Sometimes, when I read the latest studies about marketing trends, I get frustrated. Not in a bad way, but in an itchy, wanting-to-share-information-and-revelations way. Allow me to elaborate.
Surveys that detail the latest trends in video marketing are appearing all over the web right now. Unsurprisingly, 2015 experienced exponential growth in the creation and leveraging of video across ALL marketing platforms, and 2016 is on track to match and beat that growth.
This makes sense, of course; we are continually reminded that people would rather watch the Internet than read it. Kindle & Nook aside, VIDEO IS KING. (And even those, technically, are a form of video, but I digress…) Nowhere is video’s supremacy more tangible than on, you guessed it, social media.
The truth of this is supported by studies from several sources, including TechTime, AdWeek, and Digital Marketing Magazine, that share detailed survey data revealing the role video currently plays on social media:
- The # of video posts on social media per person has increased 75% globally, and 94% in the US
- The # of videos posted on Facebook News Feed continues to increase 3.6X each year
- Each day, more than 50% of Facebook visitors in the US watch at least one video
- Snapchat receives 6 Billion daily videos. (That’s with a “B”)
- YouTube has over a Billion users (again, “B”) … that’s almost 1/3 of all people on the Internet.
As I said, none of this is terribly surprising … except that last stat is a little scary.
Here, however, is where I start to get a little itchy. Consider these stats mined by VidYard, in partnership with Ascend2, about how companies ranked their top obstacles to their video marketing success:
- Lack of an effective strategy 44%
- Inadequate video budget 41%
- Lack of compelling content 40%
- Lack of production resources 39%
- Lack of performance metrics 30%
- Inadequate video distribution 25%
- Limited organizational buy-in 17%
- Inadequate video SEO 14%
I think you see where I’m going with this. Lastly, let’s review a few stats (from the same studies) that highlight what brands find to be the most effective types of video content:
- Customer Testimonials 52%
- Demonstration Videos 51%
- Explainer/Tutorial Videos 51%
- Thought-leader Interviews 36%
- Project Reviews/Case Studies 26%
- Webinar videos 20%
- Vlogs 15%
- Event Videos 13%
Fascinating.
Let’s put these together, shall we?
1) Video on the Internet, and on Social Media especially, continues to explode.
2) The Top 3 challenges brands are experiencing are the lack of an effective video strategy, an inadequate budget, and a lack of compelling content.
3) The Top 4 types of videos brands find the most effective include customer testimonials, product demos, product tutorials, and thought-leader interviews.
Fast-forward to practically EVERY conversation we have with our clients; they each echo these EXACT CHALLENGES, and these EXACT DESIRES.
What is our answer to them? It’s always the same … TRADESHOWS!
I know capitalization connotes “yelling” on the Internet, but I’m passionate about this.
Tradeshows offer the BIGGEST and BEST opportunity to gather Terabytes of video at the lowest possible cost. They enable brands to create and implement (with the help of an experienced marketing agency!) a clear video strategy over the course of the show, to identify a clear set of targets, to produce relevant, up-to-the-second content, to leverage 100% of their tradeshow investment, and to do it ALL at a comparatively MINISCULE cost when compared to traditional video production practices, including camera teams, studio costs, etc.
Why is the cost comparatively low? Because tradeshows are the one place where the majority of a company’s targets are in one place, at one time, sharing a similar mind-set. Clients, thought-leaders, and prospects are all there: your staff is there; demos and “tutorials” have already been produced and rehearsed; client meetings have already been set; and the palpable energy of the event provides an unsurpassed opportunity to capture the vox populi.
Furthermore, the video assets gathered at a SINGLE event can be used in real-time to populate your social media outlets TODAY, and then reused for months, if not years, to come to support additional marketing efforts & campaigns.
The upshot of this post is clear; if you are considering creating and implementing a video marketing strategy for your brand … or if you’ve already considered it and experienced many of the same challenges detailed earlier in this article … take a new look with new eyes. Tradeshows & events could be your powerful entry into the robust world of video marketing.