Online Video Marketing a ‘Must-Have’ Marketing Strategy

Did you know? 85% of the UK’s internet users viewed online video content in March 2013 alone.

As one of the hottest trends to hit the internet in recent years, online video marketing is considered a ‘must-have’ tool in order to take your business to new heights. A recent ‘Infographic’ released by ‘Brainshark Incorporated’ quantifies, the relentless surge in popularity of online video marketing.

Waseem Saddique comments: “Online Video Marketing offers a unique edge to marketing a business. Many business owners say that an online marketing video allows them to ‘personify’ their business affectively humanising their company enabling them to reach potential consumers in a much more interactive and personal way.”

Online Video Marketing has not remained static, it’s not just a big hit now, it continues to thrive and grow to even higher heights. Towards the latter stages of 2012, ‘Social Media Examiner’ revealed that many marketers planned to increase their marketing efforts through the use of online video, setting aside investment funds to launch numerous online video campaigns during 2013.

According to a report released by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), the result of increased investment into video marketing campaigns has led to a 12% increase in online video usage across B2B marketers at the start of 2013.

Waseem Saddique states: “If you’re business is considering using Online Video Marketing, the time for consideration is over, it’s time for action. Video marketing is trending phenomenally and shows no signs of slowing down.

Some key facts concerning Online Video Marketing:

#1 – 46% of UK consumers state that they would be more likely to source information about a product or service after viewing it on an online video.

#2 – Online Video Marketing is now recognised as the sixth most common content marketing strategy, with 70% of B2B and B2C marketers incorporating some form of video marketing into their overall marketing strategy.

3# - Online video database, YouTube, averages approximately 4 billion hits per day, with 61% of B2B and B2C marketers utilising YouTube to broaden the reach of their message and brand.

#4 - It’s estimated that mobile viewers will watch videos that are three times the length than those featured on PCs and laptops with predictions that the number of mobile viewers will reach 108 million by the end of 2013.

#5 – According to marketing experts, by 2014, online video could account for 50% of all internet traffic.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Businesses should sit up and take notice of these statistics as online video will help them to reach a wider audience and increase marketing impact. Video offers longevity and holds the attention of consumers effectively.”

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises, as well as larger corporate firms, with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

Waseem Saddique Provides Top Tips for Avoiding Common Online Video Marketing Mistakes, Part 2

With more businesses utilising online video marketing as part of their marketing strategies more than ever before, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides some essential tips for avoiding common online video marketing mistakes.

Following on from a recent release published by Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, this second instalment of top tips for avoiding common online video marketing mistakes offers further insight into those things that businesses should avoid when launching an online marketing video campaign.

Waseem Saddique comments: “Online video marketing represents a substantial opportunity for businesses to reach a mass audience in a unique and innovative way. As video production can be quite costly, businesses can scarcely afford to get it wrong.”

Some common online video marketing mistakes to avoid:

• Giving too much information

One of the most frequent mistakes that occur in online marketing videos is information overload. Viewers are only capable of absorbing information in digestible snippets. Therefore, it is important to identify an engaging topic and stick to it.

One of the fundamental factors leading to boredom is a video that jumps between several different subjects, offering no particular focus, leaving the viewer confused and perplexed as to what the video is about. Furthermore, a video that becomes too technically informative leads viewers to switch off and navigate away.

How to avoid going into information overload – Brainstorm ideas and stick to the essential points that will form the foundation of an online marketing video. Include information that will entice the interest of a viewer, not you personally.

• Too much emphasis on ‘going viral’

A common misconception is that businesses feel that the measure of online video marketing success is based on a video going viral. Whilst it’s a great achievement to see a video go viral, the question one has to ask is does it make sense from a commercial perspective?

It’s all well and good having a video that achieves 1 million hits, but if it only generates £1,000 of revenue does that represent a success? On the other hand if a video only results in 10,000 views, but generates £50,000 worth of revenue, which would a business director be happier with?

Furthermore, companies need to consider whether ‘going viral’ is viable for their business. For instance, a sole trader will not require global exposure from a video as it could lead to overwhelming numbers looking to use the service, which quite simply a sole trader could not handle.

