Video is on the rise and being utilized as a form of online marketing for a variety of businesses. It has grown rapidly in popularity due to its engagement level and high conversion rates. According to Unruly, the enjoyment of video increases purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%. These numbers alone show what a positive impact video content has in the world of online marketing.
This is no surprise considering the fact that the human mind is just naturally drawn to video because of how quickly information can be gathered from it. A study provided by Social Media Today shows that the brain processes visual data 600,000 times faster than text, making it much easier to process information within a quick video rather than from long pages of content. With that said, it’s no wonder video is the next big thing.
Since it works so well, many companies are starting to utilize video as a new way of displaying information about their company. This is great, but unfortunately a lot of the time businesses are not taking many important items into consideration before launching their first piece of video content. One simple but extremely important video marketing strategy is the incorporation of call-to-actions (CTAs). We see these everywhere on websites, social media sites and blogs, but they are often missing from online video content. A lot of the time, videos without any form of CTA leaves the viewer thinking, “what’s next?”
Without those next steps indicated clearly, you’re losing potential customers!
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Why Should I Incorporate CTAs Into My Brand Videos?
The benefits of having website links and CTA buttons right on top of your videos are endless, and here’s why:
- First, CTAs give the viewer a reason for watching your video. They give a clear instruction as to what next steps to take and how your services can further benefit them.
- CTAs can also direct viewers to your product or service, allowing the viewer to zero in on your business alone. This eliminates distraction and further increases conversion rates.
- Lastly, including a CTA further ties your video back to your conversion funnel, which is the ultimate goal when creating video content based around your business.
As you can see, the incorporation of CTAs plays a big part in making or breaking your online video campaign. This video content strategy increases the chance of conversion immensely, so including CTAs within your next video should be a no brainer. There are many ways to incorporate CTAs into your videos, and it’s easier than ever thanks to various video-hosting platforms such as YouTube and Wistia.
If you’re unfamiliar with this sort of thing, check out how Wistia lets users easily customize their videos and create CTAs within their video content in just a few simple steps.
Lights, Camera, Call to Action!
Below are some examples of businesses that use CTAs effectively within their brand videos:
Dropbox:
Dropbox is a popular file-sharing site used by many individuals and businesses alike. The video above explores Dropbox for business, and at the end clearly depicts a direct link to their site. The link provides further information targeting businesses rather than individual users. This gives the target audience a chance to quickly and easily refer back to a site that focuses on a single product in his or her area of interest.
Treehouse:
Team Treehouse is an online education platform that offers courses in web, mobile and business development. Treehouse created an explainer video that demonstrates an overview of what the site offers. To use the online resources, the user must sign up for a plan, which offers access to online training videos. Ideally, Treehouse wants to direct potential customers to these plans for easy sign up. This is why the incorporation of an interactive button at the end of the video to “start your free trial” is the perfect CTA for this objective.
Evernote:
In the video above, Evernote demonstrates the key features within their app called Scannable. This is an app designed to transform paper into scans in a quick and efficient way. At the end of the video Evernote includes a YouTube overlay that reads, “click here to learn more”, directing the viewer to a page pertaining specifically to the product featured in the explainer video.
These three examples successfully demonstrate how important adding purpose to your next brand video is. Before planning out your next video, think about what next steps you want viewers to take. Do you want your viewers to provide any information? Is there a demo to sign up for? Do you want to direct viewers to further details on your website? While building your content around next steps like these, you can’t go wrong. Since you’re giving viewers a simple and direct prompt, an increase in conversion rates is more likely. Even if you just want viewers to watch more of your content, a CTA can direct viewers to that in an efficient way.
Final Thoughts
It’s safe to say that a large amount of both growing and established businesses have turned to brand video as a way to reach potential customers. Video content can accomplish a wide variety of goals when it comes to marketing a business. Do you want to create a demo explaining a specific piece of software? Make a good first impression with a company overview video? No matter what your objective may be, brand video is a powerful marketing strategy; so don’t pass it up as an option. Just keep in mind that adding CTAs can be the difference between just getting views and actually turning those views into customers. Use CTAs to direct viewers to where you want them to go, and indicate next steps clearly to avoid losing customers!
Have something to add that has worked for you? Share your examples with us or let us know what your CTA best practices are!
Sources:
http://www.vidyard.com/blog/how-video-marketing-influences-your-customers-decisions-infographic/
