Human beings are innately visual creatures. The right video content can have a dramatic effect on your sales, and it can be a great place to turn to make your content stand out from that of your competitors. But how can you use video to reach more prospects – and get them to convert? Let's take a closer look.
Video Content Is Popular
According to a HubSpot report, over half of consumers want to see video content from brands and businesses they support. It scores higher than email, downloadable content, social videos... in fact, it comes ahead of everything. That means that if you're not using video on your website, you're throwing away a potentially huge advantage. This strong support for video content exists in countries all over the world, though Latin America is especially fond of it.
Use Landing Pages
If you're thinking, "But doesn't everyone do that?" then yes, they do – but far fewer craft specialised landing pages utilising video's advantages. Post-click landing pages are cleaner than other pages, with less distracting information that isn't directly aimed at getting conversions. They're great places to place explainer videos – short, sharp, snappy animations which explain visually what your product does and how. You can also use them for video testimonials, where you can use the power of emotion. Showing a customer who talks about how much your product has helped them work smarter can be more effective than simply writing about the same thing.
Use Gated Content – With Care
Gated content is material that visitors can only get to see if they've given you their contact information. A simple example is offering a PDF report for free download – in exchange for an email address. You can use the same idea for video content. One option is to request contact details before showing any video content. Another approach is to let visitors see a small part of the video, such as an introduction, but ask for lead information before releasing the rest. This can be a powerful tool – but it's a bad idea to use gating anywhere it'll add friction to a purchasing journey.
Include CTAs
Just as many types of blog article are more effective with a call-to-action at the end, the same applies to videos. If you just let the video end without a CTA, you're telling your visitors that it's up to them to find out more about what you're offering. Giving viewers clear pointers and "Find out more" URLs will work much better. It's important to stay abreast of changes to video hosting platforms. For example, YouTube removed its annotations feature in early 2019. Keeping up can be hard, so working with a business development partner like JDR can lessen the hit on your in-house resources.
Keep Things Concise
Your customers are busy people, just like you. They're not going to sit through ten minutes of boring introductions before reaching the meat of the video. Viewers will progressively lose interest the longer a video drags on: "short and sweet" is a good maxim to live by here. Front-load your videos with key content – ideally placing new, exciting information within the first minute. Working with a digital marketing agency to use tools that let you see how many of your viewers only watch the first part of a video, and how many stay engaged all through, can help you fine-tune your messages.
Find Out More
At JDR, we use a wide range of content to promote our customer’s brand messages and secure them greater online visibility. This includes a variety of written content, infographics, podcasts and videos. To find out more, please call 01332 343281.
Image source: Pixabay
