The power of video marketing.

Especially now (in the year 2020), staying in contact and being visible is important. Many trade shows, customer visits, and live events have been canceled. Videos play a very important role in partially filling the gap that has emerged. We have seen a significant increase in demand for video products. Tal Gonen – Owner of Merkelijkheid

The Power of Video Marketing

Online marketing is no longer something that can be ignored in our daily lives in 2020. In fact, every day, as consumers, we are exposed to around 300 messages, in addition to dozens of emails. Through channels like social media, news pages, and traditional media such as radio and television, brands are trying to reach their target audience 24/7. The competition is immense, and consumers are being bombarded with more and more messages. How do you make sure that you stand out among your target audience in this overcrowded media landscape?

Especially now (in the year 2020), staying in contact and being visible is important. Many trade shows, customer visits, and live events have been canceled. Videos play a very important role in partially filling the gap that has emerged. We have seen a significant increase in demand for video products. Tal Gonen – Owner of Merkelijkheid

Within online marketing, there are various forms to distinguish. There is affiliate marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and content marketing. Even within this last form of marketing, there are various possibilities. Think of writing a blog or whitepaper, hosting a webinar, or producing a video. In this article, we will delve further into video as a powerful tool. Additionally, we will inform you about the success factors and provide you with some examples of videos we have had the privilege to produce.

What is Video Marketing?

The term video marketing is not very complicated. If we were to define the term, we would do it as follows: ‘The strategic creation and distribution of video content with the aim of promoting products, brands, or services.’

The fact that the use of videos is becoming increasingly popular is evident from research. In 2020, approximately 80% of internet traffic consisted of video content. Moreover, 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching a video, and videos are shared 1200 times more on social media than images or documents.

The Advantages of Video Marketing

• Not every consumer wants to invest much time and effort into being informed. A video ensures that this target audience is also reached.
• A video conveys more emotion than a piece of text.
• By publishing videos on your website, you keep consumers on your website longer.
• By letting an employee of your brand speak in one of your videos, you create a personal feeling and a sense of trust towards the end user.
• A video can be distributed on multiple platforms, resulting in a wider reach.
• Video is highly suitable for advertising campaigns on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Video ads often yield better results than photos.

What Makes a Video Strong?

How long can you hold the consumer’s attention? To increase the chances that the consumer watches the entire video, it is important that the video is not too long. According to a Clickz study, the optimal advertised video lasts 15 seconds, and 90% of the target audience remains focused on the video if it does not exceed 15 seconds. For a 30-second video ad, this drops to 67%. If you have a longer video, make sure that the target audience remains curious to seek more information about your video. Of course, we are talking about averages; the target audience and the purpose of your video largely determine how long your audience remains engaged.

The User (Your Target Audience) Is Central

The use of the product, brand, or service becomes much more tangible when the end user sees how it is used. Therefore, make sure that the message is powerful and clear, and always place the end user at the center. If you want to convey a message, inform the user why it is important to watch, what the goal is, and what it yields. In addition, it is about the content of the video. Cliché but true; a picture is worth a thousand words. Let alone when you combine these two…

Accessibility

Accessibility is the key to success. You want your video to be watched anytime and anywhere. Think, for example, of an office where the video is played without sound. Subtitling your video makes this possible. More and more videos are being provided with subtitles as a standard practice. Major platforms like YouTube sometimes automatically subtitle videos in previews. This may not be of the highest quality, but it is certainly a practical solution. Accessibility is also related to the display. You want your video to be displayed optimally on every device.

How to Implement Video Marketing?

You want your video to reach the target audience as much as possible and that the distribution of the video on various channels ultimately leads to your website. How do you do that? We give you five tips for creating a content distribution strategy for your videos.

