Video content: What's the deal?


As a CMO, if you are still thinking if you should invest in creating video content, here are some key things to think about: 

Today, your customer:
  • spends as much time watching the news, as she spends reading it,
  • is watching lesser tv, not because the medium is dying, but because increased time spent outdoors (commuting, increased activities), on-demand availability and bandwidth are creating the perfect storm; they still watch an incredible amount of video content- it's just not on TV
  • spends lesser time reading the newspaper, but still does - CPMs on print are still more expensive than online ads. Print spends are decreasing, they are decreasing off a large base, and online spends are conversely, growing off a small base
  • has a consumption device at hand all the time- they are either facing a computer screen, or have a mobile device which allows them to browse with purpose, or waste away at leisure
I realise video is expensive. That it requires re-tooling your entire marketing practice, from creating content marketing teams, attracting agencies, freelancers, web teams and what not. But if you aren't doing it today, you're losing out to that start up, which is starting their content marketing video first, while both of you expose your marketing communications to a generation that's leaped the most, technology wise, in the past century, and mows down TV content increasingly, whether on YouTube, Netflix or other mediums they either subscribe to or get for free.
But, think about this- the smartest marketers today are thinking about (and activating) live streaming (with on-line editing and graphics, a la sports broadcasting), building content libraries where videos are 30-second snippets delivering communication objectives snappily. They're building web first, video primary content teams which will deliver a video a week less than a year from now.
On the other hand, if your brand's YouTube channel is full of talking head videos, where someone very knowledgeable goes on about their expertise for 5 minutes straight, and you see the video view retention results and say 'Video- too expensive and no one watches', you will be left behind.
If you think it's just too much work- brief your teams to create just five videos:
  1. A thirty second company introduction (for job aspirants, customers and other stakeholders)- introduce yourself to the world
  2. A one minute product commercial- tell people how you help them solve their problem in a specific manner (you will not roll this out on TV but online)
  3. Three promo films which explain why your product is superior to the competition (and please don't less the slickness of the video do the talking- think hard about why your solution will blow the customer away)- three because you are often not selling to just one person these days- personas are becoming fluid, increased gender and age diversity means you aren't only marketing to the white male Baby boomer/Gen Xer.
I look forward to your thoughtful comments here, or on twitter at @ironymeter.
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PS: I realise bullet 2 in the consumer analysis above will raise heckles at TV dependent marketers, who would want to throw study after study at me, at how people still watch record amounts of TV. I've never taken BARC, TAM and equivalent ratings in other countries seriously. Because I still can't believe the most expensive thing in the world- airtime, is still bought and sold like snake oil. Every TV in the world can have a anonymous data capture device, today if they want it. The networks, TV makers and advertisers are complicit, but no one likes to talk about it- that's my conspiracy theory.

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