If you want to see a gallery of cool videos doing a bang-up job of selling product, click the kitty pic!
It seems we’ve hit the point where the age-old “battle royale” for supremacy between words and pictures is starting to look like a done deal in favor of pictures. Moving pictures to be precise.
As the Atlantic testifies, the number of “non-book readers” has tripled in the last 30 or so years, while the amount of time spent with video (broadcast and digital combined) in the US is increasing. Per eMarketer, video-time has grown by 12% in just the last four years.
I’m pretty sure that Barry Wallace, my 9th grade English teacher, is not exactly in love with these stats (not that he was exactly a stats kinda guy). But if you’re in the marketing game, you’ll want to see this as a moment of clarity to remove thyself from thy couch. It’s time to some make videos.
Because one of the simplest outcomes of this seismic change is that consumers want to watch video to help guide their purchasing decisions.
Consumers don’t just want video for entertainment, they want it to help make decisions researching products, shopping for groceries, shoes, electronics, and furniture — really, just about any time they're moving with real purchase intent. (Cats of the world, you heard it here first: your days at the top are numbered – unless you can get a job on QVC demonstrating products.)
In fact, more than half of consumers surveyed “believed video was mandatory for company websites” (italics ours, because we agree) and they found product demonstration videos to be the most helpful. According to eMarketer:
Why so powerful? After a couple minutes of reflection it’s pretty intuitive. What’s easier than watching a good video? You get more information in less time, which in turn allows you to get a better sense of the product, how it works, and the experience it delivers. You’re halfway there before the video is halfway done.
Help when help is needed. When something around your house breaks, do you even bother searching your archive for the instruction manual? Or… have you graduated to YouTube? Since we never know where we put that damn owner’s manual in the first place, you can count us among the YouTube mechanics. And not only because it’s so accessible, but also because it’s easier to learn and understand how to make the fix. We love Ikea’s assembly instructions (and heavy metal names) as much as anyone, but there’s no doubt in our mind that these assembly videos are a HUGE step up from their tight-lipped manuals.
Now combine that powerful information with branding. When fixing a leaky sink, which replacement part am I more likely to buy, the one from the company who just provided a product demo to save the day, or its competitor?
Also, make it easy to make the purchase: add a link to purchase online, or even better, a link to purchase online for nearby in store pickup (since that leaky sink isn’t waiting for two-day shipping and drones aren’t delivering spare parts on demand, yet).
Beyond how-to videos, seeing real peoples’ faces and their reactions while experiencing a product or service allows for a stronger emotional connection. How much more powerful is it to see the delight on someone’s face when using a product than reading a testimonial?
We all know it. We all get it. Now it’s time to make sure as marketers that we’re doing it.
Raring to go? Well, here are a few examples of companies that are doing a great job of this…if we do say so ourselves.
