Video Marketing as a Powerful Tool

Videos, whether short or long, and done correctly have the potential to convey emotions that really touch people, just remind them of something they’ve been missing or anything in between. The most important aspect is connecting with viewers. Because video marketing is so accessible and able to be generated with a simple phone in many cases, it has become a common way of communicating. It holds the attention of the viewer but can also engage. If you want to learn how to do something it is possible to search for it on the web and learn to varying degrees.

Videos are sources of information, or entertainment for most of us. Companies using video to sell something may be informative, but it’s not very entertaining. This is where creativity plays a huge role. Consider commercials, billboards, and building signs that are unique, but that you remember because they were funny, or memorable for other reasons. In these cases, it’s clear that these companies understand their brand identity, and conveyed it successfully. Companies use that identity to get the attention of clients. The creativity starts as an individual, or a team to develop a concept.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is basically drawing out your video like a comic strip. It’s a crucial piece because storyboarding simplifies the story, gets your support team on the same page, and helps guide the message. Information can be shared, discussed, easily changed, and is way more cost effective. Once a format is agreed upon, production considerations like locations, time of day, equipment, etc. can commence. There are many things to consider when creating a video, and length is one of the important ones.

Social Media Advantages

YouTube

According to Youtube and since its inception in 2005, YouTube has become the video outlet for the world. Every day millions of hours of videos are displayed on this platform. While not exclusively, its audience is mostly generation Y, young people from 18 to 34 years old. Videos averaging 3 minutes tend to be the most popular for this group and feature personalities or characters endearing to their audience.

Imagine a character in your favorite television program that you felt some closeness to. These videos follow a similar principle. The popularity of Youtube sensations has increased dramatically over the past 8 years. In fact, a person using Youtube to learn how to become a Youtube sensation, and market themselves is a very real possibility. But no matter the product, knowing your audience and striking the right chord is ideal.

 

Facebook

In spite of recent challenges, Facebook remains a dominant social media tool and reports no less than 100 million hours of visits per day. In the case of Facebook and Instagram, you don’t even need to click on a video in order to see it. These mediums feature the ability to engage in video viewing by just scrolling through your feed.

Facebook covers all age groups, although the most common is from 25 to 34 years old (25% of its active users). Those over the age of 35 and separated by physical distance, also represent a large audience for Facebook. Videos in this platform under a minute tend to be the most popular.

Instagram

Its strategy started out as still photography but gradually incorporated video. Instagram reports over 800 million active users. Its average audience is female and under the age of 35. It launched its video function in June 2013, and brevity is its strong suit. In the beginning of video access, 15 seconds was the limit, although now they can be expanded to one minute and beyond.

Instagram has tapped into the pulse of what people want and expect, accessible and easy to digest information that tells a story quickly.

1. Testimonials

Testimonials are among the most important selling instruments. Your customers endorsing your product is better than any paid actor, or commercial. Most people looking to buy a product want to know what those who have bought it think of it. Even though it may not be a perfect video in terms of production, prospective customers trust a less-than-perfect, unscripted testimonial from an actual customer. It’s as genuine as it gets.

3. Product Demonstration

A product demonstration can be an effective strategy for turning potential customers into paying clients. Before making a purchase, consumers want to learn how a product operates and become familiar with its characteristics. Businesses like QVC have benefited from this by presenting their items and engaging customers in the purchasing process. The success of QVC, which uses product demos to drive millions of dollars in daily sales, is evidence of the efficacy of this method. Additionally, the QVC format’s live TV component gives customers the impression that they must move quickly before the goods runs out, heightening the pressure to buy.

For companies aiming to boost sales, incorporating product demonstrations into a smart marketing strategy can be a game-changer. Companies can set themselves apart from rivals and make their product stand out in a competitive market by demonstrating a product’s functionality and highlighting its distinctive features. Another element that can be used in a strategic campaign is the urgency brought on by QVC’s live TV format, which instills a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) in prospective customers. Companies can generate a sense of scarcity that boosts sales by framing the product as something that is in high demand and likely to sell out.

Overall, showing a product can be a successful strategy for firms to increase sales and profit. Product demonstrations give potential buyers the chance to see the product in action and comprehend its value proposition, whether they are done through live TV like QVC or other means like web videos or in-person demos. Businesses can boost their chances of turning prospective clients into actual purchasers and propel development in their sales by combining product demos into a smart marketing strategy and utilizing the power of urgency and scarcity.