How to avoid making viral too contagious – Don’t be blinded by the glamour of going viral. First things first, a business video needs to appeal to your target audience, viral exposure is a bonus.

• Thinking that YouTube is the only option

YouTube is arguably the largest social media site for video sharing. The problem this creates for many businesses is that they fail to recognise that there are plenty of other video sharing sites available also. Only using YouTube means that a business will restrict its reach when it comes to online video marketing.

How to avoid becoming YouTube dependent – Simply explore other video sharing sites besides YouTube, such as Viddler or Vimeo, which rank in the top 5 video sharing websites.

• Creating confusion

It’s not always the case that an online marketing video is as straightforward as promoting a product or service. In some circumstances a video can focus on a particular aspect. When focusing on one particular concept it’s vital to make the concept as clear as possible to avoid creating unnecessary confusion.

Waseem Saddique states: “The most successful online advertisements have stuck to a central principle, offering a simple concept for viewers to focus on, which has led to a video not only going viral, but generating impressive business revenues.

How to avoid creating confusion – Employ the services of a marketing agency and instruct them to come up with a creative concept that best illustrates the business. If finance is an issue, just be sure to make your concept clear and relational to the business brand.

• Short cuts in production

Cheap and cheerful may save a business money, but in turn a cheap video production could also be deemed a waste of money.  Cutting corners is noticeable when it comes to video and poor quality video production represents a lack of professionalism. First impressions count and whilst there is no need to go overboard and become overly flamboyant with a video, the content you present on screen needs to be of a standard that represents quality to your audience.

The quality of a video production will influence audience perception in regard to a brand. It’s therefore imperative to invest the essential time and money into a video production as the end result will be much more impressive.

How to produce a quality video – A professional job requires a professional in the field, so serious consideration must be given to hiring a video production expert.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “The competition for forcing one’s business brand to the forefront of consumer attention is fierce, with new and innovative ways emerging all the time to impact the market, online video is one of them. Therefore, it’s crucial to get a video right first time round.”

Waseem Saddique Provides Top Tips for Avoiding Common Online Video Marketing Mistakes, Part 1

With more businesses utilising online video marketing as part of their marketing strategies, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides some top tips on avoiding common online video marketing mistakes.

Waseem Saddique states: “The stark reality is that merely producing and uploading a video is no longer enough. Such is the competitiveness among businesses to produce online marketing videos to reach the consumer that the market has become saturated, with thousands of online marketing videos now uploaded on a daily basis.”

Some of the things to avoid when launching an online marketing video include:

• Over Promotion

Surprisingly, consumers do not visit websites to watch adverts, most people experience      enough TV adverts. It is important that a video gets the message across about a product and/or service. However, it’s equally important not to ‘overdo’ it. Making an online marketing video that is a sales pitch is unattractive to the watching audience.

How to avoid this mistake – Concentrate on entertaining your audience with a ‘how to’ video, by providing a solution to a problem or by educating them. Doing this as opposed to imposing a product or service on them will generate a more positive response. Treat your viewers with care and show them that you have their best interests at heart.

•  Under Promotion 

Opposite of over promotion is under promotion. Some online marketing videos lack the content in order to drive people towards making a purchase. The key is to sell the benefits of a product or service via the video.

How to avoid this mistake - Reflect on what you want the video to achieve. Set clear goals and targets and establish how promotional the video needs to be. Employ the services of a copywriter to provide assistance on landing page videos.

• Long Length

The competitiveness involved in maintaining the attention of consumers on the internet is fierce. Waseem Saddique says: “Fact. If your video is too long, be in no doubt that similar content will be available to the audience that’s shorter, simpler and much more interesting and it’s all just a click away.”

How to avoid having people navigate away from your video – Unless you’re 100% sure that your audience can endure lengthy content (most common when viewing educational videos), it’s advised to limit your video duration to between 30 and 120 seconds.

• Poor Placement on a Website

Whatever your budget, it’s worth noting that producing an online marketing video is not cheap. Therefore, it’s vital that the placement of a video is absolutely spot on because what’s the point of producing an exceptional video that no-one can view?

