsHero as Content Manager. He is also an International Business student at Rotterdam Business School where he focusses on analyzing and developing management models. Thanks to his theoretical and practical knowledge, he knows how to distinguish main- and side issues and to make the essence of each article clearly visible.