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Tag: video marketing

  • Why Video Marketing is Absolutely Necessary for Startups

    With the addition of more than 1,300 startups in 2019 and a total tech startup count of nearly 9,000, India continues to reinforce its position as the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world, according to IT industry body Nasscom.

    With so many emerging startups, the demand for investments increases tremendously. However, not all startups can successfully grow beyond the early stages.

    Here’s a sobering thought – around 20% of businesses don’t live past their first year. This is a minority, of course, but still a significant risk to be aware of. Bad online and offline marketing, as well as poor market research, are probably the chief culprits here. About 14% of small businesses and startups fail due to poor marketing.

    Startups Face Different Kinds of Challenges in Marketing

    A major hurdle for every startup-owner is growing the business through the years. Startups thrive on massive investments and funding, and these come from persuasive and impressive marketing strategies. Lately, the trend is shifting towards online marketing and promotions.

    For a startup’s survival, consistent generation of revenue is crucial. Investors who fund startups look for one thing – big ROIs. And few things matter more than the business pitch.

    In order to pitch a video for startup concept and plan to the board of investors, the following things should be taken care of:

    – A robust business model should be developed that would have a sustained impact on the current market and a considerable public demand

    – Competent online and offline marketing strategies should be planned in order to put the product or service out in the market

    – Return on investments should be predicted and optimized based on customer engagement

    How can all of this be achieved while also making sure your startup stands out?

    Consider a small but remarkable tool for online marketing for startups – videos.

    What Kind of Impact Can Video Marketing Make for Businesses?

    • According to Unbounce, including a video on a website’s landing page can increase the conversion rate by 80%.
    • According to ReelSEO, including a video on a website’s homepage can increase the conversion rate by 20% or more.

    These stats show how important and beneficial it is to have a video-based marketing strategy for your startup.

    Videos have proven to be one of the most powerful tools in the marketing industry. This is because videos capture user attention faster, and convey accurate information while leaving little to no room for doubt among the viewers. This, in turn, aids their decision-making process, helping investors gain interest in the startups.

    How can Implementing a Video Marketing Strategy Benefit Your Startup?

    • Better reach in the investors’ market

    A majority of senior executives prefer watching a video over reading text. 59% of executives would rather watch a video. According to a poll conducted by Forbes, 75% of business stakeholders view an industry-related video at least once during the workweek. Half of those watched videos on YouTube and almost two-thirds of these executives clicked through to the marketer’s landing page after viewing.

    • Increased customer base and sales conversion

    – Videos can increase your customer base, big-time. According to Invodo, 92% of people who watch mobile videos share them with others.

    Mobile video marketing can be used to strengthen your target audience engagement.

    Mobile video viewers report that they watch streaming videos 300% longer than desktop viewers.  52% of web videos viewed on desktops are under 4 minutes long, while 42% of videos viewed on tablets and mobile devices are over 10 minutes long.

    – For a sales-based startup, video marketing can help boost sales conversions. Marketers who use video in their marketing strategies grow revenue 49% faster than non-video marketers. According to ComScore, 64% of the users are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. There’s a good reason why many businesses have tasted success with videos.

    Need a great explainer video for your product or service? Check out our Explainer Video production services.

    How Can Startups Go About Video Marketing?

    Making room for videos in your startup video marketing plan is an excellent idea. In order to come up with the right video for your startup, you should –

    • Start with a plan – Estimate budget, goals, requirements, target audience, time limits and other factors that that must be considered account before designing the video.
    • Create unique videos – All the creativity and innovation come into play here. Develop engaging and informative videos that explain and promote your startups to your potential investors as well as customers. Your video can be real-life or animated. Consider working with a seasoned commercial video production partner who can deliver value for your money.
    • Implement SEO strategy and analysis – Perform Search Engine Optimization and analyze the results so that changes can be made to reach out to a greater number of relevant viewers.
    • Engage audiences at the right media platforms – Publicise your videos on different social media platforms, from how-to videos on YouTube to promotional advertisements on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, for higher outreach.

    Toolbox Studio can help your startup by developing video marketing strategies and explainer videos for your businesses. Contact us to know more.

     

  • Expert Marketing Tips: How to Use Videos Effectively

    Expert Marketing Tips: How to Use Videos Effectively

    It’s a well-known fact that using video as a part of your sales and marketing strategy is now necessary if you want your product or brand to be successful. The numbers are simply too amazing to disregard video as an effective marketing tool. Digital videos are no longer “new” and audiences have come to expect them.  In fact a, study by Cisco states that “globally, IP video traffic will be 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021, up from 73% in 2016”.

    So what can you do with videos?

