Digital marketing is nothing new, but the rate of change can be a stunner. From website development to SEO best practices and social media strategies, there is a plethora of information a marketer in today’s business environment must be familiar with in order to succeed.
Today, video is taking center stage. Thanks to the likes of TikTok and Instagram, consumers are digesting video like never before. And it’s time for the flooring industry to embrace video marketing as another wholly viable lead-generation tool in their digital marketing tool box.
Following are seven tips from top marketers in our industry to help you make video marketing work for you.
- Accept that video marketing is a must
Literally just days ago, the head of Instagram decreed the platform is no longer a photo-sharing app; it’s all about video. I guess we could call this the “TikTok Effect,” though the shift to video-based marketing has been in evolution well before the throngs were TikToking around the clock. There’s no doubt about it: to be relevant and positioned for best success in today’s marketing environment, business leaders need to embrace video as a means of brand building and message sharing.
— Irene Williams, founder/CEO, Msg2Mkt
Not only does video marketing help boost brand awareness, it helps to humanize a company in ways that other marketing avenues simply cannot. A strong commitment to video marketing can help provide a company with a sense of legitimacy, authenticity and trustworthiness in the eyes of the consumer.
—Carole Cross, founder/CEO, Mobile Marketing
Video marketing engages with consumers very effectively. People find it easy to absorb information in a quick video. Alongside interactive technologies, like room visualizers, video provides businesses with an ability to engage consumers more deeply than just with written content.
—Steven Caldow, director of marketing, Leap Tools
- Understand your goals
Before embarking deeply into any marketing program, it’s essential to identify the North Star for your business; those goals and objectives that should drive every tactic at every point of the journey. Need more feet across the threshold of your showroom? Stronger name/brand recognition in your market area? Once you know what you need to achieve, it’s simply a matter of identifying how video can support the journey to reach those goals.
— Williams
- Keep it simple
To get rolling, don’t overthink video or fret about fancy-schmancy equipment or editing. Just go for it using the tool that’s always in hand—namely, that smartphone. Smartphones have amazing, integrated capabilities for capturing video, and there’s a seemingly endless array of video editing apps to allow for quick customization and creativity. I’ve found anecdotally—and industry stats support—that video that is less polished and more homespun in nature, gets stronger engagement than highly produced clips.
— Williams
Smartphones are one of the easiest ways to produce good-quality, timely videos. You don’t need to produce Hollywood videos; you have to produce videos that are valuable to your customers. Make them short, sweet, to the point and relevant to your viewers.
— Lisbeth Calandrino, FCN columnist, speaker, business coach
- And then keep it brief
Short-form videos are seeing huge growth. TikTok and Instagram Reels are a couple of examples. According to Twitter, over 90% of videos are watched on mobile devices, so shorter videos have strong engagement.
— Caldow
Since most of your brand’s videos will be seen on smartphones while customers are on the go, it’s imperative that you get to the punchlines quickly.
— Williams
It’s said that if your introduction isn’t exciting and relevant, the customer will click off within 10 seconds.
— Calandrino
- Make a connection
To achieve success and build an emotional connection with your customer, businesses should craft videos that ultimately help promote/sell their businesses. Customer testimonial videos are a great way to increase social proof and influence your target market. By seeing that other customers have had similar needs met, a company can help convince customers of its own effectiveness.
— Cross
Whenever possible, include a customer on a jobsite in your video. Most of your installers have smartphones; why not put a script together for them? Customers love seeing videos with other customers in them.
— Calandrino
- Don’t forget a call to action
Even if it’s just telling viewers to contact you for an appointment, giving them a reason to engage further makes it easy for them to do so. You can also use the call-to-action (for example, by including a specific email address or landing page) to measure the impact of the video on your business.
— Caldow
- Track your progress
It is critical to track how well your videos perform. Most platforms provide basic analytics in an easy-to-understand format. This information should be used to [gauge] whether your videos are achieving your objectives. For example, how many people are watching it? Are they sharing it? Is the number of visitors to your site growing? Are they staying longer? If you’re not seeing the results you wanted, make some changes and keep trying.
— Caldow
