Video, and now interactive video, continues to be one of the most impactful and popular forms of marketing today. It’s not just about creating another form of media for the public to consume. Rather, its use on social media platforms and live streaming services has helped make it a more interactive experience.
Yet, in some ways, this is still a relatively new approach to marketing. Not to mention that applying these methods consistently and effectively can take some serious investment. As such, you may find it challenging to convince colleagues and senior members of your business to fully embrace video marketing.
We’re going to look at some of the ways you can get your company on board so everyone can make the most out of this valuable medium.
Understand the Benefits
It’s certainly more difficult to be effective in representing the benefits of video marketing to your company if you haven’t taken time to understand them. You should research the benefits both to bolster your pitch and to establish how to make the most of video in your campaigns.
Some of the key advantages include:
Greater Engagement
Video is considered to be one of the most engaging forms of marketing. There are a variety of influencing factors to this. From a psychological perspective, seeing moving images of people can help audiences to make a personal connection. Videos are also one of the more shareable forms of social media content and spark discussion. Engagement is crucial in any marketing campaign and video is a route toward this.
Raise Rankings
Ranking highly in search engines is key to improving your discoverability. This is also wrapped up in the way videos encourage engagement. Creating high-quality video content that answers a question or helps solve a problem can draw interaction from the public. It can also increase click-throughs to other content on your website and establish your expertise in your field.
Be Inclusive
People want to be involved in something new, interesting, or exciting. Even when they have a certain amount of hesitation in the matter, they’ll pay attention if they feel connected to it. However, if a colleague comes into a meeting proclaiming they have a solution and they lock others out of the process, this can be more off-putting. You will find you’re more effective in your representations of video marketing’s possibilities if you can help others feel more included and involved in the process.
Indeed, you can have a positive impact on your pitch by explaining why you want your other colleagues to be involved. Talk about how their unique perspectives and talents add to the diversity of the project and the quality of the outcome. Encourage them to offer their ideas. Take their concerns about video marketing into account and talk through these so you can discover solutions together.
Often, the best approach here is to facilitate a video ideation and planning meeting. Your brainstorming session will be more productive and inclusive if you keep the process energetic but organized. Make sure there are clear goals and a structured agenda, but utilize techniques and tools geared toward encouraging collaboration. When colleagues feel deeply involved in how you’re approaching video marketing, they’ll also feel more invested in the concept.
Consider Practicality
One of the points of resistance you are likely to meet is with regard to the practical application of interactive video marketing. Colleagues who are unfamiliar with the approach may not fully understand what is involved or how it is relevant to the business. This can breed uncertainty, which, in turn, develops into fear and reluctance. You need to focus on demonstrating how it can be a practical and achievable tool rather than a complex drain on resources.
In fact, affordability is likely to be among the most prominent practical hurdles your colleagues are concerned about. The prevailing myth around video production is that quality content is flashy and expensive. Show your colleagues how simple and affordable techniques can be used to achieve professional video backgrounds, lighting, and sound during streaming. Provide examples of how just minimizing clutter pushes focus on the personality of the host. Demonstrate how a neutral paint job on walls can help the onscreen branding pop.
Keep it simple. After all, that’s often key to practicality. Show some plans for how you can streamline video production practices. Talk about how editing software can be used to easily adapt videos to the various media platforms you need to post it to.
Utilize Data
Never underestimate the power of data in representing a new campaign tool. It has the ability to communicate hard facts to decision-makers in your company. It also shows that there is a credible foundation to your recommendations. If you’re pitching to professionals in traditionally non-creative fields, these numbers can be powerful.
Your most important data points are likely to be those related to consumer-preferred content formats. You can start with the overall trends and statistics for video marketing, but bear in mind these can feel nebulous and irrelevant on their own. Present some video marketing efficacy statistics for your industry in particular. You’re also likely to find showing engagement insights from the current videos on your social media platforms and website effective and relatable.
However, you need to make sure these data points are easily consumable and understandable. You don’t want colleagues to wade through lengthy reports to reach your meaning. Stick to the core facts and just have the full source reports at hand in case they are requested. But as with video marketing itself, you’ll usually find better engagement if you use striking visual forms.
Conclusion
Interactive video marketing can be the key to engaging with your demographic in a meaningful way. However, your colleagues may require some convincing. Gain a better understanding of the benefits of videos and seek to include your colleagues in the planning stages. Your pitch should include demonstrations of how the methods can be practical and affordable. Video is likely to be at the forefront for the foreseeable future — you need to encourage decision-makers to embrace it.
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