    Most people associate digital video marketing with advertising i.e. building awareness about a brand. There is so much more you can do with digital video though. You can use it to:

    • Create awareness
    • Drive traffic to your website
    • Gain new customers
    • Help customers understand your products
    • Retain customers
    • Upsell your products
    • Simply say thank you

    In short, videos can be used for every stage of your customer’s journey. We’ve put together a few tips on how to get started and use your videos more effectively.

    1. Video tracking and ROI

    Let’s face it; making a video requires time, effort and money. It is pointless to unleash a video upon the virtual world and then just hope for the best. It is vital to know what is working for your brand and service and what is not.  Track metrics like:

    • Time spent on landing page
    • CTR on landing page
    • Percentage of viewer that watch the whole video
    • Percentage of viewers that respond to your Call to Action
    • The videos that generate the most leads

    Here are few must-have tools for analytics and to track ROI:

    1. Clicky: Allows for live tracking of customer activity and breaks visitor activity into marketing demographics. It offers, as they claim, “Ridiculous Detail”.
    2. Wistia: it actively tracks engagement and you can tell what actions your visitors took when they finished watching.
    3. Brandwatch: This tool allows you to gauge brand awareness and identify consumer sentiments about your brand to see which videos are working for you and which ones aren’t.

    YouTube offers analytics for videos hosted on its site and it also fairly easy to set up Google Analytics for your website so as to glean more information on your visitors.

    2. Using digital videos to create brand awareness

    Okay, so this one might be the most obvious use for digital videos. This is the stage where most people use commercials to drive traffic to their websites and gain new customers. Create fun, engaging content to let people know your brand exists and how you can help them. People might not know much about your brand or your service at this stage so there are a lot of things you have to play around with apart from advertisements.

    • Make videos that talk about your company
    • Create interesting video presentations
    • Embed videos in your blog
    • Create videos that demonstrate how your product works

    Types of videos that work best for creating awareness

    1. Brand promotion videos
    2. Corporate videos
    3. Infographic videos
    4. Teaser videos

    This video by the Dollar Shave Club garnered millions of views in no time at all, showing their customers that they didn’t take themselves too seriously.

    3. Discovery and consideration

    This is the stage that occurs after the awareness stage and the customers are trying to understand how you can help them overcome a particular challenge or solve a particular problem.  This is the stage where you convert the leads into sales. There are number of different kinds of things you can do to engage potential customers at this stage. Try:

    • Live streaming videos like Facebook live
    • Holding online events around these live videos
    • Encourage existing customers to generate content of their own and share it
    • Film customer testimonials: it helps potential customers make the right decision
    • Making interactive videos and including your Calls to Action (CTAs) in the videos

    Types of videos you can make to engage your customers

    1. Explainer Videos
    2. Tutorial Videos
    3. Webinars
    4. Interactive Videos
    5. Customer Testimonials

    Okay so this video isn’t actually promoting anything, but have a look to see how you can use interactive videos in your campaign.

    4. Customer retention

    Existing customers can often be forgotten in the chase to gain new ones. Video is a great way to let your loyal clients know that you appreciate them. You want them to keep coming back as well as to tell others about how wonderful you are. Here are some things you can do to make sure your existing customers do not feel neglected:

    • Have your CEO / Account Managers create a video to say thank you and send it in a personalised email
    • Ask customers to share their own how-to / instructional videos about your product
    • Create webinars / virtual events exclusively for existing customers
    • Create videos that encourage sharing and offer incentives for conversions (like refer a friend etc.)

    Types of videos that encourage customer retention

    1. Thank you Videos
    2. Troubleshooting Videos
    3. User Generated Content
    4. Brand Promotional Videos

    Check out this video by a GoPro customer that shows how User Generated Content can really be used to promote your brand if you encourage your customers to create it.

    No matter the type of video you need to make, a vital factor is its quality. A good video production company should be able to help you through every stage of creating videos for your brand, from conceptualisation to postproduction.

    So whether it’s for brand-building purposes, or customer retention, Toolbox Studio would love to hear from you! Call us at +91 20 46607590 or write to us at enquiry@toolbox-studio.com to know how we can help you with your digital video production needs.

    Featured image source: https://yourstory.com/2015/12/video-marketing-strategies/

  • 5 Reasons Why Nobody is Watching Your Business Videos

    5 Reasons Why Nobody is Watching Your Business Videos

    We can throw a lot of numbers at you about why video marketing is so important, statistics as to how the number of conversions you will receive after putting out video content will increase by hundreds of per cents and traffic to your website will be driven up a gazillion-fold. The numbers will be impressive enough to convince you that your business will fold without some form of video marketing in the future. Yes, there are plenty of articles online to convince you of that. Business videos, too.

