Video marketing has grown to become a powerful marketing tool today.
It has been around for a while but it's now making its way into eCommerce more than in the past. Marketers are finding new ways of doing things and more importantly, they are finding new ways to communicate with their prospects.
Online videos have the power to convert at a high rate and help you turn your batch of leads into happy paying customers.
Video marketing is one of the most important elements in your business strategy today. It is not only easy to create a video but it constitutes part of our day-to-day life as well.
Content that is not created as videos has lost its potential and it is almost impossible to convert leads with just written content today.
That's why we've put together this guide on how to create a video marketing strategy in eCommerce. We'll go over the basics of what makes a good video, how to create them, and where to get started.
Outline
- What Is Video Marketing And Why Involve It In eCommerce?
- Video Marketing Strategies for eCommerce Business You Should Look Into
- Step 1: Decide on the Purpose of Your Video Marketing Efforts
- Step 2: Identify Your Audience
- Step 3: Research Your Competition's Content
- Step 4: Plan Your Video Marketing Approach
- What Types of Videos Should You Create For Your eCommerce Business?
- Explainer video
- Video ads and promos
- Social proof and customer testimonials
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- Background videos for your landing page
- Product video on product pages
- Launch videos
- Video Marketing - Get Started With Marketing Videos Today!
I. What Is Video Marketing And Why Involve It In eCommerce?
Video is a great way to tell your story in a visual way, but it's not just about the content. You need to make sure that you're telling your story in a way that will connect with people.
In fact, over 86% of businesses are leveraging video as a marketing tool today!
Video marketing is the process of creating and sharing videos online through social media and websites like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. The purpose of video marketing is to build trust with consumers by showing them who you are and what you do as an eCommerce brand or company.
The more personalized your video is, the more likely it will resonate with customers because they'll feel like they know you better than someone else who doesn't have any videos up on their site at all!
It is one of the most effective ways for eCommerce brands to engage with their customers, but it's not always easy to get started. Here are some tips on how to get started with video marketing for your eCommerce brand.
How does video marketing help eCommerce?
- Video is more engaging than text or images alone. In fact, 90% of people say they'd rather watch online videos about a product than read about it.
- Videos are also easier to digest and remember than pictures or text alone. That means the chances of someone sharing or recommending your content are higher than with other types of content. So if you're looking for more traffic from social media or search engines, videos are one way to do it.
- Videos can help build trust between you and customers by showing them what they should expect from your brand or product without having to read through pages of text or click through multiple images which can be overwhelming on their end. This can also help with conversions since customers will likely feel more comfortable buying something if they've seen it in action first before making any purchases.
- Video can create a lasting emotional sentiment that draws customers to you. It's an inexpensive way to build and maintain relationships with your existing and new customers. Videos are easy to share and embed, making them the perfect content to optimize. The internet audience is always looking for something interesting to watch - give it to them!
- Google ranks videos higher than any other form of content. Therefore, if you want to rank higher on Google, it's essential that you focus on creating quality video content for your website. The more videos you have on your site, the better your chances are of generating organic traffic from Google search results. In fact, 31% of marketers add a video to improve SEO.
- A well-made video can do wonders for your business's brand awareness. Videos can be used to educate potential customers about your products and services or to showcase a behind-the-scenes look at how things work inside your company.
- Social media videos are great at generating leads because they're fun to watch and easy to share with others. They can also be embedded into emails so that recipients can see them right away without having to wait until they get home from work or school just to view them on a computer screen.
- Videos can be used as a sales tool in eCommerce stores by helping to demonstrate products or explain features of a product, increasing conversions for specific products or categories of products that require explanation or demonstration before purchase.
- Videos help customers visualize their needs. Videos help answer questions that customers might have about products, such as “how does this fit into my life?” or “how do I use it?” When people can see something in action rather than just read about it, they feel more confident about making a purchase decision.
- Video can help you make your website more user-friendly. It's easier for visitors to navigate when they're able to see what products look like and even how they work in action.
- It drives traffic back to your website (and keeps customers coming back). Video can be shared across social media channels and other websites, driving traffic back to your website where potential buyers are able to learn more about your products and services.
II. Video Marketing Strategies for eCommerce Business You Should Look Into
Building brand awareness and trust with consumers is essential for any business. To do this effectively, you need to ensure that your strategy is aligned with your overall goals and objectives.
Here are some tips to help you:
Step 1: Decide on the Purpose of Your Video Marketing Efforts
Before you start creating videos, make sure you know what kind of content you want them to have.
Are you trying to sell a product?
Or do you want your customers to learn more about your brand?
Are you trying to create brand awareness?
If so, then consider making short informational videos instead of product demos or sales pitches.
Make sure that whatever video you create is relevant to your audience's needs.
Don’t just jump in and start making videos without having a clear idea of what you want them to achieve.