How to avoid making this error – Simply embed the video where it will make easy viewing for consumers. One solution is to assess the analytics of your most viewed page and put it there.

• Failing to Identify your Audience

The scatter gun approach to reaching an audience is a pot-luck scenario. Producing a video and releasing it to the masses in the hope of generating ‘quality’ leads is ill-advised. Waseem Saddique comments: “Bringing in a huge numbers of consumers will mean a business can spend more time sifting out irrelevant leads as opposed to focusing on those consumers who want to buy the product or use the service on offer.”

Any video produced should instantly appeal to a specific target audience. Therefore, the video needs to be clear and focused and adapted to reach the desired audience.

How to avoid missing your audience – Research, research, research. Doing your research is the key. Establish what your target market is before launching into a creative idea that’s completely irrelevant to those you’re aiming at.

• Being Boring

Put yourself in the shoes of a customer. As a customer, can you recall the number of times you've navigated away from a video simply because you got bored? The simple truth is that if people are bored by your video, they won’t watch it.

How to avoid making your video boring – Identify what your target audience likes to see, don’t fill it with content that suits your tastes. The key here is to seek advice; videos produced by one person leave the fingerprint of that person and are based around personal taste, rather than appealing to the wider audience.

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services was founded in 2007 and the company has consistently provided small to medium enterprises as well as larger corporate firms with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

‘Video Vitality’ - Waseem Saddique Marketing Services Unveils the Benefits of Video Marketing

Online Video Marketing has become a revelation in the marketing industry and Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has unveiled some of the key benefits of video marketing, so that businesses can adopt this growing trend to add greater vitality to their online marketing efforts.

Waseem Saddique says: “Online Video Marketing is a powerful tool to possess when it comes to revamping an online marketing campaign. Video Marketing is known to increase traffic flow to websites and hold audience attention for longer.”

With the introduction of 4G technology, increasing bandwidth sizes, the consumer experience of video has greatly improved as buffering has been reduced, or in some circumstances, completely eradicated.

Yet there’s so much more that Online Video Marketing has to offer:

•  Video Marketing ‘attracts a broader consumer audience than written content’

For the ‘lazy’ consumer, video provides an alternative to scrolling through text. The majority of consumers respond to visual stimulation, therefore an Online Marketing Video has the potential, not only to reach a wider audience, but to increase curiosity.

• Video marketing ‘stimulates the senses more than text’

Video marketing engages sound and vision, a far more attractive proposition to the consumer than ‘lifeless’ text. The saying goes ‘a picture says a thousand words’ and in the case of video marketing, images will leave a lasting impression and increase the effectiveness of an online marketing campaign.

•  Video marketing ‘enhances the longevity of an online marketing campaign’

Videos are accessible on a constant basis and they are also transferable. Videos can be linked via social media sites (such as Facebook and Twitter), they can be posted on websites and also posted on specialist video hosting sites such as YouTube.

Such activity means that the longevity of Video is sustained and because it can be accessed on the go, there is no limit to the reach an online video marketing campaign could have. No matter where a person is, access to video is viable.

• Video marketing  ‘increases search ranking prominence’

The use of online video marketing is understood to increase prominence on search engines such as Google and Bing. Video is known to take precedence over text based content. A great example is YouTube, which is always ranked highly due to its video content. Linking videos to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter will also enhance search ranking position.

• Video marketing ‘oozes professionalism’

Research has shown that consumers consider online video marketing very professional if done well. Consumers feel they can rely on a company that conveys a message of professionalism and video marketing has gone a long way to changing customer perceptions of many organisations.

•  Video marketing ‘can rejuvenate ‘tired’ content’

Video marketing has the potential to add a fresh perspective to standard written articles. Many businesses have converted articles into online video clips and the message is conveyed in a completely different way. Audiences experience a different approach and in turn become much more responsive if content is reincarnated in video form.

•   Video marketing ‘is simple and effective’

Putting together an online video marketing campaign is very straightforward. The majority of people turn to market leader, YouTube, in order to create a video and they provide a tutorial to assist in video creation.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Online Video Marketing offers an alternative approach to standard marketing options, but one of the major benefits of video is that it has no determined lifespan. Unlike text, which has to be refreshed and updated to bring it back to life, video endures much longer, saving time and saving money, a good combination for any organisation.” 