    What most of them forget to tell you though is that no matter how many statistics there are to prove that video marketing works, your video might not be successful. You can find yourself at a position where you’ve scripted some great lines, filmed some wonderful scenes, edited it all with a blend of your blood, sweat and tears; and then posted it online and the number of views have been… zilch! This may already have happened to you.

    We have gathered these hints and tips to prevent this from happening to you again (or ever happening to you at all). Some we’ve learnt from our own experience, others from others’ mistakes.

    So where do people really go wrong? And what can be done to prevent this?

    1. Poor video quality

    There is plenty of good quality video content out there. No one has the patience to sit through a grainy video and try to figure out what you are saying. The trick is to engage your viewers visually from the get go through well-made videos with great animation and effects, if you are using any. A poorly made marketing video reflects the quality of the brand in customers’ minds, making the quality of the video a vital factor in audience conversion. So forget about borrowing your friend’s newest iPhone, use professional camera work and lighting instead. Viewers today can certainly separate the professionals from the amateurs and it shows in the number of views!

    2. An uninspiring introduction

    Your video needs to grab your viewer’s attention right from the start. This may be through great visuals or a compelling storyline. A fifth of your audience is likely to click away from your video within the first 10 seconds or less if they are not captivated. And don’t be afraid to use humour, not just in your introduction but throughout your video as well. Everyone loves to be entertained!

    3. Long, boring sales-pitchy videos

    Now that you know how quickly audiences can be lost, it’s just as easy to lose them through the video, so make sure your content is relevant and engaging. Try not to go overboard with the sales pitch. People watching know that the video is put out by your brand so the fact that they are watching it is a form of advertising in itself. Centre your video on a story and address your customers’ emotions. You can always sneak your product or service in towards the end! Just kidding about the sneaking, but a strategic call to action towards the end can go much further than a video that’s all “ME! ME! ME!”

    And remember to keep the whole video short. Today’s audiences have plenty of things to distract them from your video so say everything you need to in as short a time as possible.

    4. Not knowing your audience

    It is vital to conduct your research and know the demographics of the audience you are reaching out to along with what your brand portrays. Just because cat videos are all the rage at the moment, it doesn’t mean that making a similar video will ensure success. A good video will be able to reach out to the right demographics and send the right message through its script and visuals. The target audience must be considered right from the start so that every step taken towards producing your video is taken with them in mind. A good video production company will know this and will be able to guide you through the entire process smoothly.

    5. No CTA

    CTA stands for Call to Action.  This can often be a deal breaker when it comes to follow through actions from your audience. You want those views to convert into something tangible at the end of the day after all. There is absolutely no point in having a great video out there if your audience doesn’t know what to do with the information they have just received. So tell them!

    They’ve just heard all about your wonderful product or service, so strike while the iron is hot. Let them know about the wonderful link at the bottom of the video they should be clicking on or the telephone number they should be calling NOW! You’ll be surprised at how many of your customers will be happy to oblige you.

    Bonus tip: Research the platform you are sharing your video on. Include a descriptive, catchy but brief title. Use all the right tags to reach out to the audience of your choosing and promote your video on as many social media platforms as possible.

    A good video production company will offer an end to end service right from the planning of your video, to the scripting and finally the production and post-production to ensure you have the best video for your service.

    At Toolbox Studio, we collaborate closely with our clients to create animated corporate videos that have a lasting impact. Our production teams include some of the finest directors making sure that our animated corporate videos are of the highest quality. We cover every phase of making the film including script generation, storyboarding, shooting, filming, editing, graphics and animation and audio. Whether it’s business videos or animated explainer videos, our team is dedicated to delivering top-notch results. Take a look at our past work.

    COMMERCIALS | EXPLAINER VIDEOS | CORPORATE FILMS

    Get in touch with us to see how we can help you make the perfect video for your product!

    Featured Image Source: https://www.maventri.com/blog/

  • A Preview of the 9 Hottest Video Marketing Trends (2017)

    A Preview of the 9 Hottest Video Marketing Trends (2017)

    Video is becoming one of the most sought after commodities in the digital space. A truly engaging medium, video marries motion picture and sound into one irresistible package that viewers worldwide are consuming in great big doses.

    Times are changing though, and while I would have been unimaginable a few years ago, video consumption is moving away from the more traditional television and onto online channels in modern times. In the Asia-Pacific region for example, Mumbrella reports that “viewers consume an average of two hours of traditional TV daily.” However, the digital space is fast catching up with “1.6 hours spent consuming online video in any form, which includes free platforms like YouTube and Vimeo, and paid subscription sites such as Hooq, Netflix and Iflix.”

