Actionable tips, community conversations, and marketing inspiration.

Why You Should Be Using Videos

Megan Pratt

Principal Product Marketing Manager @ AdRoll

Videos have the power to help you tell your brand story, engage your audience, and create a lasting impression. We’re not the only ones who think so: 48% of marketers surveyed said they expected to increase their video spend. We understand, though, that a well thought out video ad campaign can seem overwhelming. From creating engaging content to figuring out the right placements to tracking and reporting on your campaign success, it can get very complicated. If you’re reading this post, you’re probably interested in finding a way to get over these hurdles—and we want to help. Here are five challenges unique to video and their solutions.

1. I Don’t Have the Resources to Create Engaging Content

There’s a perception that creating a high-quality video is a huge, time, and money consuming effort. While that used to be the case, it’s just not true anymore. Thanks to companies like Lemonlight and iMediaBay you can get a video in less time and for less money than ever before.

You can also look at services like VidBuild. They provide video templates that you can easily customize with your brand and product information. If you can’t find a template that works, you can easily mix and match available elements to produce your very own video.

If you’re looking to invest more in a long-term video strategy, the experts at VidMob offer a continuous flow of mobile-first videos optimized based on your goals and what performs best.

Click here for more information about our video creation partnerships.

2. I’m Not Sure That Video Will Help Me Reach My Ambitious Direct KPIs

It’s becoming easier and easier to drive direct action from your video campaigns. 67% of marketers in an eMarketer survey said they measure the success of their campaigns by the click-through rate. 43% said that cost per acquisition was their top KPI for video, followed by 42% who said that overall sales lift helped them measure the success of their campaign. No matter what your goals are—driving more leads, increasing sales of a product, or boosting engagement on your website—video can help you get there.

Our platform offers you metrics from all of your campaigns—including video—all in one place. You can track each video and placement side-by-side for maximum reporting and optimization power.

Need a few tips for videos that perform?

  • Include your company information and a call-to-action early and often. Studies found that adding that information in the first 3-4 seconds is the most successful in driving actions.
  • Test different video lengths. Shorter ads (15 seconds or less) are gaining in popularity. Depending on your message, medium-length (30 seconds - 1 minute) or longer (1 - 2 minute) videos might be more effective. Test a few different lengths to see what works best for you and your message.
  • Create your video with the environment in which it will be viewed in mind. What works well on mobile may not work well on desktop and vice versa.
  • Figure out how to connect with your target audience on an emotional level. Video is most successful when it makes people feel something—whether that’s amused, motivated, or even curious.

3. There Are So Many Options for Video Placement—How Do I Choose?

Is this video a good fit for social? Is your message best expressed in a native ad format? Should you include in-stream video ads? What if you didn’t have to choose? With our platform, you just have to upload your video once, and you’ll be able to target in-stream, out-stream, social, and more. This helps you make sure you’re reaching your customers in a variety of places for maximum retargeting or new customer growth potential.

Don’t just take our word for it—here’s what the statistics say:

  • Programmatic digital video ad spending is projected to hit $33.55 Billion by 2020 (that’s 83.6% of all projected digital video ad spend).
  • Mobile video ads will continue to have the lead over desktop, with 54% of the spend share by 2020.
  • According to a survey by Animoto, 93% of businesses say they’ve gotten a new customer thanks to a video on social media.

4. My Product or Service Isn’t Conducive to Video

There’s always a way to include video in your next campaign. Even highly regulated industries like medicine, banking, or manufacturing should include some kind of video. Here are some ideas beyond basic product videos:

  • Explainer videos: explain something your target market may not understand about your area of expertise.
  • Listicles: Share a few quick tips or ideas with your target market.
  • Case Study: Let your results speak for themselves. Interview a customer, share customer reviews, or highlight a recent successful project or sale.

The great thing about video advertising is that you can customize the format to fit your message. Try a few different videos ideas and monitor your KPIs to see what works best for your message, audience, and goals.

5. I’m Not Sure How to Track and Analyze My Video Campaign

Marketing has become increasingly data-driven, a development that we’re very much in favor of. It’s important to be clear on your goals going into any campaign, and video advertising campaigns are no exception. Video advertising can be customized for any KPI, whether you’re interested in driving more site visits, increased brand awareness, purchases of a specific product, or leads to your sales team.

The most important thing is to have the right tools in place to measure whatever it is that you want to measure. A site analytics tool like Google Analytics helps you analyze actions on your site. Most advertising platforms have their reporting tools that will tell you to think like clicks and video views. Our platform combines these metrics into one platform for quick and easy viewing and optimization. Most importantly, you can see how your video ads are impacting your overall customer journey.

So, what are you waiting for? Creating, testing and optimizing a video advertising campaign has never been easier.

Interested in getting your own video campaigns set up? Set time with one of our video advertising experts today.

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