The best way to do this is to use the marketing funnel.
The marketing funnel helps you plan out your content so that you can create videos that target specific audiences at various stages of the buying cycle.
So, what are the different stages of the marketing funnel? We’ve broken them down for you below -
- Awareness Stage: This is where people are learning about your brand for the first time.They have no idea who you are or what you do. They have heard about your brand from somewhere else and decided to take a look at what you’re all about.You can reach these customers by creating educational content which helps them learn more about your brand and industry as a whole.
- Consideration Stage: This type of video is about making sure people know about your product and why it's worth buying from you instead of another company selling similar items.Oftentimes, these videos feature comparison charts or comparisons between similar products (such as comparing two different brands of smartphones). These can be helpful because they give viewers an idea of what they're getting into before they make their purchase decision.
- Conversion Stage: These convince viewers that they should take action immediately.Conversion is when you use videos to turn casual viewers into paying customers by persuading them to take action on what they've seen in the video. These types of videos include product demos and testimonials from other customers.
Step 2: Identify Your Audience
To create a successful strategy, you need to identify who you want to reach with your videos. If you’re not sure who will watch the video, then creating it is no point!
Ask yourself what kinds of people watch content about similar products. Why do they watch them? How do they interact with these videos? What kind of content do they expect from brands like yours?
Once you have answers to these questions, it will be easier for you to tailor your videos accordingly.
Persona creation is a great way to get started with your audience research.
Personas are fictional characters with real-world characteristics who represent all aspects of your target market. Personas help you identify what your audience needs and wants, which will lead to more effective strategies for reaching them.
A good way to create personas is by interviewing people who fit the description of your ideal customer (or “customer avatar”) and then writing a short profile about each one.
The more information you can gather about them — including where they live, what websites they visit, and what they like on social media — the more accurate your profile will be.
Necessary information that should be gathered includes -
- Name
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Interests
- Social media channels and groups
- Industry
- Role
- Preferred video content
Step 3: Research Your Competition's Content
Before investing too much time in creating your own content, take some time to look at what other companies are doing on YouTube and other platforms where consumers watch videos regularly (YouTube and Facebook being two of the biggest).
You'll get a better idea of what works well with consumers and what doesn't work.
Step 4: Plan Your Video Marketing Approach
Now that you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can start to plan out your marketing strategy.
You’re going to need to decide how you’re going to approach your strategy and what you want it to achieve. As you're planning, keep in mind that you don't need to use every platform, just the ones that make sense for your business.
You can do this by answering these questions -
- What’s your goal?
- What type of content are you creating?
- What channel will you use?
- How often will you post?
Set goals
E-commerce marketers spend a lot of time creating content for their online store, but what about all the other channels where customers can find them?
Whether you're on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, there's an opportunity to reach new customers and grow your business. But where do you start? How do you know which channel is best for your business? And how should you allocate your time to optimize results?
The first step is setting goals.
What do you want to accomplish with your marketing efforts? Do you want more brand awareness, more website traffic, or more conversions? (And if so, how many and at what cost?) Once you have defined your goals, it's easier to determine which channels will help you achieve them.
Choose the best platform to distribute your video
Having a quality video doesn’t mean much if nobody sees it. If you want to use video marketing for eCommerce, you need a way to reach your target audience. That’s why you should choose the best platform (or platforms) to distribute your video content so that they can find it easily.
You need to choose the right platform for distributing your video. Some platforms allow you to upload multiple videos at once, while others limit the number of videos you can share at one time.
The best platform should allow you to upload as many videos as possible without having to worry about any limits being imposed on you by the service provider. It should also be easy for users to find your video on their platform, so they do not have to search through hundreds of other videos before finding yours.
The most common way of distributing videos is through channels like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. These networks have hundreds of millions of users and offer free tools that allow you to share content easily with anyone interested in your product or service.
Another advantage of using social media is that there are already established communities where people talk about similar topics as yours, so you can reach them directly without having to spend money on advertising campaigns or pay-per-click ads on Google AdWords or Bing Ads.
Pick your video category and build a calendar
Develop a social media calendar for the year to execute your marketing strategy.
This can be done by looking back at your marketing plan and identifying which days of the week and times of day are best for posting on each platform.
Once you've identified those, you can lay out a plan for how much content you want to post each day and what types of content will be posted on each platform.
Use simple tools like Google Sheets or Notion to achieve this.
Here’s a Google sheet template to get you started.
If you want to do it right, plan out how many videos you want to produce each month and where they'll go live. You may want to consider hiring a freelance producer to help with the process of creating your videos (or at least some of them).
There are many different types of content you can use in your campaign. You can start with basic videos like product videos or how-to videos and move on to more advanced ones like explainer videos or live-action/animation videos.
You can even create animated GIFs out of parts of your existing videos.
Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success
This should include metrics like views, subscribers, engagement rates, and conversions. You can use tools like YouTube Analytics or Google Analytics to see how your videos are performing and what content is resonating with viewers.
For example, if you want people to sign up for a newsletter or purchase something from your site, then track those conversions and conversion rates. If you’re looking for increased traffic and brand awareness, then track those metrics as well.
Choose the right video marketing tools
You need to choose the right tools that can help you create engaging videos and share them across multiple platforms.
You can use a website like Wistia or Vimeo to host your videos, and then use editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro or iMovie to edit them.
You can also choose to hire someone who has the skills and experience required to create high-quality videos for your business.
It is advisable to hire a video marketer who has experience working with eCommerce websites as well as with sites such as Facebook and Instagram. You should also see if they have worked with other companies in similar industries before hiring them for your company's needs.
III. What Types of Videos Should You Create For Your eCommerce Business?
The marketing world these days is going through dramatic change and it's not slowing down! It's all about one thing – content. And particularly, video content!
Videos have such power to grab our attention. But creating an effective strategy to enhance your store's conversion rate and sales is not as easy as filming two minutes of a pig running around an office.
There are many types of videos to create like Social Media Videos, Promotional Videos, Tutorial Videos, Product Videos, and much more.
1. Explainer video
Source - Fenty Beauty
An explainer video is a short, engaging, and persuasive video that explains a product or service in simple terms. It can be used as an introduction video for people who have just visited your website.
They are also good for explaining products that are complex, expensive, or difficult to understand. This might include technical products, software solutions, or financial services. The idea is to create content that addresses a customer's pain point.
Explainer videos are usually one to two minutes long and can be produced using animation, motion graphics, or live action.
2. Video ads and promos
Video ads and promos are the perfect way to promote your products, especially if you're trying to reach new customers.
These videos can be displayed in a variety of places, including social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, television commercials, or even on billboards around town.
Video ads are a great way for brands to stand out from their competitors because they allow you to tell your story in a more personal way than text alone can do.
3. Social proof and customer testimonials
Social proof can be defined as the idea that people are influenced by what other people do. If your customers see other customers using your product or service, they're more likely to purchase it too.
Video offers a very effective way to showcase how customers use your products and services. You can also show how much fun customers have when they use them. The best part is that videos like these can be shared on social media platforms, allowing users to further spread the word about your products and services.
If you have happy customers who are willing to talk about their experience with your company, ask them if they'd be willing to share their stories on video so other people can hear them.
Customer testimonials help build trust between you and potential buyers who might not know much about you yet.
4. Behind-the-scenes videos
Behind-the-scenes videos provide an intimate look at what goes on behind the scenes at your store or manufacturing facility, giving viewers insight into how products are made or showing how employees go about their day-to-day activities.
This type of video content will help build trust between you and your customers by highlighting that you're an honest company that does things right.
You can post these videos on Instagram and TikTok for better reach and visibility.
5. Background videos for your landing page
Videos for your landing page can be a great way to promote your products and services. They’re an excellent way to show off what you have to offer, but they can also help you sell directly. If done right, these videos can help you increase conversion rates by up to 80%.
6. Product video on product pages
Product videos are one of the best ways to sell more products online because they allow customers to see exactly what they're buying before they commit to making a purchase.
These videos can also be used as part of an upsell process.
If someone views a product video and then closes the browser window without buying anything, you could send them an email asking them if they have any questions about what they saw in the video or whether they need any help finding other products that might interest them as well.
7. Launch videos
These are promotional videos that you make to announce the launch of a new product or service, usually on channels like Facebook and YouTube.
TLDR; The type of video you create depends on your goals. If you're trying to sell products quickly, then you should focus on short, concise videos that show off your products in use.
If you're trying to build brand awareness or build trust with your audience, then longer videos that explain the benefits of using your products may be more effective.
Video Marketing - Get Started With Marketing Videos Today!
The world is moving towards video consumption and you need to keep up with the competition and learn the nuances of marketing videos.
This means that your video marketing strategy needs to be at its finest level.
To conclude, video is the future of marketing.
Video is the fastest growing form of content on the internet right now. It's a great way of displaying your products and services to your customers, but can be tricky to get right.
You can use video content to inform your customers about new products or services, interact with them on social media, increase conversions or even create entertaining content that will entertain your audience while also getting them to buy something.
It is a great way to increase sales, but you need to make sure you do it right. If you don’t know how to properly use video marketing in your eCommerce business, then you could end up wasting all of your time and money.
Creating a video marketing strategy can make all the difference between taking a business to new heights or boxing it out of the market competition.
By sticking to the above-mentioned steps of creating the right video content, posting on the right channels, and including resources to help your audience, you will get more conversions than before and establish your brand's name as a trusted eCommerce service provider.