    Marketers the world over have been taking cognizance of the growing popularity of digital video and setting aside a portion of their marketing budgets on this very medium based on its ever growing popularity.

    What does the future hold for video though, is 2017 going to see a greater shift in video marketing? Is digital the way to go? We take a look at this and more with our nine hottest trends of video marketing in 2017.

    1. Smartphone video consumption is booming

    In this mobile-driven, smartphone-dependent generation, video is the single biggest consumed media online today. A report by Cisco says that “Mobile video traffic accounted for 55 percent of total mobile data traffic in 2015. Mobile video traffic now accounts for more than half of all mobile data traffic.” The same report goes on to state that “three-fourths of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2020. Mobile video will increase 11-fold between 2015 and 2020, accounting for 75 percent of total mobile data traffic by the end of the forecast period.”

    2. Infotaiment is the new wave

    Infotainment marries information and entertainment and is expected to be a big deal in 2017. Consumers no longer want to watch videos that only inform. The video should be presented in an entertaining, easy to digest package to retain their interest and attention, and how to achieve this mix will be a big challenge for marketers in 2017.

    3. Ad budgets are increasingly leaning towards the digital space

    CMO an Adobe venture reports on the changing trends in ad spend for the digital space. Here is an interesting excerpt on mobile video ad spend – “Mobile and video are converging. In fact, according to the study, mobile video is proving to be a key area for increased investment, with budgets up 18% year over year.” An 18% year on year increase clocked back in 2015, this trend has continued to grow, and even more investment is expected in 2017 for mobile video ads.

    4. Programmatic video is on the up

    Programmatic video or taking the aid of software to invest in digital video ad space is huge these days. The same article says that “programmatic video has reached critical mass among 91% of buyers and 88% of publishers. The report estimated that by the end of 2015, 32% of all digital video ad spend will be bought programmatically, making up nearly $2.91 billion in ad spend. That number is projected to grow to 38% in 2016, totalling $5.37 billion—nearly 86% growth in dollars directed toward programmatic digital video advertising—all in the span of one year.” With the advantage of having real-time data guide the process to ensure that the video reaches target consumers with greater accuracy, it should come as no surprise that programmatic video spend is expected to increase in 2017 as well.

    5. Reach of over a billion on YouTube alone

    YouTube is the big daddy of digital video consumption. The numbers are staggering, and as per YouTube’s own admission – “YouTube has over a billion users–almost a third of all people on the Internet–and every day, people watch hundreds of millions of hours of YouTube videos and generate billions of views.” The enormous reach of YouTube will play a big factor in advertising spend decisions in 2017.

    6. Facebook video consumption is on the rise

    Another avenue for marketers to explore in 2017 is Facebook video. This article shows just how big Facebook is in terms of video. The article says that “users watch 100 million hours of video per day on Facebook,” a number they quote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It goes on to add that he also said, “500 million people watch Facebook video every day.” The article also points out that “the first number is new and apparently replaced the “total video views” metric Facebook has shared in the past.”

    7. The consumer is depending on video for information

    This Wyzowl study says that only 4% of consumer chose to gain information regarding new products and services through the manual, 5% speak to customer care via the phone for further information, and a staggering 44% chose to watch a video regarding the product or service to learn more about it.

    8. Video apps are the next big thing

    Techcrunch reports that Snapchat is becoming the new big thing in video consumption. According to the article “Daily video views on Snapchat have spiked to 10 billion. That’s up from 8 billion video views on Snapchat in February this year, 6 billion daily video views in November 2015, and 4 billion in May 2015. The new numbers represent a 150 percent increase in video consumption on Snapchat in just under a year.” Apps with video components such as Snapchat and Instagram are expected to continue to blossom in 2017 as well.

    9. Multichannel is the new approach

    In 2017, marketers won’t be able to restrict their activities to just Twitter and Facebook or YouTube. Getting the word out will require an attack on many fronts including a whole gamut of social media portals that are constantly cropping up. Being aware of trends and the new big thing in social media and constantly updating the marketing mix to match these channels will prove to be the big challenge.

    If you are looking to expand your video portfolio and develop promotional videos for digital consumption, then look no further than Toolbox Studio. A digital video production company with a state-of-the-art 5,000 sq. ft. facility and experience gained from years of video production for clients across three continents and numerous verticals, we can deliver exactly what you need and when you need it.

  • Holiday Marketing: A Great Video Can Help You Break the Clutter

    Holiday Marketing: A Great Video Can Help You Break the Clutter

    The festive season of Christmas and New Year is just around the corner and the internet is the one place that audiences now look to for unique ideas to make their holidays just that little bit more special. Holiday marketing has become an essential tool for businesses during this time, helping them connect with consumers through engaging campaigns and promotions.

