A Deep Dive Into Video Marketing

Ahhh, all those branded online video content. In no other medium is the divide between compelling and worthless more pronounced.
Why is this? There’s no question that we’re visual creatures. With over half of our brand being directly devoted to visual processing and with the internet generation’s voracious appetite for video – demonstrated by all those years of content being uploaded to YouTube every day - one would expect video marketing efforts to go down in frenzy.
In the vast majority of unsuccessful cases, it is a combination of misjudged messaging and the general feeling evoked by the video. With our heightened perception for this medium, getting the emotional pitch of your branded videos correct is absolutely essential.
The power of emotion
The power of emotions and stories is long-established, from both a psychological point of view and in marketing. So, is there any science to back this up? Counter-intuitively, human decisions are nearly always based on emotion, not logic.
From emotion to logic: The Marketing Video
It has been shown that top-of-the-funnel efforts should appeal emotionally. From a marketing perspective, it is simply about getting as many eyes on your content as possible—vetting and nurturing starts further down.
While viral videos aren’t right for some brands, a great study into a internet virality confirms the importance of emotion at the awareness stage. Additionally, we are 22 times more likely to remember information when it’s wrapped up in an emotional story than laid out bare. Most of the time, awareness-stage content barely mentions the brand. Appealing to positivity and self-examination is another common tool for emotionally driven awareness videos.
The Middle of The Video Message
Once you’ve attracted the attention of your viewers, the middle stage is essentially about proving yourself to those who are showing interest. We want to begin appealing to their rational side. We’ve found that brand videos demonstrating company values and their differences from the competition - all while showing a human face and compassion - are a powerful catalyst at this point. Videos need to instill trust and confidence to their potential customers or clients. This is exactly the kind of reassurance people are looking for when deciding between options.
The Last Few Seconds…. Your CTA
Product videos are the most common type found at this level, and for good reason. Using a product video on say, a landing page can increase conversion rates up to 80%! A recent study showed that one in four consumers actually lose interest in a company if it doesn’t have product videos. Additionally, the many SEO experts out there will know that this will also improve your visibility - indirectly through improved user metrics and directly through video search.
But does video content at this stage have to be clinical and serious? The contrast between one over the other gives an indication of the directions you can go. Also, product videos are not the only effective content at this stage. Customer testimonials are powerful hooks to drag customers towards conversion - and usually provide a better opportunity to include emotional nuance. Setting aside the immense engagement received by both videos, these are just two examples of how to inject a bit of life and humanity into practical CTA video content.
Keeping emotion in mind
Many of these techniques are known by marketers and salespeople, but they are without question worth bringing to the surface and re-examining every once in a while.
The power of both emotion and logic as forces of persuasion can be illustrated in a hypothetical social context. When someone discovers a new company, they’ll take delight in explaining to others its powerful branding, creative approach to the marketplace and pleasing social values. We marketers simply need to be aware of this phenomenon, provide the pieces, and then, for once, we can sit back and let the consumers do the work.
-Roy

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Tags:  #video, #marketing, #socialmedia, #branding, #advertising, #digialmedia