Michael Epps Utley {kind=image/jpg}
Video is becoming a bigger and more critical piece of the small- and mid-sized business marketing pie. Are you keeping up with the competition and using video to its full potential?
The recently released 2022 Video & Visual Storytelling Survey from the Content Marketing Institute (CMI) can help you figure out where your business stands when it comes to video marketing. Some of the results may surprise you.
2022 Video & Visual Storytelling Study: Top Line Results
According to the survey, only twelve percent of businesses report using the videos in their arsenal to the fullest – just over twenty percent say they are a long way from being able to do that.
The good news: Two out of three of the other 88 percent might not be there yet, but are determined to make the most of their content.
Here are some other key takeaways from the study.
Video in Business Marketing is Becoming More Important
Almost three out of four (73 percent) businesses say video is more important to their operation now than last year. And about one in four (27 percent) businesses reports its status is the same. None say video is less important than before.
This trend is expected to continue because 64 percent of those surveyed expect their video budgets to increase next year. Of those who expect an increase, 38 percent plan for a one to nine percent boost, and 26 percent expect an increase of greater than nine percent.
Only one percent of study respondents expect their video budgets to decrease by nine percent or less. Another two percent expect a decrease greater than nine percent, and 21 percent expect their video marketing dollars to remain the same. The remainder (12 percent) aren’t sure what their budgets will be next year.
What’s the key takeaway? If you’re not planning to up your use of video in 2023, your business could fall behind the competition.
Where the Money Goes Matters
The study also reports that more money doesn’t necessarily correlate to greater video marketing success – it often just amps up the pressure to succeed. In most cases, higher production values don’t increase engagement with video content. However, money leveraged to build solid video marketing strategies, better understand target audience needs, track results, and increase content distribution, can help companies improve their video marketing metrics.
Business Owners Want to Improve Video Marketing Strategies
Random video use isn’t good enough for today’s business owners. They need to see a return on their investment in video marketing. Currently, 85 percent of companies report they get average or below-average results on their video marketing. When survey respondents were asked what they needed to generate better numbers, almost 60 percent said a sound video strategy.
Some of the other items cited as keys to future video marketing success include:
Better-quality videos (21 percent)
Improved equipment, production, and editing tools (25 percent)
Higher-quality on-camera talent, including more subject matter expert participation (27 percent)
Improved measurement capabilities (28 percent)
Additional training on best practices (33 percent)
Broader distribution (33 percent)
More and enhanced staffing (46 percent)
Higher budgets (52 percent)
The key: The only way you’ll improve the performance of your video marketing program is to develop a strategy with projected results governing it. If you currently don’t have such a plan in place, it’s time to start preparing for 2023. If you don’t know how to build a video strategy, or don’t have the right talent on your team, it could be worth investing in some experienced part-time help to advise you.
The Top Factors Impacting Video Marketing Success
According to the study, the fifteen percent of businesses that report success with video marketing attribute it to three key factors:
Engaging content
Solid storytelling
Short video length
In the end, survey respondents report that giving people video information they want and need is the surest way to achieve video marketing success.
Additional Study Findings
The Content Marketing Institute report contains more points that small business owners will find valuable.
Having an overarching video marketing strategy is critical, but quick wins can be valuable, too. If you find something that works, create additional video variations on it as soon as possible. Don’t wait to leverage your winning idea as part of a strategy. Video success, more than any other medium, is time-sensitive. If you don’t strike when the iron is hot, you may never get another chance.
Video can be great for repurposing other successful content. If you have an article or white paper that resonates with the people you’re targeting, repurpose it as a video or series. It could get it in front of prospects who aren’t avid readers and prefer watching videos.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you can’t find your own way to video success, see what your competitors are up to. This gut check can provide great inspiration for your video content. Find a way to put a spin on it to make it your own.
These study findings are practical things you can do to improve your video promotion efforts.
Video Marketing Study: The Bottom Line
Based on the recent Content Marketing Institute (CMI) study, the most important thing business owners can do to achieve video marketing success in 2023 is to develop a strong guiding strategy. It’s also critical to create short-form content that your target audience will find valuable. Video is currently too important a medium not to leverage the information gathered by the CMI to improve your marketing activities.