    Over the last couple of decades, the internet has facilitated the businesses to extend to extend their reach far beyond their immediate localities. While this has been tremendous in terms of sales, it also means that businesses need to catch up in face-to-face interaction with their consumers. To bridge this gap, product videos are a powerful medium for marketing, offering a way to create meaningful connections with audiences. Additionally, digital advertising is crucial in ensuring these campaigns reach the right people, making it a cornerstone of successful holiday marketing strategies.

    Nonetheless, this can be circumvented by product videos for marketing that connect. Over the years, we’ve seen our favourite brands strike a chord with us and millions like us through their brilliant videos, whether they’re in the form of digital videos or television commercials – especially during the holiday season.

    Holidays are a time for businesses to throw convention to the winds and show their clientele how their products can really make the festive season one to remember. Businesses normally go all out to appeal to their target audiences. But what works? We’ve put together a few pointers that will make your digital video or TV commercial really stand out amongst all the others.

    1. Tell a story

    Holiday videos do not follow the maxim ‘sell, sell, sell’. They are more about connecting with the audience and appealing to their audience. Tell a story revolving around the festival you are advertising your products or brand for. Weave in how your product is going to make this festive season even more special. Holiday marketing is most effective when it feels authentic and relatable, focusing on creating memorable experiences for the audience It is important to keep the sales speak to a minimum to make it sound as genuine as possible. Of course, the odd celebrity can help bring in the holiday spirit too!

    Take a look at Manyavar’s Diwali advertisement that shows how their special line of Diwali apparel can make the season brighter and more delightful.

    2. Don’t be afraid to have fun

    Holidays are a time for giving and much festive cheer. Make sure your digital explainer video fits in with the holiday spirit. John Lewis, the department store, got it right with this advertisement for Christmas 2016. It, strangely enough, revolves around the family dog Buster the boxer. It shows him watching a couple of foxes, a badger and an assortment of other cuddly wild creatures having fun jumping on a trampoline which has been bought as a Christmas present for the little girl in his house. Come Christmas morning, Buster is the first on the trampoline. The tagline accompanies this advert – Gifts everyone will love. Brilliant!

    The advert draws in the audience by appealing to their sense of humour (with the dog) and inculcating that sense of nostalgia (of childhood, with the trampoline) that always seems to revolve around holidays while keeping it light, fun and warm-hearted.

    3. Don’t forget your product or service while writing the script

    While this may sound contradictory to what has been said so far, it is important to remember that this video is meant to showcase your product or service albeit with a holiday theme. Make sure that this does not get lost in the storyline while scripting. This video is an opportunity to showcase your offering – whether or not it is even remotely related to the festival at hand!

    Although the festive season might make audiences more relaxed, it is important to make the video short. 90 seconds or less is the perfect length for your product video. Take a look at this Waitrose Christmas advertisement that has kept it short and sweet while driving the message home.

    4. Plan and prepare for the season

    It is all about timing! Plan your digital video well in advance along with realistic timelines of what you hope to achieve through it. Chalk out a plan for the entire journey from the making of the video to its launch as well as a plan for monitoring its success post launch. Consult your production team to find the best format for your video without compromising on quality. Launch your video well in advance to give it the time it requires to reach your target audience (and to allow them time to act on it).

    Get a professional video production house to make your video – it’s the best approach for holiday marketing campaigns, ensuring your content stands out during peak seasons.


    5. Include a strong call-to-action (CTA)

    As always, it is important to end your digital marketing video with a clear CTA. Tell your audience what the next step is by including one or more CTAs within your video. You could get creative with this – create multiple types of CTAs and then pick and choose the ones that blend into your video without seeming like they have been forced into it.

    At Toolbox Studio, we collaborate closely with our clients to ensure the videos create a lasting impact. Our production teams include some of the finest writers, directors, technicians, editors and artists who make every product (video) stand out in the crowded world of digital advertising. We cover every phase of making the film including script generation, storyboarding, shooting, filming, editing, graphics and animation and audio.With expertise in holiday marketing strategies, we ensure that our videos resonate with audiences during key festive seasons

    Contact us to know what we can do for you to make your product videos for marketing stand out this holiday season!

  • Why Video Has Become the Preferred Medium for Brands and Audiences Alike

    Why Video Has Become the Preferred Medium for Brands and Audiences Alike

    We live in a world dominated by media, whether it be for information, entertainment or communication. As a result of this, we have become accustomed to instant gratification and in turn we gravitate towards things that will give us just that. Fortunately for marketing, videos are one of those things.

    According to GoAnimate, 60% of people who visit a business website prefer to watch a video about it rather than read the text. And according to a study conducted by Eyeview Digital, including a video on your landing page can potentially increase your conversion by up to 80%1.

