IMS: 5 Successful Recipes for Video Marketing Results

[box]This post is one in a series from the Inbound Marketing Summit 2011 in Boston, MA on 14-Sep through 16-Sep.[/box]

One of my (many) marketing resolutions is to start making use of video. As such, I’ve had an eye out for all things video here at the Inbound Marketing Summit 2011. Bettina Hein from Pixability did a presentation titled, “The Power of Reel: 5 Successful Recipes How Marketers Use Video for Results.” She presented some great tips and several examples.

But first, some obligatory “convincer” statistics:

• One minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester research.
• According to Comscore Video Matrix, the average U.S. Internet user watches 186 videos per month.
• E-commerce sites that incorporate product videos sell up to 45% more. Zappos reports that it sells 30% more of products with demonstration videos than those with just pictures.

Recipe 1: Short and Simple

Given the Forester statistic cited above, it’s easy to see how powerful video can be at delivering messages. Hein talked about Site Slinger, who was having a hard time convincing prospects that it could deliver on its value proposition: Design to code in 24 hours or less. They made this video for a total cost of $1,300:

[iframe http://player.vimeo.com/video/12089579?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 400 225]

Recipe 2: Video as a Strategy

Many companies who do use video are not incorporating them into overall marketing strategy. Bettina highlighted EasyCare Inc.‘s highly successful video marketing campaign, which was tightly integrated with their website and Facebook fan page. The success of these videos increased revenue and dramatically cut marketing expense.

[iframe http://www.youtube.com/embed/R1_dl4epCSQ 480 360]

Recipe 3: Build Context

The third recipe is to build context by incorporating text, video, pictures and other media into your website. The example cited for this approach was the San Diego Zoo. Check out the link and notice the use of video, images, calls to action, and even a game!

Recipe 4: Use Video to Drive Action

Online retailer Zappos uses product demonstration videos and found that products with videos generate more sales and fewer returns.

Recipe 5: Find Your Audience Where They Are

In 2011, more people access the Internet from mobile devices than from desktops. You need to make sure your videos work on mobile devices. Many time, this means not using Flash but HTML5.

Top 3 Things Successful Video Marketers Do Differently

Bettina finished up by observing that successful video marketers:

1. Produce way, way more videos
2. Invest in metadata the drive SEO (more tags, longer descriptions more playlists)
3. Use video assets on all channels