Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Peer to peer: Video has become a vital marketing tool

Anthony Taylor - Principal, SME Strategy You don’t necessarily need to be a savvy marketer or business owner to use video to help you stand above the clutter, communicate more clearly and connect more with your target audience.
1375asktheexperts

Anthony Taylor - Principal, SME Strategy

You don’t necessarily need to be a savvy marketer or business owner to use video to help you stand above the clutter, communicate more clearly and connect more with your target audience.

We live in a world where you’re bombarded with images and text on timelines and in endless messaging, so standing out from the crowd by doing something different and entertaining will increase the chances that your message will be seen and heard.

Not only that, but video also lets you bring intonation and mood into your messaging, removing ambiguity from your message and giving you greater control over your brand.

Finally, depending on how you incorporate video marketing into your business, whether you pay actors or do it yourself, you’ll be able to communicate more of your brand character, ultimately helping you connect faster and accelerate the relationship curve.

You may be thinking of video as a way to attract potential customers, but you can also use it to market to all your customer segments. Use video to:

•communicate with existing and potential staff;

•convey proposals as a complement to text;

•educate and communicate with existing customers to deepen and strengthen the relationship; and

•inform stakeholders of your activities.

Video marketing is an excellent tool to enhance all your communications, strengthen relationships, educate more thoroughly and deeply and ultimately have more effective conversations in all parts of your business.


Julia Vorontsova - Founder, Kakadu Media

When it comes to using video as part of a marketing campaign, I am often asked two questions:
1) Why would I need a video if I already have an established business and my website is on page 1 for all the searches? and 2) Don’t I need to get my website ranked first before people will look at my video?

Here is what I tell them.

By 2019, 80% of all Internet traffic is projected to be video. Here are four ways video can affect your business.

•Instant rankings: Studies on Google rankings show that the chances of an indexed video ranking on the first page of results are 50 times greater than those of any given textual page in the index. That means that not only will you rank on Google with video, but your website ranking will also improve.

•Immediate results: A properly orchestrated video campaign on Facebook or Instagram can start getting you clients in just a few days.

•Qualified clients: Having a properly built video means your clients have already started building relationships with you.

•Brand recognition: If you are a local business, having your video ranked on page 1 can have a huge impact on both your branding and your traffic. Because the video thumbnail (main image) is showing on search results every time, people will remember you regardless of whether they click on the video.

Social video is the next major change in social media marketing. Businesses should consider making it part of any marketing campaign.


Anyssa Carruthers - Social media and Internet marketing instructor, Langara College

When was the last time you watched a video online? If you are online more than five minutes a day, the chances are you may have seen a video offering, say, free training, info on grocery delivery service or a product demo. 

Businesses that use video are proving daily that effective video content outweighs the old-school, long-form landing page. Clients are getting to the shopping cart sooner when a video demo is an option, raising conversion rates as much as 80%.

Just having a video on your website last year was cool; this year will be about videos that convert different demographics and raise product accessibility. For example, Ikea has helped solve a long-standing issue surrounding assembly of its furniture by posting how-to videos for many of its products.

If your company is using online videos as a marketing tool you will be able to raise your conversion rates by paying close attention to these five key details:

1) What your key demographic is.

2) Where potential customers spend their time, online and offline.

3) How much they’re willing to spend.

4) When the best time is to invite them to be part of your community.

5) Why they should keep seeking you out.

Traditional marketing is moving to apps like Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope, and focusing our short attention spans on their products. Does your marketing team already have staff ready to market to customers this way?