    Image Source: hubspot.com
    Source: hubspot.com

    Why Video Marketing Works

    According to YouTube, mobile video consumption goes up by 100% every year. If you look up ‘Video Marketing Statistics’ on Google, you will get dozens of blog posts listing 50 (if not more) statistics about video marketing. The very fact that these statistics exist and people are blogging about them should say something about the importance of video marketing.

    According to the University of Massachusetts Darthmouth, 86% of all colleges and universities have a presence on YouTube. This means you can immediately tap into a huge, promising audience for any material that you post on YouTube. Furthermore, regardless of whether they are students, businessmen or homemakers, 90% of users claim that watching a video about a product is very helpful in their decision making process. So doesn’t it already seem like a great idea to market your brand through videos?

    The fact of the matter is nothing will grab your attention like a video. Think back to when you were in school. Didn’t watching a movie about the French Revolution help you study better than reading pages and pages of text from your history book? The same principal applies in video marketing. Videos and movies make a deeper impression on the viewer than texts or images. It is no wonder that according to Mist Media, internet users will spend 88% more time on a website that has videos2.

    Take a minute to carefully study this nifty infographic. Statistics show that 64% of users are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video. Furthermore, real estate listings that are accompanied by a video receive 403% more enquiries than text listings. Such is the power of video!

    Videos Can Spread Like Wildfire

    How many of us have viewed, liked and shared videos on social media? Yes, we’ve all done it. It may have been a snazzy business video or a video of a dog bottle feeding a goat, but the bottom line is that it made a big enough impression for us to like and share it.

    Invodo reports that 92% of people who watch videos on their cell phones share these videos on social media. When videos go viral (think “Charlie Bit My Finger”) they can do so overnight. So why not tap into this ability to go viral and make a video that can give you some good publicity?

    It is perfectly clear what a video can do for your brand and your product. All you have to do is take the plunge, hire a good corporate film production company that can draw up a solid video marketing strategy and invest in a solid video for your brand. This will not only improve your SEO rankings but you will definitely notice more and more traffic on your website and soon enough it will begin to generate revenue.

    Resources:

    1. http://www.eyeviewdigital.com/documents/EyeView-White-Paper-Making-Video-Accountable.pdf
    2. http://www.mistmedia.com/
  • Why Content is King Even in Case of Video Marketing

    Why Content is King Even in Case of Video Marketing

    There is no denying that video marketing is the biggest thing in the digital world these days. There is a whole slew of statistics to back up this statement. According to a study by Cisco, as reported by Ad Week, as of 2014, internet video traffic was at 64%. The study predicts that this number will rise to a massive 80% by 2019.

    Businesses and marketing firms have also latched on to this trend, as a study by IAB on video ad spends elaborates. As per the study, which interviewed over 300 brand marketers, “More than two-thirds (68%) of marketers and agency executives expect to see their digital video ad budgets increase in the next 12 months.” Other pertinent observations from the study include, “Steady increase over last 3 years in the share of digital video budgets dedicated to original digital programming” and a future where the divide between traditional TV ads and online video production will disappear, “Most advertisers agree that original digital video programming will become as important as TV within 5 years.”

    Clearly, video-based content marketing is taking the internet by storm, and not just on traditional video portals like YouTube, Vines and Vimeo, but a variety of social media outlets that support the format. This includes the likes of Instagram, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Snapchat among others, all of which are being populated by video content.

    Content at the epicenter of digital video marketing

    The way videos are created and presented also has to change along with the medium, and it has. There is now a marked distinction between ‘branded video content’ – content created specifically for the web, and ‘video ads’ or traditional video advertisements that appear on television. It is no longer enough for marketing content to just espouse the qualities of the product or the brand. Brands have to become storytellers these days, create engaging, emotional, exciting content that goes beyond the surface and connects with the viewership on a deeper level.

    Take the top 10 trending ads from 2015 for example, a list published by YouTube every year on what ads were the most viewed in the past calendar year. You might recognize some of them. The most popular one was the epic Liam Neeson starring Clash of Clans ad, quickly followed by Hyundai’s adorable Message to Space. Other highlights include the Boom Beach animated ad, a vivid example of how a product is explained through the means of a gripping narrative. Then there’s the gripping Adidas #Unfollow ad starring footballing legend Lionel Messi, shot completely from a fan perspective and full of memes and internet pop culture. Then there is the empowering Always #LikeAGirl campaign that won some many hearts.

