Reading this blog, I am assuming that you are a business owner or are working for a business that is looking to grow quickly. Regardless of your sector, business success is going to come from cheaply finding new customers and extracting significant value from them. In other words, customer acquisition costs need to be lower than the lifetime value of your customers.  

That said, finding and nurturing those customers isn’t a walk in the park. marketing isn’t a walk in the park. All too often, we are searching for rapid, effective solutions that lead to immediate results. It’s easy to simply pull up Google and search for growth hacks that can help you find an influx of customers—all within a matter of days.

Yes, some of these growth hacks may work. If they didn’t work, there wouldn’t be such a wide range of articles and videos explaining how you can implement growth hacks to grow your business. But that said, I believe that truly cultivating and nurturing your audience cannot be done in a weekend or through a collection of hacks. It requires dedication and commitment.

Luckily, this dedication will pay off if you are committed to a sound video marketing strategy. I will discuss effective video marketing strategies in the latter half of this blog. But before doing so, it is helpful to take a step back and truly establish some of the video marketing benefits for you and your business. 

In sum, video marketing can offer some significant benefits for both your actual business and your business career. By understanding some of these benefits in the early stages, you will have the confidence to push through challenges and keep going—even if you aren’t seeing early traction.

Increased Video Consumption

In the previous post, I spoke about the rising importance of video and how people of all ages are consuming more video. Whenever you are starting something new—whether that is a product, service, or even a new company—your road can be slightly easier if you have some macro trends working in your favor. 

The increasing popularity of video is, quite obviously, one such trend. Video content is only getting more important and it is not going away anytime soon. 

Whenever you are trying to sell a product or service, it is important to have some presence where your target audience hangs out. While you will need to think about the particular video platforms that your audience enjoys, the fact remains that your audience is watching video. There’s no question about it. Therefore, it is absolutely in your best interest to follow your audience’s interests and behavior. Doing this will not only increase the odds that your audience will find you but that your audience will become future, recurring customers of your business.

Authentic Connections

So you will want to have a least some video marketing presence simply because your audience enjoys this type of content. But beyond this basic reason, one of the most significant video marketing benefits is that it allows you to build a strong, authentic connection with your audience. In fact, this is probably the most prominent video marketing benefit. 

Yes, there are other ways to connect with your audience. For example, you can rely heavily on weekly text-based emails to share news about sales or new products. This is one way to reach a large audience relatively quickly. Assuming that your audience opens your emails, you may see a slight uptick in sales.

But having said this, video marketing lets you leverage the power of video to build this connection. As I described in the last post, empathy and stories are critical here. 

A great example of this is from one of the most viral marketing videos of all time. On March 6, 2012, Michael Dubin, the founder of Dollar Shave Club, uploaded a marketing video to YouTube (which you can see here). The video, which was titled “DollarShaveClub.com – Our Blades Are F***ing Great,” shows Dubin explaining his company’s value proposition as he walks through a warehouse. 

This isn’t any old, boring promotional video, however. Dubin shows off his personality as he speaks directly to the camera. He is his true, authentic self and holds nothing back. He knows who his audience is, what it wants, and he isn’t afraid of giving it to him. 

This video (which has around 26 million views) put Dollar Shave Club on the map. It was one of the catalysts leading to a $1 billion acquisition of Dollar Shave Club in 2016. This is just one example, but the fact remains that it would be difficult—let alone impossible—to replicate the effect of this viral video in a different medium. Dubin even could have copied and pasted the exact copy from the video script onto his company blog or Facebook page, yet it still wouldn’t have had the same effect. 

Video establishes a direct connection between you and your audience. Because of this, it is critical to understand who your audience is and what they want (we will discuss specific strategies in the future post). A video with the tone and style of Dollar Shave Club most likely would not work for a more “serious” company like a bank or law firm, and typical video content for a “stuffy” bank or law firm most likely would not work for fans of Dollar Shave Club. Once again, empathy is absolutely critical.

But once you do have a good hypothesis of what your audience wants, you have free reign to create video content that addresses their needs. You can connect with your audience on a deep, emotional level. You and your team can show that you are just a group of people that want to make your customers’ lives better. By building these deep connections, you substantially increase your odds of transforming your biggest fans into recurring customers. 

Ultimately, authenticity is the name of the game here. If you are faking enthusiasm about your product or faking interest in your target audience, your audience will quickly catch on. And once your audience catches on, you will have lost any chance to build any goodwill or long-term relationships with these potential customers. 

Introspection

From building strong, authentic connections with your audience, another video marketing benefit is that it forces you to answer some tough questions about your business. To connect with your audience, you not only have to understand what your audience wants but how your business can provide what they want. 

At times, this process can be uncomfortable. If you are being honest with yourself, you may recognize that your product or service doesn’t solve your audience’s main problem. Perhaps even worse, you may come to realize that you aren’t crystal clear on who your audience is. After producing several different types of video content, you may recognize that your videos aren’t converting as expected because you are targeting the wrong people. 

If this is the case, there’s no need to panic. You can adjust course—even if this requires some significant changes. Ultimately, however, video marketing forces you to ask some of these tough questions about your business. While there may be some short-term pain, there is long-term gain—both in your video marketing strategy and the future course of your business. 

Improving Other Skills

Finally, a subtle, yet one of the effective video marketing benefits is that it can improve your team’s soft skills. To be clear, you don’t have to be the suavest, charismatic person to appear on-camera. Fear of looking awkward shouldn’t stop you if you have a great idea for a specific piece of video content.

Nevertheless, if you and your team do want to appear on-camera for some of your video content, you will eventually become more comfortable. The odds are on your side. You will become a better, clearer speaker, whether you are shooting a preplanned video or are simply vlogging for your company’s social media pages. 

While this may not be the most visible benefit of video marketing, it could be a game-changing benefit for you and your company. Learning how to communicate under pressure on-camera is an invaluable skill. It could serve you well if you are speaking on a panel at a conference. It can also be valuable if you are explaining your company’s product or service to a television reporter. 

Speaking confidently on-camera is a skill that requires practice. Luckily, you can easily apply this skill to other situations in your business career. 

A Wealth of Benefits

Video marketing can offer significant value to you and your business. You can ride the strong macro trend of increased video consumption, establish deeper connections with your audience, answer some tough questions about your business, and improve your communication skills. This is just a small collection of benefits, however. You may find more relevant benefits that speak to you.

The only way to take advantage of these video marketing benefits, however, is by getting started. Once you put aside some of your internal fears about getting started, you will be able to quickly leverage the powerful attributes of video marketing.

If you are looking for an all-in-one video marketing solution, consider getting a free trial on Dubb.