The growing trend of Online Video Marketing – Part 3

Birmingham based marketing expert, Waseem Saddique, continues his evaluation following the growing trend of online video marketing. In this article, Waseem offers five inspirational concepts designed to encourage video creativity.

Above all else an online video marketing campaign has to be inspiring and offer something to the audience that you’re looking to target. Consumers want to be given an incentive to choose your business product or service ahead of what your competitors have to offer.

Here are some ideas that can help you on your way:

#1 – Construct your video in a way that educates

Be as transparent as you can about your business product or service, in particular highlight the unique features and the benefits of your product or service and demonstrate them within the video. Keep it short, but make it effective because educating your target audience is the first-step to captivating them and generating an interest in your product or service. The key here is to make your client want to learn more.

#2 – Follow up the education process by answering questions

It’s not uncommon for consumers to ask questions and there are always common questions that come up more than others, so be sure to answer these questions in your online marketing video.

Waseem Saddique advises: “You could even compile a list of the most frequently asked questions about your business product or service and you could produce a series of videos answering each question. This would widen your online video marketing campaign and increase the longevity.”

#3 – Focus on a particular product or service and do an online video marketing review

Identify one particular product or service within your business that would be of particular interest to your sector and do a review promoting the unique selling points.

#4 – Give something back and increase your client portfolio

You can produce an online marketing video purely with the intention of drawing information from your audience, but you would need to offer something in return.  Waseem Saddique comments: “offer a tutorial video, give away an ebook, produce an article (tips and ‘how to’ articles are always well received), offer a free consultation. Whatever it is, make sure it is the best you have to offer, as you can’t put a price on building customer rapport and growing your client list.”

#5 – Produce a video that highlights your success stories as a business

Showing a target audience, via an online marketing video, the results of what your product or service has achieved gives your business credibility. This is where online video marketing is hugely beneficial because if a client can see it, they will quite often believe it!

The growing trend of Online Video Marketing – Part 2

Birmingham based online marketing expert, Waseem Saddique, continues his review following the growing trend of online video marketing. In part 2, Waseem Saddique offers advice on how to make your video feature above all the rest.

Having a strategy in place that will make your online video marketing campaign stand-out is vitally important to its success and its longevity. Here are some tactics that will help to give your online marketing video that added ‘wow’ factor when it comes to drawing in audiences:

#1 – Establish a campaign: Some of the most successful online video marketing campaigns have been campaigns that feature more than ‘one’ video. Many businesses have gone on to generate a series of videos that tell a story that keep audiences captivated, but more importantly it brings them back to a website as they are intrigued to find out how the ‘story’ will conclude. For wider reach and exposure you can quite easily create a series of videos that are published frequently. This will allow you to establish brand awareness that will only increase with every video that is posted.

#2 – Don’t underestimate the importance of a Call-to-Action: Waseem Saddique comments: “I am often astounded by the number of online marketing campaigns that fail to use call-to-actions and get customers interacting and involved. Instead, too many businesses focus attention on promoting themselves and essentially miss the point of giving customers an incentive to explore what’s on offer.”

When it comes to online video marketing, don’t pass up the opportunity to encourage your audience to take some form of action, whether it is within the video or right at the end. Be specific, for example, ask them to sign up to a newsletter, visit your website or ask them to tell you what they thought about your video by leaving a comments box. If your video is of a high standard, chances are you will have their undivided attention, so be sure to use that to your advantage.

#3 – Don’t get drawn into making a sales pitch: Try to avoid selling your business all the way through your online marketing video. Much of the web is littered with ‘sales’ and most audiences are bored of it, so you need to make your video unique by subtly selling your business, but keeping the audience interested. Your video should identify what your audience wants or needs, offer solutions to that want or need and then should tell them how your business is the answer.

Waseem Saddique comments: “It is important to promote your business, but it is essential that you remember that the customer is the most important factor of your business. Without them you have no business anyway. So avoid online marketing videos that spend the duration telling everyone how great the company is and remember to engage the audience. If they have no incentive to buy your products or use your service, they WILL look elsewhere."