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The Proof is in the Pudding: Why Video Marketing is Worth Every Penny
- Laurence Scott
- May 11, 2023
- 5 min read
We get it. Building a marketing campaign around video is one of the absolute best ways to connect with your audience. It tells your story, boosts brand awareness, hooks new leads, and ultimately drives sales.
But we also know that the upfront cost of professional video production can make businesses hesitate. After working with local brands over a decade, we’ve seen this hesitation first-hand. Usually, it comes down to one big question: "How do I know I'll actually get a return on my investment?"
To help put your mind at ease, we’ve rounded up some absolutely mind-blowing facts and stats that prove just how powerful video really is. Let’s dive in!
The Cold, Hard Facts: Why Video Wins
If you've been wondering whether video is just a passing trend or a true business necessity, these numbers speak for themselves.
1. It Makes Your Business Easy to Understand
According to yearly data from the video marketing experts at Wyzowl, 94% of marketers agree that video has helped increase users' understanding of their product or service. How do customers know what makes you special or why they should choose you over a competitor? Video shows them exactly why they need you.
2. It’s What the Internet is Made Of
Video now accounts for a staggering 65% of all internet traffic. Data from intelligence firm Sandvine shows that global data usage from video sites climbs by about 24% every single year. Customers actively expect to see videos answering their questions. If you aren't providing them, you risk giving your competitors the edge.
3. It dominates Social Media
Wyzowl's research shows that 71% of marketers created social media videos as their primary content type. In fact, the top five most-produced videos are social media clips, explainer videos, presentations, customer testimonials, and video ads.
4. People Actually Remember It
We’ve all heard the saying "a picture paints a thousand words," but video takes it to a whole new level. Forbes highlighted that viewers retain as much as 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to just 10% when reading it in text. Even better? Using video can boost your click-through rates by up to 96% compared to standard text-and-image content.
5. We are Watching More Than Ever
Way back in 2019, a study by Promo found that 49% of people watched more than 5 videos per day. Fast forward to today, and between Reels, TikTok, and YouTube, that number is undoubtedly even higher. Your audience is watching; you just need to be on their screens!
6. It Skyrockets Sales and Traffic
Wyzowl also found that 87% of marketers saw a direct increase in sales thanks to video, while 91% reported an increase in website traffic. On the flip side, 89% of consumers say that watching a video successfully convinced them to buy a product or service. Think about your own habits—the last time you made a big purchase, did you head to Google or YouTube to watch a review first? Exactly!
7. YouTube’s Audience is Massive
YouTube boasts well over 2.5 billion active users. While you might not need a global reach—especially if you're a local Suffolk business serving your immediate community—the beauty of modern video marketing is targeting. You can target your videos by location, age, interests, and job roles to brilliantly raise your local profile.
YouTube is sometimes considered the worlds second biggest search engine. How many times have you in the past, searched for You Tube for a video on how to fix something - rather than typing it into Google.
8. It’s the Ultimate Shareable Content
A massive 51% of people are more likely to share a video with their friends than any other type of online content. In the social media age, if you can get your customer base to enthusiastically share your videos for you, that becomes incredibly powerful (and free!) word-of-mouth marketing.
The Hidden ROI: Saving Time and Smoothing Sales
While direct sales are fantastic, video also gives you a return on investment in ways you might not expect.
Cutting Down Support Calls
Wyzowl noted that 41% of businesses say video has reduced their customer support calls. Think about how much time your team spends troubleshooting the same issues over the phone. A sleek, "say it once" explainer or instructional video can visually walk customers through installation or setup, giving hours back to your working week.
Speeding Up the Sales Cycle
You can also use this approach to deepen sales conversations. If you have a meeting booked with a new prospect, send over a couple of short explainer videos a few days before you meet. When the meeting rolls around, you won't have to waste time answering basic FAQ logistics—you can dive straight into their specific needs.
How to Measure Your Success
Video marketing is crucial, but going into it with a clear plan on how you’ll track its performance is the key to seeing that return on investment. Here are two of our favourite ways to crunch the numbers:
The Direct Sales Approach
If you know the profit margins on your products or services, you can track sales directly. Try adding a unique discount code to your video. This tells you exactly how many viewers converted into buyers, allowing you to easily calculate the exact point your video paid for itself and started generating pure profit.
The Time-Saved Approach
For product or service videos, track how much time you save answering customer queries. If a series of troubleshooting videos saves you 30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week, multiply that by your hourly business rate. You'll quickly see how few customer sends it takes to completely cover the initial cost of the film.
Let’s Make Video Work for You
At the end of the day, making a video is an investment—but when done right, it's one that keeps paying you back. Whether your goal is more views, direct sales, or simply clawing back precious hours in your week, having a clear target is the best place to start.
As your friendly local video production crew at Offset Films, we're experts at crafting videos that don’t just look beautiful, but actually deliver results.
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