VIDEO MARKETING

STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE

FROM VIDEO CONTENT

THOMAS WEBSTER, Northward Digital.

VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE FROM VIDEO CONTENT © NORTHWARD DIGITAL APS W. www.northwardcph.com 1

INTRO: VIDEO CONTENT & ENGAGEMENT

The ways in which brands and customers interact are changing and

traditional models of advertising and marketing are

becoming less effective.

Both online and offline video are growing fast, fueled by increasing

audience preference for this style of content. At the same time,

developments in video formats and technologies are creating new

opportunities for brands.

Today, brands can use video to inform, educate and entertain

customers in many different contexts. But, with a wealth of

content available to online users, brands need to ensure video

content is of the right quality, is engaging and is targeted to the right

audiences.

Video content has become a powerhouse of value, driving major

benefits across social media (Youtube, Facebook and Twitter), search

ranking of websites on Google, and the effectiveness of channels

such as email. Even internal corporate communication and customer

service are reaping the rewards.

In the changing media landscape, video content is becoming

an essential part of all marketing or communication plans.

For any brand it is critical to develop video content and delivery

strategies that will position it to cater to these rapidly changing

audience expectations and behavior.

VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE FROM VIDEO CONTENT © NORTHWARD DIGITAL APS W. www.northwardcph.com 2

QUICK TRENDS:

• +90% of the people online will be watching video regularly by 2012. (eMarketer)

• +90% of all web traffic will be video by 2013. (Cisco VNI Forecast)

• Video is 53 times more searchable than text. (Forrester)

• Video content improves social media and email marketing 4-7 times. (Flimp)

• Site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchase than other site visitors. (ComScore)

• Brands using video as a part of e-commerce programs have seen sales increases of 20%-40%. (ComScore/PWC)

“A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words.”Dr. James McQuivey, Forrester Research

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POTENTIAL VIDEO STRATEGY OBJECTIVES:

‣ Increase brand awareness and reach with strategic video content creation and distribution.

‣ Cater for growing customer expectations for video content and improve the effectiveness and value return from video content produced.

‣ Improve the performance of existing channels with video content (email, mobile, social media, general SEO, website stickiness).

‣ Increase e-commerce sales and conversion through product-related video content (for affiliates or commercial partners).

‣ Develop and deploy a scalable and flexible web video delivery platform to allow the convert web traffic and consumer contact across new

and existing video content into online sales.

SOME KEY INSIGHTS:

‣ Audiences and consumers are increasingly sophisticated, and have new expectations of personal control and ease of access in how they

are interacting with companies/brands and consuming online content.

‣ Consumers are far more connected and place higher value on peer feedback than ever before. 90% of people make purchase decisions

based on recommendations from people known to them (social media or elsewhere). (Nielsen).

‣ Video content used in conjunction with social media can drive 4-7 times higher engagement and response rates. (Flimp).

‣ Brands using video content along side e-commerce programs are seeing incremental sales increases of 20%-40%. (ComScore/PWC).

‣ Due to the relative scarcity of video content, it generally indexes much higher within Google and other search engines. Video is 53 times

more likely than text to appear on the first page of search results and when optimized correctly, can return significant SEO value helping

brands and organizations to stand out in that all important customer search/qualification phase. (Forrester)

VIDEO CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY:

Successful video content marketing strategies are dependent on 3 critical elements

1. The creation of compelling content that returns value to the viewer on an ongoing basis. It is also very important that the content is designed

in such a way that outcomes are guided and audiences are encouraged to take the action that the project is intended to achieve.

2. The successful promotion and distribution of the content that will create ongoing engagement. This distribution should occur via all available

and relevant internal and external channels ensure that the right audience can find and engage with it. (See below for a map of platforms

and Earned, Paid and Proprietary promotion and distribution channels.)

3. Smart and value-adding use of technology that improve experiences and help to achieve content goals (e.g. increase content accessibility,

drive online sales and conversion, encourage consumer advocacy etc).

VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE FROM VIDEO CONTENT © NORTHWARD DIGITAL APS W. www.northwardcph.com 3

1. Content Types (aligned to use/purpose)

Using a range of video content, companies and brands can communicate with consumers in an engaging and effective way. Video allows audiences to quickly view and understand who a company or brand is, its philosophy and its products and service benefits/features.

Audiences have finely tuned sense for when brands are not being genuine or honest and this can be very damaging. In this way video is no different from any other kind of communication or content and it is important for brands to find their own voice and stories which will allow them to connect and engage with their audiences and consumers in meaningful ways.

Fundamentally, any video content produced should be structured to serve a purpose, and be guided by an overarching strategy to ensure that it returns real and measurable value.

! Greeting Content brand video, promo video, ‘viral’ video

Greeting Content

Conversation Content web-episodes, industry news

video, mini documentaries

Conversation Content

Conversion Content industry news video,

product/service video, service

update video, tips and tutorials

video

Conversion Content product/service

video

Conversation Content

Conversion Content product/service video,

industry news video, service

update video, tips and

tutorials video

Video content types and customer purchase cycle.

Greeting/Browsing Content = Value Proposition

Conversation/Interest Content = Ongoing Engagement

Conversion Content = Product Education/Sales

VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE FROM VIDEO CONTENT © NORTHWARD DIGITAL APS W. www.northwardcph.com 4

Audience Content Discovery Desired Audience Outcome

Video content type/volume weightings vs content type production values/production costs.

Development of user-created, or re-mediated videos is one strategy to generate content but this should be connected to a full social media program in order to unlock the full value of customer/audience advocacy.

2. Content Promotion and Distribution

Video content distribution/seeding channels model.

Paid Media

Proprietary Media

Earned Media

VIDEO MARKETING STRATEGIES TO DRIVE VALUE FROM VIDEO CONTENT © NORTHWARD DIGITAL APS W. www.northwardcph.com 5

SEO/In-house PRBlogger/influencer outreach

Social media communities/feedsSocial Bookmarking/Discovery sites

Email databasesOther CRM assets

Company blogsCompany promo spacesCompetitions/incentives

Performance advertisingSponsored tweetsTraditional advertisingPaid video seedingVideo PR services

Video content distribution and promotion should be approached as a holistic process with individual channels being selected to serve a specific purpose and objective. It should not always be the aim of a content strategy to ‘go viral’ with thousands or millions of views; it’s often more important that content is distributed to the right audience at the right time.

Use of different channels together can eliminate some of the guess-work in the distribution and promotion of video content and help to realize the value of production investment. We find that a combined approach across organic and paid elements increases the potential for audience reach and growth, while creating a base for sustainable engagement not solely dependent on continu-ing paid promotion.

3. Technology

Technology for its own sake can sometimes damage the original goals of content itself. It is important to take a pragmatic approach to technology, ensuring that the ‘new’ is only used when it adds value or enhances the experience for the audience.

In the area of video content delivery platforms however, recent developments and new enterprise video services have reduced the costs and increased the opportunities for video content to return direct value (sales) as well return benefits across softer brand and

engagement metrics for brands and companies.

For most brands and companies we strongly recommend the use of an premium video platform such as 23Video or Brightcove. These paid services also offer a number of other benefits not available on free services such as Vimeo or Youtube:

‣ Greater control over the video brand environment and design

‣ API customization (important when custom video player functionality is required)

‣ Multiple automatic player and encoding options (HTML5/Flash and Mobile device compatibility)

‣ Surety/guarantees around content delivery standards via contractual SLAs (video load time and quality etc)

‣ Better content and audience analytics

‣ Full attribution of SEO value for content owner sites (with Youtube/Vimeo hosted content any search results will deliver users to these video networks rather than the brand home site)

‣ Fully curated/controllable user content submission

SUMMARY:Critical Success Factors in Video Content Strategy

‣ CONTENT CREATION STRATEGY: Production of relevant and engaging video content tailored to specific objectives and audience outcomes.

‣ CONTENT DISTRIBUTION AND PROMOTION: Distribution and promotion of content to increase reach and impact among relevant audiences.

‣ CONTENT DELIVERY /TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS: Use of a customized video platform (e.g. Open API: 23Video/

Brightcove).

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