Why Video Marketing is Key in 2014

With the start of the New Year, everyone has been sharing their top trends of 2014 for marketing, social media, business, sales, PR… The list is endless!

One thing that has been consistent in these lists is the importance in video marketing in 2014. We’ve seen a rise of on-demand and over-the-top (OTT) television in 2013, and more and more viewers are using iPads, mobile devices and their laptops to watch their favorite shows. In order for brands to compete, video-marketing strategies must be included in your 2014 marketing mix.

We know that consumers are consuming video content quickly and aggressively – binge watching full seasons of shows on Netflix, viewing cat videos on YouTube, or sharing quick videos on Vine, Instagram and Snapchat. How are marketers breaking through reaching this audience? Video marketing.

The statistics speak for themselves. Video marketing has a huge affect on sales:

• Online video users are expected to double to 1.5 billion in 2016.
• Globally, online video traffic will be 55 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2016.
• 76 percent of marketers plan to add video to their sites, making it a higher priority than Facebook, Twitter and blog integration.
• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month, spending more than 4 billion hours watching videos.
• 2 billion video views per week are monetized on YouTube, and every auto-shared tweet results in six new YouTube browsing sessions. (Digiday)

Wondering how to add video to your marketing strategy? Here are 5 ideas to get you started:

• Share big announcements with your customers via video. It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways for viewers to consume and understand the information you’re sharing.
• Add customer reviews and testimonials via video to your website. It not only adds a human touch to your business but also allows customers to connect to others on a deeper level (and creates confidence and trust with your brand).
• Use this as an opportunity to create new content. Webinars and video blogs can be posted to your website, YouTube, Facebook and other accounts!
• Add a clip or two to your email marketing campaigns. Either embed the video or add a screenshot that people can click on that leads them to a video on your website. Again, it’s the quickest and easiest way for viewers to consume your information and makes it a great, engaging way for your content to be shared – and drives traffic to your websites or social platforms.
• Demos, training, interviews, and live event coverage are all great opportunities to share more information about your brand and business without ‘selling’ your brand.

These 5 are ones that I use daily, but there are plenty of other ways to incorporate video into your 2014 marketing strategy. Once started, stay on top of the analytics and data the videos will provide. Check out Vidyard, which offers full integration with Salesforce. Pay attention to the data in order to decide which strategies are working best for you and which need to be revisited.

Jeffrey Hayzlett is a global business celebrity and speaker, bestselling author, Contributing Editor and Host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett on Bloomberg Television. He is the CEO of The Hayzlett Group, an international strategic business consulting company focused on leading change and developing high growth companies. Connect with Hayzlett on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or email.