Why You Should Use Video to Market Your Business

The best answer is because it works. Video may not be the best way to advertise for every business, but the majority will benefit from the advantages video offers. Video has demonstrated that it is more engaging than text or images alone. Amazon and eBay state that adding a video to a product description increases the likelihood of a consumer buying that item by 35%.

Video can transmit more data in an appealing format. Your video may include a brief introduction portraying your company personality along with any new product or service introductions. Product demonstrations are popular, and studies show they can drive up conversion rates. Explaining how your product or service solves a specific problem can generate more interest than an image ad. Video delivers more information in a shorter time, allowing you to get more of your message across to consumers.

A short video can convey information about your company, your products or services, and your prices. Text and image ads don't typically contain that much information, and if they do, they may not keep a consumer engaged long enough to digest the information. The combination of visual and audio is powerful and can elicit emotion other ad types can't match.

Video does generally take longer to create than text or image ads. A free or reasonably priced service like canva.com can help narrow the gap between video and image production times. Someone with an engaging personality and knowledge of your business can help decrease production time considerably. Videos do not need to be movie studio-level creations but should be polished and professional.

Where should you use your video ads? Facebook is probably the top choice currently, but eBay, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tiktok are good options. Instagram is an image-first platform, although videos have proven to work as well. You can place your videos on your website or Blog and engage visitors with your latest ads. Some forums allow video but beware of restrictions in their terms of use before posting.

How long should you make your video? Experts suggest that between 30 seconds to 3 minutes long is optimal. You can stretch that to 4 minutes if your video is educational or very engaging. Mobile users like video. Video fills their screen and provides content that often does not require reading small print. Mobile users are likely to watch 30-second clips in their entirety.

Search engine algorithms seem to favor video. If used on your website, or Blog you can easily add descriptive text above or below the video to increase accessibility. Studies suggest a video is more likely to be shared on social media than other ad types.

Click-through and conversion rates often prove to be higher when testing video ads against image ads. Several tests show click-through rates for video as much as four times higher than image ads on Facebook. Conversion rates were just as impressive, with video ad conversion at a three times higher rate than image ads. Video results in a higher return on investment, making each click and conversion cheaper than an image ad.

The bottom line is video ads generally outperform their text and image counterparts. The extra time spent in production can be recovered by the return on investment.