Online video Marketing has become the main tactic used by brands around the world to promote and to reach their target audience. Scrap cold-calling, online video marketing has become the most effective tool used by brands to share themselves and YouTube is at the center of it all with 4 billion videos being viewed a day. So if a brand pays the advertisement costs to feature on the site they will reap the rewards of big-time awareness of new products or services.
Offline marketing strategy may be a thing of the past, but television advertising still has an enormous influence on a brand’s image. Brand’s that produce adverts will on average receive 4.5 times increased sales. The main reason for this move toward online marketing is that it is much cheaper than most of the alternatives. Promoting a brand on YouTube can be potentially done with zero costs, and if a brand does pay advertising costs the sales increase will always justify it. Regardless of all of this, the video has got to be good as they really can make or break a brand.
What videos do for your brand’s image
Videos not only give brands the opportunity to advertise new products or services, they also promote the brand’s image. Different brands want to promote different images and the videos need to reflect that. You can’t make an edgy video full of brooding models when you’re trying to sell trainers!
The whole creative process needs to be centered around the brand and its target audience. The values of a brand are represented through its video and can draw their target audiences in when marketed well. For example charities like Oxfam will always produce adverts that show starving children, that make their target audience want to help them. Their brand would be ruined if it ever showed some affluent Africans sipping Champagne in their Summer home.
What your video says about your brand
When marketing quality products the audience will always expect quality marketing video. A brand’s video can’t create an image of quality and reliability if they use a phone camera and an old laptop to film and edit their content. People will always be drawn to videos that are in higher definitions and show clearly and crisply, the product or service that they’ll soon buy.
Video marketing for cameras is an ideal example of this. A gritty, low-quality advert detailing a camera’s ability to just take pictures is going to fall flat on its face. Whereas a very high quality advert with stunning contrast and colours will always make the audience associate that quality with the camera itself.
The reliability of your brand
When doing online video marketing your brands image will always be associated with its reliability. Your videos must be consistent, true to your brand and always moving forward. Your target audience will expect a steady stream of videos detailing your brand. If you release a video very rarely or irregularly your target audience will lose interest and trust. If however you do regularly upload new and interesting videos it will keep people engaged and using your brand, rather than another one within the same niche.
Your target audience
The people within your videos MUST fit the bill of your brand. If advertising for a plus-size clothing brand the actors can’t be your standard run of the mill clothing model, they’ve got to be large, normal looking people that the target audience can relate to. When promoting your brand the audience will always be your focus, any creativity must stem from them. This can be done through hiring market research companies that can test your product and give creative feedback.
How to deal with Negative feedback
Criticism is unavoidable when selling a brand as there will always be people who simply do not like your brand. Your brand will need to deal with these criticisms as it gives you the opportunity to further sell yourself. Negative feedback on sites like YouTube should be dealt with constructively and orientated with a resolution in mind. You should then contrast these by advertising the most positive customer feedback, as this will really sell your brand.
Getting your brand out there
One good video that does everything, gets your product across, shows your brand and fits the target audience can launch your brand into the limelight. Once you’ve made it though it comes back to reliability, your brand will only last if you consistently advertise your new and quality products or services. Similarly if your brand has made it and you produce one poor video, it can break your brand. Customers except consistency, if you let them down you’ve lost them and your brand is always going to be tarnished.
Video is a big seller when it comes to brand and selling products or services, but its got to be done right. You’ve got to repeatedly find your target audience and make it for them, if you do this your brand will always keep its positive image and success is assured.
This guest contribution was provided by Nick Levitan. Fascinated by all things marketing, Nick is also interested in the increased use of video. Youtube has become a powerful tool for marketers, are you sure you’re getting all the youtube views you can?