Online Video: Keeping Up with the Newest Wave in Media Marketing

As more traditional advertising and marketing mediums such as direct mail, newspaper, and television have seen a decline in ad revenue and direct returns, businesses are turning their spending to online video and marketing vehicles. Companies are now realizing that online video is one of the most effective internet marketing resources available for reaching their customer, and that video production is now considered an essential tool for both large corporate and private businesses, as well as nonprofit and charitable organizations.

Simply put, online videos are the easiest and quickest way to educate potential customers on the products and services involved with a business. Video delivers information quickly and simply to create an emotional pull that leads viewers to take action. Communicating a difficult product or new concept can be best served by providing a live product demonstration that can help get the message across in an interesting and informative way. Video can also be enhanced by customer testimonials, which are significantly more effective when delivered through an individual on screen as opposed to a text format. This type of medium is also a permanent fixture for the company, that upon completion is available “on demand” at anytime for the potential customer.

Please see the below figures taken from recent surveys conducted on the influence of online marketing and online video:

• 80% of Internet users watch video, moving to 88% by 2012. [Ad Age Web Video Report]

•  ComScore, a global leader in measuring digital marketing intelligence, found that 73% of U.S. Internet users watched an average of nearly three and a half hours of online video per month, with Americans viewing more than 10 billion videos online.

• The time per viewer spent looking at videos online jumped 49% in May 2009 compared to May 2008. [Neilson Online VideoCensus]

• Exposure to online video advertising can lead to as much as a 40% increase in buying a product or service. [comScore]

• Over half of viewers who watch a marketing-oriented video will take some action, including 12% who will buy the product being offered. Compare that to only .5% to 2% of visitors to a "text only" web site who will purchase a product. [Online Publishers Association and Adweek]

• 65% of online surfers will view video to their completion. Less than 20% read "text only" sites to completion. [Online Publishers Association and Adweek]

• 78% feel that online video ads provide as much or more of an opportunity to learn about a product or service than television. [Google/AOL Survey]

• 68% of people who watch online videos pass links for these videos onto their friends. [Online Publishers Association and Adweek]

In an age where visual product is the norm when browsing online, studies reveal the effectiveness of video for creating “stickiness” to websites, keeping viewers on the site longer and prompting them to return more frequently. Video added to a homepage can also increase the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for a business website, placing it higher on search engine results lists.  

For Nonprofit and Charitable organizations, a video can provide visible results for a potential donor or recent donor who is interested in seeing where their contribution is going and who it is affecting, as most donors want to see results before they agree to give again. This type of “results driven” exposure toward an ultimate goal for a nonprofit organization can keep nonprofit marketing campaigns fresh and always evolving.

There is no more efficient way to present business and consumer information to viewers than online video, which will stand as a cornerstone for a company when branding the way a business runs, as well as the products and services they are trying to sell.