As of this year, videos account for roughly 74% of all web traffic.
Insane, right?
You might imagine that would mean that all business use video marketing – after all, what’s the reason they wouldn’t be?
And yet, the truth is that 31% of all businesses and marketing professionals have not yet used video marketing to promote their companies.
Why?
Because they fall for video marketing myths that convince them they can’t.
Myths and misconceptions have a means of taking root – and it can be hard to debunk them. But debunk them we must…
… because you can’t pay to wait another day to put video into your marketing mix.
Here are 7 of the most common video marketing myths – and the validity behind them.
This myth is like a bad penny – it keeps popping up. So why is it so aggressive, and what’s the actual truth?
It’s persistent because our views of the costs behind making video are skewed by Hollywood. We hear that a “low budget” movie still has a budget of $50 million and we automatically assume that video marketing just isn’t for us.
The truth is that video marketing can be quite inexpensive. Marketing videos don’t have to be highly decorated affairs with awesome effects and famous actors. A majority of the time they’re not.
In fact, some types of video marketing are designed to be casual and not flashy – think Facebook Live, for instance.
Don’t stress over the price of your videos. Spend what you can afford and create the best videos you can within your budget.
Making videos is too hard – right?
Wrong.
Of course if you plan on using top-of-the-line equipment, you’ll have to be educated about videography to get started.
But what if you just want to get in front of your audience?
Video marketing can be done with a simple point-and-shoot video camera or even a cell phone. In fact, internet marketing superstar Gary Vaynerchuk began his career with videos he shot with his phone.
In other words, don’t let a lack of technical know-how stop you from giving video marketing a shot. Provided that your audience sees what you want them to see, they’ll be happy.
This myth sticks around because writing can be frightening. But not every marketing video requires a script.
If you have the funds, you can easily hire a writer to take your idea and transform it into a polished script. But some of the most effective marketing videos feature entrepreneurs talking directly to their audience.
Think about it in these terms: nobody knows your products and services better than you do. You most likely know them inside and out – and that means you can talk about them without shuffling through a script.
If you’re afraid you’ll get off track, design a rough outline of your video and run through it a few times before you film it.
And if you decide you need a script, think of it as talking one on one to a prospective customer. Utilizing a casual, conversational tone takes a lot of the guesswork out of crafting video script.
Would it be awesome if your marketing video went viral? Absolutely!
Does it need to go viral to be considered a success? Not at all.
We’ve all watched those videos on YouTube – the ones with millions upon millions of views. It’s exciting to think about millions of people viewing your content, but attempting to make something like that happen is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. You simply can’t control it.
Besides, the number of views a video gets is far less important than the number of conversions it makes. You can create a hugely entertaining video that gets a ton of views, but if most of those views are by people outside your target audience, you’re really no better off than you would be if you get a lower number of highly-targeted views.
This myth is the flip-side of the previous one. It asks: what if you made a video and nobody watched it?
Some videos acquire more views than others, but if you optimize and promote your video in the correct way, it will find its audience.
Bear in mind that YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world behind Google. It attracts millions of viewers a day – and some of those viewers are searching for content like yours.
Most internet users state they’d rather watch an explainer video about a product or service than read an article about it. That suggests that the people in your target audience are actively looking for videos like the ones you might create.
A video is just a video… or is it?
It’s not unusual for entrepreneurs and business owners to assume that video is only effective for one reason: lead generation.
That’s a blunder. In fact, video is one of the most versatile and unique marketing formats available. It can be used to:
- Build an email list
- Educate your target audience
- Share tips and tricks of the trade
- Establish authority and trust
You can utilize video marketing for any marketing purpose – and you should.
Tracking ROI is a must for any viable marketing campaign, and believe it or not, there’s a nuggetof truth in this myth – but you shouldn’t let that hinder you.
It’s true that YouTube provides only a smattering of statistics. You’ll know how many views your video gets, not where they came from or how many clicks you acquire. You might have the ability to cobble together some information, but it will be incomplete at best.
The solution here is to use a video enablement platform to capture the details you need. That way, you can see:
- How long people spent watching your video
- Which parts they skipped over
- Which parts they rewatched
- What they did after they watched it
This information can assist you in tracking the ROI of your videos and fine-tune future videos to ensure better feedback.
Video Marketing Might Not Be in Your Marketing Mix Now…
… but it should be. And there’s not a single reason to wait. These marketing myths are holding you back, and it’s time to release them – and reap the rewards of video marketing for your business.
