Is video marketing effective?
It’s no secret that video is now the most effective way to speak to and engage an audience. Brands are investing in video marketing in recognition of how today’s customers prefer to consume content.
Research shows that video is still gaining momentum with people using devices and more, and the enthusiasm for video is higher than ever. An audience is more likely to remember a video ad on a desktop or mobile device. YouTube has 2 billion active users worldwide. Massive open online courses are surging because video can offer easy engagement that isn’t possible with textbooks. Many meetings are now held virtually via Zoom or Teams.
Why is video so effective for delivering content?
Here are five good reasons…
A fundamental advantage of video in content marketing is the way humans are hardwired to process information. The human brain seeks the path of least resistance and is designed to process and respond quickly to moving images and sound — it’s possible you’ve seen the quote of ’humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than we process text’ — so it stands to reason that complex emotions, messages and ideas are more efficiently conveyed through video.

Where to use video marketing
Video is everywhere. No longer just on hosting sites such as YouTube, video is prevalent on social media, landing pages, blogs and ecommerce product pages. They can take many forms. From recruitment videos showcasing company culture to live streams of a product launch. Here are some of the most popular formats of video in 2021:
Often short, often animated with a voiceover, explainer videos are used to educate an audience on a specific product or service. Normally 90 seconds or shorter, these videos are found on landing pages or product pages and can increase conversions by up to 80%.
Is video good for SEO?
Sure, videos look good and have been shown to increase engagement and generate more sales. But more than that, video is also great for boosting your SEO efforts. That’s because video is content, and we all know that Google loves content.
Posting relevant content in whatever medium is a plus point for search engines. So pay attention to the title and description of a video - these can be optimised as you would any other piece of content. Add a transcript of the content of the video to make it as easy as possible for Google’s spiders to crawl.
Other good practices are to add video schema when you upload it to your site and create time stamps so users can find the most relevant parts of your video. This will also help your chances of achieving a Google featured snippet. Indeed the search engine giant announced in October that they’re using an ‘AI-driven approach’ to understand the deep semantics of a video and to automatically identify key moments. By allowing the user to navigate the parts of a video like chapters in a book, it’s now even easier to get the specific information to answer their query.
What are video marketing trends?
While video content continues to grow in popularity, the content we consume is subject to changing fads and trends. While once, videos were all shot horizontally - they were viewed on TV screens and desktop monitors afterall - nowadays, they’re frequently shot vertically. As people now use social media to consume video content and use a phone to check their feeds, vertical video is here to stay.
Another social media trend, TikTok and Instagram Reels style videos will continue to be popular in 2021. These short-form videos can be easily consumed and are especially popular amongst 15-25-year-olds.
As mentioned above, live videos are increasingly used as part of a content marketing strategy - a trend that will continue throughout 2021 and beyond.
Why video marketing is so important in 2021
Given the use of mobile in all these trends, it’s unsurprising that the quality of production is not as important as it once was. Nowadays, there’s no barrier to entry, anyone with a phone can shoot a decent quality video.
This means your competitors can shoot decent quality video. Which means you need to be shooting video too.
In summary...
Video is an accessible, powerful content marketing tool that can embody a brand’s voice, engage audiences, evoke emotions, create powerful memories, and unify a company — all in less than the time it takes to make a coffee.
Given the ease with which video can now be created on smartphones, it’s a part of your marketing mix you can’t afford to be without in 2021.
Note: This article was originally published in October 2017, and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
Contact JDJ Creative about video creation
Talk to us about video, we’d love to hear from you. Get in contact with our design team today on 01223 750234 or email hello@jdjcreative.co.uk