An acquaintance of mine has a son who is about to graduate high school. This young man is a true entrepreneur. He’s making $15,000 a month from his YouTube channel. There are young “celebrities” who are “killing it” on YouTube.
A DIY makeup duo is making $2,000 per day from YouTube advertisements. That’s $730,000 a year. A gaming couple has an estimated net worth of $11 million from their “goofy” gaming activities on YouTube. I know what you’re thinking, “Yeah, that’s a bunch of kids watching some other kids do goofy things on YouTube.” And you’d be right. But, there’s another side to video and YouTube.
A colleague in the printing industry, he’s a label manufacturer, wanted to sell a piece of equipment. He shot a short video, on his iPhone, of the press running and posted it on YouTube. Within 24 hours he received three legitimate offers to buy the press. Within days my colleague received the full asking price for the press and the press was shipped off to a company in Oregon.
YouTube is a Bonafide Marketing Channel
While YouTube may contain videos of cute cats and make-up tutorials it’s also a bonafide marketing channel. It can, and is, being used by both B2C and B2B businesses to generate sales.
These stats should help you appreciate why you need to increase your video marketing efforts:
- Using video in an email leads to a 200-300% increase in click-through rates
- Including video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80%
- 90% of user say that seeing a video about a product is helpful in the decision process
- 75% of executives watch work-related videos on business websites at least once a week
- 65% of executives visit the marketer’s website and 39% call a vendor after viewing a video
- 59% of executives would rather watch video than read text
The Power of B2B Video
Here’s another story that illustrates the power of B2B video. Another colleague of mine in the printing industry, his company prints on plastic bags, shot a video and posted it on YouTube. They then embedded the video on their website. Within one week of posting the video my colleague received a phone call from a prospective client who had viewed the video. Here’s the interesting part. My colleague’s sales reps had been trying to get a meeting with this prospect for three years! Now, after viewing the video, the prospect called them and the sale was made.
Improving the Customer Experience with Video
The reason this prospect called my colleague instead of talking to a sales rep is simple. It’s the same reason why you go online and research a product or service before you speak to a sales representative or visit a brick and mortar establishment. Online marketing materials, including video, enhance the customer’s experience. It allows prospective clients to draw their own conclusions. It puts the buyer in the driver’s seat.
According to a global study of 1,000 C-level executives from Avanade, “Buyers prioritize the customer experience over the price of a product or service when weighing a purchase decision.”
The same study reports that companies find a 61% increase in customer loyalty, a 60% increase in revenue, and a 60% increase in their customer base.
Helping our clients improve their clients online experience is the reason why Westamerica includes video production as part of our marketing capabilities. Let us help you make video content a bigger part of your communication efforts.