Now is the Time for Video on Your Website!

If you’ve ever thought about adding video elements to your website, now is the time to move on it.

Why, because those businesses that do implement video on their website will capture the lion’s share of the marketplace for their particular specialty. Video is a huge influencer and it shapes opinions because of its one to one communication format.

Recent studies and surveys demonstrate quite clearly that video on your business website drives sales, reduces returns, improves customer support while reducing costs and raises brand awareness.

And we’re not talking by a few percentage points…

• Web video increases purchase likelihood by up to 145%.*
• Web video reduces product returns by over 50%.*
• Online video is 27 times more effective than banner ads.*
• Marketing campaigns that use video realize ROIs in the hundreds and thousands of percent.*

Across many key business performance points, using video on the web dramatically improves your business performance. Don’t take my word for it, just do a Google search on “web video effectiveness 2012.”

The pattern is clear; online video sells and sells big online. So why is now the time to invest in online video for your business website? The answer is simple. Because your competitors will be adding video to their website and consumers prefer to watch videos over any other kind of media.

By its nature, video conveys authority and establishes confidence in the minds of the viewer. Let’s say you have two clients, both are plumbers. Both plumbing businesses have websites.

But plumber B’s website also has video elements on it with plumber B presenting their services, helpful tips, and upgrade specials. Now add a consumer who has a plumbing issue and goes to both websites. Who ends up getting the consumer’s call? What the research tells us is that Plumber B will be called first by the consumer.

Why? Because the consumer has the impression that they’ve already met, know and have confidence in Plumber B. They’ve observed Plumber B talking about and demonstrating their plumbing expertise and the consumer has formed an initial “likable impression” of Plumber B in their minds. Plumber A is still waiting for the phone to ring.

Smart business people have realized the marketing battleground has moved to the web. And the web is a person to person engagement format.

All traditional market channels have seen significant erosion of their effectiveness over the past decade with print declining the fastest. Television advertising, while waning, is still nearly as effective as web video marketing. But web video marketing is vastly more affordable.

While the creative elements for both web and TV videos can cost about the same, placement of the video marketing on the web can cost as little as nothing (placed on your website or YouTube) up to a few hundred dollars a month, like in a video pay-per-click ad campaign.

TV placement still costs many of thousands of dollars per month. And while TV only shows your video (ad) occasionally, web video is available to your prospects and customers 24/7/365. Web video is truly your salesperson that never sleeps.

Those businesses that can move nimbly and start to leverage online video for their businesses now will, in the coming months, realize significant growth of their business as they capture the online consumer of their product or service.

A couple of more stats; 94% of all Americans are online and 86% of all online users watch online video*. There’s an old competitive saw from the MBA schools; if you don’t eat your lunch, someone else is going to.

Get video on your website. NOW!

What do you think about video as an online marketing tool? Have you used it? Do you plan to?

*Source – http://www.invodo.com/html/resources/video-statistics/