The Rising Tide of Video, Part 1

Admittedly, marketing folks are guilty of becoming enamored with their own catch phrases. In recent years, the new favorite is a twist on the famous 1996 quote, "content is king," coined by none other than Bill Gates. The contemporary version is, "video content is king." And in case you live in a cave, you know that video content has created a sea of change in the industry.

Part of video content's growth can be attributed to the explosive sales of video-friendly devices; namely, smart phones and tablets. It's no wonder an entire generation has grown up on handheld video on-demand. To illustrate, check out this fun and informative video infographic from iStock. Granted, iStock makes money selling stock video footage, but the usage stats are very telling.

And if you like stats, here are 12 more courtesy of marketing guru, Rob Petersen, that should encourage anyone still sitting on the video sidelines to get into the action. Pun intended.

200% to 300% increase in click-through rate when marketers include video in an e-mail (Forrester)
100% more time is spent on pages with videos on them. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
90% of online shoppers at a major retailer's website said they find video helpful in making shopping and buying decisions. Retailers who provide online video to show off their products report that the products with video sell a lot more than products with no video. (comScore)
85% of the US internet audience watches videos online. The 25-34 age group watches the most online videos, and adult males spend 40% more time watching videos on the internet than females. (comScore and Nielsen)
85% of people more likely to purchase a product after watching a product video. (Internet Retailer)
80% of Internet users who recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days; 46% took some action after viewing the ad. (Online Publishers Association)
75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. (Forbes)
64% of website visitors are more likely to buy a product on an online retail site after watching a video. In addition, visitors who view videos stay on the site an average of 2 minutes longer than those who don't view videos, (comScore).
61% of B2B marketers leverage YouTube to extend the reach of their messaging and brands (Forbes) (The 2nd largest search engine after Google is YouTube.)
59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than read text. About 65% of those who view a video click through to visit the vendor website, 50% look for more information and 45% report that they contacted a vendor after seeing an online video ad. About 50% of those who viewed an online marketing video went on to make a purchase for their business. (Forbes)
51% of online marketers reported a greater than 50% increase in subscriber-to-lead conversion rates when video was included in an email marketing campaign. (comScore)
About 46% of people say they'd be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. (Forbes)

If the idea of creating video content for your business has come up time and again, but you haven't pulled the trigger yet, perhaps what you've just read will un-paralyze you so that you can start creating video content that will elevate the effectiveness of your marketing (and bring your business into the 21st century).

Look for Part 2 of this story to be published in the next edition of Marketing Matters.



	The Rising Tide of Video, Part 1 by Christina Saunders, Marketing Specialist, MPA Media Admittedly, marketing folks are guilty of becoming enamored with their own catch phrases. In recent years, the new favorite is a twist on the famous 1996 quote, "content is king," coined by none other than Bill Gates. The contemporary version is, "video content is king." And in case you live in a cave, you know that video content has created a sea of change in the industry. Part of video content's growth can be attributed to the explosive sales of video-friendly devices; namely, smart phones and tablets. It's no wonder an entire generation has grown up on handheld video on-demand. To illustrate, check out this fun and informative video infographic from iStock. Granted, iStock makes money selling stock video footage, but the usage stats are very telling. And if you like stats, here are 12 more courtesy of marketing guru, Rob Petersen, that should encourage anyone still sitting on the video sidelines to get into the action. Pun intended. 200% to 300% increase in click-through rate when marketers include video in an e-mail (Forrester) 100% more time is spent on pages with videos on them. (Source: MarketingSherpa) 90% of online shoppers at a major retailer's website said they find video helpful in making shopping and buying decisions. Retailers who provide online video to show off their products report that the products with video sell a lot more than products with no video. (comScore) 85% of the US internet audience watches videos online. The 25-34 age group watches the most online videos, and adult males spend 40% more time watching videos on the internet than females. (comScore and Nielsen) 85% of people more likely to purchase a product after watching a product video. (Internet Retailer) 80% of Internet users who recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days; 46% took some action after viewing the ad. (Online Publishers Association) 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week. (Forbes) 64% of website visitors are more likely to buy a product on an online retail site after watching a video. In addition, visitors who view videos stay on the site an average of 2 minutes longer than those who don't view videos, (comScore). 61% of B2B marketers leverage YouTube to extend the reach of their messaging and brands (Forbes) (The 2nd largest search engine after Google is YouTube.) 59% of senior executives would rather watch a video than read text. About 65% of those who view a video click through to visit the vendor website, 50% look for more information and 45% report that they contacted a vendor after seeing an online video ad. About 50% of those who viewed an online marketing video went on to make a purchase for their business. (Forbes) 51% of online marketers reported a greater than 50% increase in subscriber-to-lead conversion rates when video was included in an email marketing campaign. (comScore) About 46% of people say they'd be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. (Forbes) If the idea of creating video content for your business has come up time and again, but you haven't pulled the trigger yet, perhaps what you've just read will un-paralyze you so that you can start creating video content that will elevate the effectiveness of your marketing (and bring your business into the 21st century). Look for Part 2 of this story to be published in the next edition of Marketing Matters.


		JANUARY 2014