You’ve probably heard that video content is “king” these days.
96% of people have watched a video to learn more about a product or service
88% of people say that they’ve bought a product or service by watching a video
On average, people watch 19 hours of online video per week
Folks are twice as likely to share video content with their friends than any other type of content
From these statistics, the case for including video in your marketing is pretty clear
But what might not be as clear is that if video is “king” then storytelling is “queen”.
The combination of these two powerful elements is what will help ensure your video is successful and provides positive ROI.
Determining Video Success
When it comes to measuring the success of a video, marketers use the following metrics to differing degrees:
Engagement: play rate, watch time, shares, likes, comments, reach (62%)
Views (61%)
Leads generated and/or call-to-action click throughs (60%)
Customer engagement and retention (41%)
Sales (27%)
The majority use overall engagement to determine a video’s success and the minority use actual sales/revenue numbers.
This is due to the fact that most video metrics - such as engagement, views, and click-throughs - can be tracked through various hosting platforms and analytics sites or software. Whereas direct sales data is hard to associate with a single video.
There’s often correlation vs concrete causation when it comes to video.
That being said, here are the top benefits of video according to marketers:
Increased understanding of product or service (94%)
Increased brand awareness (93%)
Increased website traffic (87%)
Generated leads (86%)
Increased dwell time - more time spent on website = higher Google rankings (82%)
Increased sales (81%)
You might find it interesting that the top two metrics - understanding and increased awareness - aren’t easily trackable via metrics.
This is the difference between quantitative ROI (the hard data that can be collected) and qualitative ROI (the softer positive outcomes for your brand).
Qualitative ROI & Storytelling
Qualitative ROI comes in the form of increased brand sentiment, affinity, education, trust, and humanization. And this is the intersection where video and storytelling can really shine and work long-term for your brand.
Storytelling boosts the “like-know-trust” factor of your brand by humanizing it, creating a strong brand personality, and building an emotional connection with and engaging your audience.
From the earliest periods of recorded history, storytelling was the method used to communicate, educate, share, and connect. It’s not just a creative approach to marketing.
It gives your audience a totally unique entry point to your brand. It’s what sets you apart.
When you see increases in positive feelings, trust, and knowledge of your brand, you’ll also see increases in overall engagement, generated leads, and - eventually - sales.
Video in Your Funnel
Along with infusing your video content with story, you’ll also want to take a look at where the video will live out in the world once it’s been created.
Where will people be able to watch it and where will they be at in their journey with your brand when they do?
Videos come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They also serve different purposes depending on where they live in your funnels - top vs. bottom.
Top-of-funnel (TOF) videos are all about attracting your audience, spreading awareness, and educating. At this point, folks are just starting their journey with you. Maybe they’ve never heard of you or maybe they have but don’t 100% know or understand what you do or stand for.
Your key metrics to focus on here will be video view counts and engagement.
Bottom-of-funnel (BOF) videos are created in order to convert ready-to-commit audience members. At this point in their journey with you, they’ve been introduced and educated about your brand in a myriad of different ways. At this point, you want to do away with any objections they might still have.
Your key metrics to focus on here will be sign-ups, lead generated, and sales.
Ideally, a brand would have multiple pieces of video content living at each stage of their funnel. And each piece of content would help further propel folks through their journey with you.
On the surface, this can feel overwhelming and like a lot of content to create. But when it comes to video production, there are some key ways to increase video quantity and longevity while maintaining high quality and deep impact.
Keys To Success
As you can see, measuring the ROI of your video marketing campaign might not be as straightforward as you’d hoped.
However, with some strategic thinking and planning in place ahead of time, you’ll be set up for success in both measuring your video’s ROI and understanding which metrics to consider based on your campaign goals.
We understand this can seem daunting, which is why we’re here to guide you.
Our Impact Video Quiz is designed to help navigate this complex terrain.
This unique resource guides you in identifying the perfect video type for your brand's mission and goals, which serves as a crucial first step in planning a successful video marketing strategy.
The quiz results not only match you with your ideal video type, but they also come with a free downloadable worksheet to help you plan your video project effectively.
This tool can set you on the right path toward maximizing the ROI potential of your videos and ensuring you're equipped to measure them accurately once they've been distributed.
Take the Impact Video Quiz now and begin your journey towards a high-impact, ROI-driven video marketing strategy.
We're always ready to guide you further. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or if you're ready to take your video marketing strategy to the next level