    One common thing you will notice in all these ads is that not one of them talks about any product. The ads are about the emotion, the ethos, the message. These ads tell you that the brand cares about more than just preaching its own virtues. Instead, these brands use a strong emotional impulse to connect with the viewer, like Hyundai drawing inspiration from its customers and helping them out, or Liam Neeson’s ‘Taken’-esque monologue on revenge. Adidas’ effort to idolize but not imitate your heroes, and of course, Always’ endeavor to help young women get over societal prejudices and achieve their dreams. This is the essence of branded video content.

    If you are looking for something more current, then the BBC’s excellent animated Rio Olympics 2016 introductory video is a must watch. It has been making waves on social media of late, and has already garnered over a million hits since it was first published.

    Increasing investment in video marketing

    Since it is clear that internet-based video marketing is the biggest growing advertisement stream, one with its own language and specific needs and approaches, the question still remains – are corporates investing enough in video marketing? Well, according to a study by the Content Marketing Association (CMA), there is a clear upward movement in this area, as this Campaign article explains. Here is an excerpt from the report:

    “The CMA’s Video Content for Engagement study found that 58 per cent of senior level marketers are planning on increasing the proportion of marketing budgets spent on video content in the next 12 months.”

    “Currently, on average, 78 per cent of content marketers spend less than a quarter of their budgets on video content. The survey showed that 71 per cent believe that brands are not investing enough in the medium.”

    “Over half of those surveyed cited mobile as their primary channel for branded video content, while a third said mobile is the biggest growth area for video, followed by social media at 29 per cent and short-form content at 24 per cent.”

    Clearly then, one of the top priorities for content marketers is video content. As a brand, are you looking to take your consumer engagement to the next level with video content? Toolbox Studio can help. Find out how our team can help you create rich video content that keeps ‘the message’ front and center, and can drive your brand recognition numbers up through quality digital videos. Contact us today!

  • Viral Video Brand Marketing – What Makes It So Effective?

    Viral Video Brand Marketing – What Makes It So Effective?

    Lately the marketing campaign trends have shifted from posters, slogans and TV adverts to brand marketing videos that are basically posted on social media. The reason for this shift is obvious. People spend a lot of time on social media, on their phones and tablets all day. I mean seriously, when was the last time a millennial read a newspaper? Everything is online now. Even television is slowly becoming obsolete. Why pay for cable when you can stream movies and TV shows online for free? And that too, without the annoying commercial breaks!

    But let’s get back to the effectiveness of branding through video marketing strategies. For obvious reasons I do not want to argue against the effectiveness of these videos. But if we want to use them to our benefit, it really helps to understand what makes them so effective. First off, the video will only be effective if it goes viral. Viral video marketing plays a key role in boosting brand visibility and engagement.But what makes these videos so effective in advertising? Let’s find out!

    1. TV Commercial Vs. Viral Marketing Video

    The difference between a TV commercial and a brand marketing video is that the latter is usually longer in duration, extending up to 3 to 4 minutes. These videos often tell a story, follow video marketing strategies and sometimes use their brand name and products to provide solutions or create awareness about a popular social cause.

    TV commercials on the other hand are made purely with the agenda of promoting the product and making it look good no matter how fake the premise may be. They also have slogans that make claims that sound great, (like “instant whiteness”) but aren’t necessarily true. So when you set out to make a video, make it with the agenda of entertaining your audience instead of blatant, obvious brand promoting. Staying aligned with digital marketing trends ensures your content remains relevant and impactful.

    1. Public Reach

    There are over 6.88 billion cell phones1 in use in the world today. That means at any given time, 6.88 billion people have potential access to material on the internet. Furthermore, a study published on plos.org shows that the average young adult spends approximately one third of his waking life in front of a screen. This may not be the best news for the health of our youth but the point is that people spend a lot of time on their phones, laptops and tablets.

    This makes digital marketing trends a great way for brands to advertise and make their presence known. Being able to access 6.88 billion people with the click of a button is something short of a miracle. Still wondering why brands are using viral videos for marketing? It’s a bit of a no-brainer.

    1. Views and Shares

    With online branded videos, not only are you able to reach a huge demographic, but you can also effortlessly rely on a lot of viewers to share and re-post your videos, making viral video marketing an effective way to expand your reach

    Furthermore, nowadays, with social media, especially Facebook, even if a viewer doesn’t share the video, it still appears on their feed, increasing visibility. This aligns with modern video marketing strategies and digital marketing trends, ensuring broader audience engagement with minimal effort.

    1. Content – The Message

    It isn’t just the medium that is working wonders for video marketing. It also has a lot to do with the content and theme of the videos. As mentioned earlier, the content in these videos is a lot better planned than say, a TV commercial.