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Free Stock Video Sources

A looped video is one that plays continuously on a website. Looping background videos on the front pages of websites is becoming more and more popular, with top sites like Airbnb, and PayPal following the trend.  This growing trend has increased the demand for looped and time-lapse video.

Copyright laws and regulations mean you can’t just download a video and use it on your website. Some better options are to either create your own video, hire an agency to create one for you, which can be expensive, or find public domain videos or use videos which are released under Creative Common Zero (CC0) license. We are always getting asked where to get the best and royalty free stock footage and high quality stock footage videos to use on sites. The answer to this question is not easy as it seems since you can’t just download any video and use it on your website. You have to respect the copyright rules and regulation and make sure you are not violating any rules.

Because of royalty and copyright regulations we have put together a list, not in any specific order to help you select from various vendors that offer free stock videos.

Below is a list of some of the best free stock footage or video sources:

1. Pexels
Pexels has a huge collection of quality CC0 license videos, which you can download free and use it as your landing page video or in any commercial projects.  Despite being free the quality of their video is brilliant. If you want to get a weekly digest of their recently released video, subscribe to their mailing list.

2. Videvo
Videvo founded by Tom Limb, has a huge library of free stock videos and motion graphics. Currently, they have over 3600 HD video, it’s steadily growing and becoming one of the go-to websites for stock videos.

3. Coverr
Coverr is a joint initiative between two startups Veed.Me & CodersClan.  They have a growing library of free videos which you can use a website background. Every Monday they add  7 new videos which they especially shoot for Coverr.

4. Videezy
Videezy is another place for quality video stock footage. They have thousands of free videos for you to choose from.

5. Mazwai
Mazwai has some great collection of slow motion and time lapse videos which can be an excellent fit for your website homepage background.

6. Stock Footage For Free
As their website states, they have a “ never-ending library of stock footage”. They have a vast library of free footages.

7. X Stock Video 
X Stock Video has a nice collection of free videos available for download.  Videos are extensively categorized and you can even sort the listed videos by popularity, download and date.

8. Free Stock photos.io 
Free Stock photos has a fair amount of CC0 images and videos listed on their site. You can search for videos by keyword and sort them by popularity and date.

9. Free HD Footage
Free HD Footage offers quite a collection of good and free footages. Videos are neatly categorized and no registration is required for downloading the videos.

10. Beach Front B-roll
You can find some good quality time lapse stock footage here. All of them are free to download and can be used in any project.

11. Vidsplay
Every week Vidsplay adds new royalty free video loops to their directory. They have a moderate collection of videos till date, but they are not categorized.

12. Life of Vids
Free stock videos created by Montreal based advertising agency Leeroy.

13. Distill
Curated free videos for your projects.  An initiative by Create the Bridge, they add 10 new videos every 10 days.

14. Splashbase
Splashbase is a search and discovery platform for finding free stock images and videos.

15. Open Images
Open Images, an initiative of the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in collaboration with Knowledgeland.

16. Clip Canvas
Clip Canvas has some free videos listed in their free section.

17. NASA Galleries
Videos hosted in NASA Galleries are available for download and can be used in educational or informational purposes. This permission only extends to personal Web pages.

18. Flickr Creative Commons
Video uploaded by Flickr users, which are licensed under Creative Commons

19. Vimeo – HD Stock Footage Group
A Vimeo group created by Phil Fried, filled with some pretty amazing footage.

20. Pikwizard
library of over 1 million stock images and videos.Royalty-free and safe for commercial use, with no attribution required.

21. Orange HD
Video footage about nature available for both for commercial and non-commercial use.

22. /r/footage
A subreddit dedicated to finding stock or creative commons videos. It’s a pretty active subreddit, If you look around you may find some hidden gems here.

23. Pixabay
Find your perfect free image or video to download and use for anything. Free for commercial use. No attribution required. High quality images.

24. Cute Stock Footage
A project by Michael & Chris, where they release free stock footage for profesional and amateur filmmaker, video editor.

25. Clipsstill
Mesmerizing Free cinemagraphs for your marketing and website every month.

For more information on Video Marketing CLICK HERE.

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