The Benefits of Using Video Marketing for Your Business

If you had to learn something new, would you rather read a long article or watch a short video? There is some irony in asking that question in an article, but people usually know their own answer. Video gets an idea across quickly, and people are constantly sorting what deserves their time. Content that is brief, clear and direct wins that sorting; content that makes people work for the point loses it. Video suits that habit, which is a large part of why it has become so central to digital marketing.

Video also offers something text cannot match: people. Faces, voices and eye contact draw a natural response from viewers, and a video that features a real person speaking plainly can build familiarity and trust faster than paragraphs describing the same business. It is a way to show the human side of an organization before anyone has picked up the phone.

A clear video on a landing page can explain an offer faster than text alone. It can show a product in use, introduce the person a customer will deal with, or answer the question that most often stops a visitor from acting. Used well, it makes the next step feel less uncertain. Used poorly, it becomes a distraction, so keep the headline, the benefits and the form or button visible, and make sure the video supports them instead of competing with them. The goal is a visitor who understands the offer and knows exactly what to do next.

Video can make a message harder to scroll past. In an email, the promise of something moving encourages clicks, though many email programs do not play embedded video reliably, so the usual approach is a still image that links to the video on your website. Social feeds treat video as a native format: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and X all support it. Feeds often start videos muted, so put the key idea in the first moments and add captions. Video pairs naturally with social media marketing and email marketing, because the same clip can be reused in both.

Recognition is the quiet engine of marketing. When someone needs what you sell, they usually lean toward names they already know. Video helps because it combines sight and sound, which makes a message easier to remember than text alone. Every place a video can live, such as your website, a YouTube channel, social profiles and television, is another chance for a customer to meet your brand. Keep the look, voice, music and logo consistent from one video to the next, and each one reinforces the others.

A customer might watch on a phone held upright, a tablet, a laptop or a large screen in the living room, in any of many browsers, and you rarely know which in advance. Video adapts to this better than many other formats. Modern players resize to fit the screen, and a single video can be cut into versions for different places. Plan for the small screen first: keep text large, framing tight and sound optional. Prepare vertical and horizontal versions when the video will appear in feeds as well as on your site.

Search is not an exact science, and adding a video to a page will not by itself lift its ranking. It can still help in two ways. A useful video may keep visitors on the page longer and make the page more helpful, and YouTube is a place where people search for answers, so a well-described video gives you another way to be found. Optimization is mostly about description: a clear title, a detailed explanation of what the video covers, relevant tags or chapters, captions or a transcript, and text on the surrounding page that says what the video is about. A video with no description gives search engines and viewers very little to go on.

Video tends to be shared readily, because it is easy to pass along and easy to react to. That is not a reason to promise yourself a viral hit. Going viral cannot be planned, and chasing it often produces videos that attract attention without attracting customers. A better target is a video worth sharing: useful to a specific audience, entertaining in a way that fits your brand, or personal enough that people feel they know you. When viewers pass it on, your awareness grows through people who already have their friends’ trust.

• A short introduction from the owner or from the person a customer will deal with.
• A walk-through of how the product or service works.
• Answers to the questions customers ask most often.
• A look at the work in progress or at the finished result.
• Customers describing, in their own words and with their permission, what changed for them.

People tend to buy from businesses they trust, and a video that lowers the barrier between a business and its customers is among the easiest ways to build that trust.

Start with one goal and one audience. Write a script, even a short one, and put the point near the beginning. Give the video one idea and finish with one next step. Add captions, because many people watch without sound. Let the length follow the purpose: a quick demonstration can be brief, while a story or a detailed how-to can run longer if it keeps earning attention. Plan to reuse it, since a single shoot can supply a website video, short social versions, a link in an email and even a television spot. Then measure what happens next: calls, form submissions, visits and questions.

Kirk Donovan Enterprises, which Kirk Donovan founded in 1984, offers video production alongside media buying, creative and digital marketing. Whichever route a business takes, the video does more when it is planned as part of the larger marketing effort for an Atlanta-area audience instead of as a one-off project. For related reading, see the television and video advertising topic page.