    In marketing video production there is almost always a theme that is followed across all videos that the brand makes. For example, when you think Red Bull, you automatically think extreme sports, but not everyone who drinks Red Bull is into extreme sports. Or, when you think Coca Cola, you think friendship. The brand itself gets associated that particular idea.

    Furthermore, one of the key video marketing strategies today is to tackle a social issue or support a cause, which really seems to be working great on social media.

    For instance, the video marketing team at Proctor & Gamble (a company that makes feminine hygiene products and cosmetics among other things) has been making adverts dealing with the theme “woman empowerment” for years. Their latest video “Like a Girl” went viral because it spread a very strong message how women should be revered for their strength and beauty instead of being viewed as weak and powerless. The video deals with the connotation of the phrase “like a girl” and deals with how the phrase is used as an insult. The video has over 62.1 million views on YouTube today.

    In all honesty, brands like Coca Cola, Red Bull, Samsung, Apple, etc. are popular enough without advertising mainly because they have been around for a while and have built a name for themselves. But for new up-and-coming brands it is worth considering and investing in a viral video marketing strategy for the soul reason that you have easy access to a very large audience.

    Looking for an innovative video production company? You have come to the right place!

    Resources: 

    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use

  • 6 Brands that Nailed the Secret to Video Marketing

    video marketing

    Some brands know how to do things right, which extends to the best marketing campaigns. Not only did they spot the avenue early on in the game, but they also created videos that people still talk about! Here are five videos that were made to stay and be spoken about.

     

    Dove Real Women Real Rewards

     

    Dove nailed this campaign in 2012, which is still one of the best-known campaigns to date! This promotional yet socially-centred video by Dove focused on women and their self-perception. Bringing in Gil Zamora, an FBI-trained forensic artist, Dove revealed powerful video marketing secrets by asking women to sit behind a curtain and describe themselves and then asking an absolute stranger to describe the same woman. When defined by strangers, the images of the same woman were a lot more flattering and accurate than when they expressed themselves. The results were not astonishing, but they forced women to open their eyes. According to the data, 54% of women confessed they were their worst critics.

    What did they achieve with the video?

    Generated record-breaking online interest with 114 million views in the very first month. This success came from video marketing secrets Dove leveraged by producing the video in 25 languages and distributing it across 33 official channels. The video struck a chord with the audience, leading to over 3.8 million shares within a month and 15,000 new followers on their YouTube channel in just two months.

    Dove and their agency Ogilvy and Mather took home the Titanium Grand Prix in June 2013 for this campaign that set the standards for those that followed.

     

    Lays – Crowdsourced Crunch

    Lays outsourced the creativity and created a frenzy on social media when it did the “Do us a Flavour contest”. It created a frenzy among all the chips junkies telling them that their opinions matter and will be heard, along with giving them a say in product development. This campaign remains one of the best marketing campaigns, showcasing how involving consumers in creative processes can boost brand engagement and loyalty.

    What did they achieve with the video?

    It created close to 4 million flavours, boosted their online fan base to thrice the initial, and boosted their sales by 12% around the United States of America.

     

    Poo-Purri-Toilet Humour

    Are you looking to move to the mainstream from the novelty product segment? That is exactly what this video campaign “Girls Don’t Poop” did for Poo-Purri. The video features an elegant young woman who takes toilet humour to a different level and presents the product in such a shiny light that you want to buy it by the end of the video! This campaign is considered one of the best marketing campaigns, as it successfully shifted the brand’s image and captured widespread attention with its unique and humorous approach.

    What did they achieve with the video?

    Within the week, the video has 6 million views and over 278,000 shares. It was spotted on sites like the Huffington Post and mentioned by Ryan Seacrest on national radio. Ultimately, it increased their Facebook fan base by 354%.

     

    Now let’s look at some of the latest video marketing campaigns that have been shaking the box!

     

    Budweiser Lost Dog

    Budweiser has done it again this Super bowl! Their ad was adorable and moving but their follow up video featured above certainly got social media going with constant updates!

    What did they achieve with the video?

    It ranked first as one of the best campaigns this March and gave Budweiser a true reach of 44,699,311.

    T-Mobile – #KimDataStash

    The power of selfies met its full potential when T-Mobile got together with Kim and came up with this campaign!

    What did they achieve with the video?

    Ranking second on the list, this video gained them a true reach of 14,770,579.

     

    Bud Light – #UpforWhatever

    Real life meets Pacman and only because of Bud Light. Who would have thought it would be this AWESOME!

    What did they achieve with the video?

    This video has got them a true reach of 10,610,316 with the making their stand as a brand as clear as possible. It was ranked third on the list in March this year.

     

    In all these brand marketing campaigns, what stood out was the videos’ effect on the viewers, and that is what you need, too. Contact us to find out how you can make it happen for you!