Let’s say you have two content offers in front of you: a video and an eBook. They cover the exact same content, but which do you choose to download?

Most will say the video because it is easier for some users to digest and interact with than written content. So why isn’t everyone using only video? Before you go and throw out all of your blogs, eBooks and written content offers remember that these pieces of content do have their benefits. They are still able to drive conversions on your website, but video content can help drive traffic and engagement that you may be lacking.

Video Works…

Hubspot compiled a very comprehensive infographic that shows the true power of video marketing. Although there is a lot of good data in it, there are a few highlights that can work directly with your strategy:

• Video in an email increases click-through rates by 200 to 300 percent
• Including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80 percent
• 65 percent of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39 percent call a vendor after viewing a video.
• 59 percent of exectutives would rather watch video than read text.

Clearly video is not only visually appealing, but it’s clearly functional in terms of driving traffic and conversions as well. Seems like a no-brainer, but where do you start? How can you incorporate video in your strategy today to start driving conversions?

…With Your Inbound Strategy

With those statistics, you may be wondering what you can do immediately to get started with video marketing. First, start by getting comfortable behind the camera. Our CEO Kathleen Booth has started her TGIF Video Blog series and is killing it! But it can take some time to get acclimated with seeing yourself on camera.

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Start by recording short videos for blogs. This is a great way to begin driving traffic with video while getting comfortable with the concept because blogs are not gated offers (clearly-you’re reading one). Viewers can watch your experimental gains and provide feedback without feeling they gave their name and email for a beta offer.

You may already record webinar videos. You probably take the recording and gate it for anyone who missed the live webinar to watch. This method is pretty effective, but consumers are becoming more and more skeptical about providing their information for something they can’t be sure will benefit them.

Surprisingly, you can use a more traditional marketing tactic to combat this skepticism, sampling! Everyone loves free samples at the grocery store, so give them a sample of your video.

When uploading your recently recorded webinar, put the entire video on a landing page (like this one). Seemingly ungated. Users will begin to watch the video because it’s relevant to their needs and they begin to see the value after pushing play. Ten to 20 percent into the video a turnstyle appears. What is a turnstyle, you ask? It is essentially a video CTA that prompts a viewer to add their name and email (or whatever information you want to gather) to watch the remainder of the video. Now your viewer sees the value and what they will be getting from the video and are more willing to give their information.

This technique is not exclusive to webinar recordings. You can do the same on any landing page for any video content offer. You can also find ways to include video in your emails (like your video blog) to increase the click-through rates and encourage engagement.

Your Turn

Are you curious about trying video marketing, but haven’t tried it yet? Is there something specific holding you back? If you are a video marketing wizard, what tips and tricks can you share? Let us know in the comments!