Video Marketing: Top Objectives and Most Effective Distribution Channels
2 in 3 marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners from around the world (but primarily US-based) using video marketing are planning to increase their spending on the medium over the next year, according to[download page] a new report from Ascend2. Respondents count brand awareness (47%), lead generation (40%) and online engagement (40%) as their most most important video marketing objectives for the year ahead. Interestingly, of the online distribution channels used, videos in emails are highly touted.
|
A quick index to recent Facebook-related articles:
|
Indeed, asked which of the online channels they use to distribute channels is the most effective for achieving important objectives, respondents pointed first to video email (25%), followed closely by video platforms such as YouTube (24%) and company or brand websites (23%). By contrast, few name social networks such as Facebook (8%), professional networks including LinkedIn (5%) and microblogs such as Twitter (1%) as their most effective.
Email takes the lead in effectiveness despite not being one of the most popular distribution channels. Some 65% have used email to distribute videos, slightly behind use of company websites (73%) and video sharing sites (70%), but ahead of social networks such as Facebook (55%).
That 65% figure is similar to the adoption rate found in a study released last year by the Web Video Marketing Council, in which 60% of respondents reported using online video for email marketing, up from 52% the year before. In that report, respondents were most likely to say that the most effective way to use video for email marketing is to link to a video landing page or video in a website (50.7%) or to link to a video player from the email message (24%). The analysts noted that those figures may change if ISPs and email clients further enable the ability to embed video content directly in emails.
Meanwhile, the Ascend2 study indicates that for the most part, marketers using video are satisfied with their results. Almost 8 in 10 rate their program’s ability to achieve its objectives as very (17%) or somewhat (60%) successful, with the remaining 23% rating their program unsuccessful.
Video has variously been reported to increase purchase likelihood. 6 in 10 respondents to the Web Video Marketing Council survey believe that prospects are more likely to purchase or convert after viewing a video email. A more recent report found almost three-quarters of US adults who had viewed online product and service videos feeling more likely to make a purchase after viewing such a video. And late last year, a report found 1 in 2 consumers claiming to have had a purchase influenced by a YouTube video.
Other Findings:
- Respondents to the Ascend2 survey cite the creation of compelling content (46%) and the lack of budget for video (41%) as their most challenging obstacles to achieving their video marketing objectives, with ROI attribution (36%) not far behind.
- The most commonly-used video optimization tactics for SEO purposes are tagging videos with search keywords (57%) and posting videos on company or brand blogs (48%). These are also considered the most effective tactics.
- About 1 in 8 respondents outsourced all or most campaigns to an agency, while another half combine outsourcing and in-house resources.
About the Data: Ascend2 and Research Partners completed interviews with 398 marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners from around the world. 69% are based in the US and 30% work with companies with more than 100 employees. Respondents are from a range of business categories, such as B2B, B2C and agencies.
TPG Social Media