Determine how you are going to distribute your video: organically, paid, or both? The advantage of organic distribution is that it remains on your website and social media for as long as you want and improves findability. With a paid campaign, you can distribute the content even better outside your own customer base and network. Promoting your content through Google, as well as through Facebook, LinkedIn, and numerous other social media or industry platforms, is becoming increasingly common.
If you decide that advertising is part of your content distribution, make sure the ad always leads to your website, where you generate sales or potential leads and can truly connect with your target audience. Not unimportantly, choose the right format depending on where you want to place the video. Create videos in a horizontal format for YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and videos in a vertical format for Instagram, for example.
As previously mentioned, the optimal video lasts 15 seconds. Does your video last longer? Then use part of the video as a trigger on various platforms to lead to the full video on your website.
Always write an article about the video you have posted for SEO purposes. Describe at least what the video is about and supplement the blog with other information that is interesting to your target audience whenever possible.
Don’t just think about what you want to achieve with your video, but also how you can persuade a potential customer to engage in contact or make a purchase after watching the video. We recommend placing a ‘Call to Action’ wherever you post the full video and lead your ads. This is where you want to connect with your target audience, whether for an immediate purchase or at a later time. With a call to action, you offer the opportunity to leave an

email address. The call to action you use depends on your product or service, what your target audience needs, and what you have to offer. Think, for example, of a newsletter subscription, the download of a white paper, or an e-book. By leaving their details, potential customers can be approached later for other contact moments and conversions.
Video Marketing and Merkelijkheid

In 2020, Merkelijkheid produced many videos for its clients. Tal Gonen, owner of Merkelijkheid and involved in many video projects, says, “We saw the demand for video marketing increase due to the arrival of Covid-19. Clients were looking for a way to reach their target audience. Video marketing plays a crucial role in this. Over the past year, we have been fortunate to produce over 40 videos for our clients.”

Below is a selection of some videos that have contributed to the success of our clients, along with their requests and the results achieved:

Video for Lead Generation in Strategic Target Markets for Audion

For the client Audion Packaging Machines, we were able to film at one of their customers. Fascino Koffie in Weert uses Audion packaging machines for packaging and sealing their coffee products. The food sector is one of Audion’s four strategic spear markets, in addition to Medical/Pharma, Parts, and E-commerce. Packaging coffee is an important segment in the strategic target market. We produced a beautiful film for Audion, were responsible for the script, interviews, and editing. Of course, we also included subtitles. We wrote a series of articles about this topic, which were published on the website, complete with sufficient CTAs (Call To Actions).

The Result:

Contribution to Business Goals: From this assignment, it is evident that new machines were sold, as the owner of Audion Packaging Machines mentioned. For this client, we have previously created another video, also specifically for the strategic target market in the food sector. Featuring the well-known chef Alain Caron. You can watch this video here:

Video voor stijgende merkwaarde Intratone

Voor relatie Intratone Benelux hebben we in 2020 veel bereikt. Naast dat we diverse video’s mochten produceren hebben we ook bijvoorbeeld de Nederlandse en Belgische websites mogen ontwerpen en campagnes in deze landen gedraaid. Op die manier hebben we een bijdrage geleverd aan de merkbekendheid van dit van oorsprong Franse merk. We willen graag één van de video’s uitlichten. Deze video is inmiddels in meerdere landen ingezet, waaronder Nederland, België, Frankrijk, UK en Denemarken. Het resultaat:

How long can you hold the consumer’s attention? To increase the chances of the consumer watching the entire video, it’s important that a video doesn’t last too long. According to a study by Clickz, the optimal advertised video lasts for 15 seconds, and 90% of the target audience remains engaged with the video if it doesn’t exceed 15 seconds. For a video ad of 30 seconds, this engagement drops to 67%. If you have a longer video, make sure to keep the audience curious to seek more information about your video. Of course, these are averages, and the target audience and the purpose of your video largely determine how long your audience remains engaged.

We were responsible for the concept, script, script outline, actors, and props. We were also fortunate with the weather in mid-March 2020. The video was shot at multiple locations but all within a single shooting day. The video was translated into multiple languages, such as Danish (including post-production for the translated text in the wireless intercom and phone).

Video about Buma/Stemra’s new strategy

For our client Buma/Stemra, we were able to produce a video that highlights the new direction the organization will take in the coming years. Together with Buma/Stemra, we came up with a concept in which we don’t have the creators narrate the new direction, but we tell it from the perspective of the performers and users. We opted for a setup that paid a lot of attention to color and background, effectively immersing the viewer in the story. Data analysis revealed that a significant portion of the audience watched the video in its entirety, which is quite an achievement given its length (almost 5 minutes) and the complexity of the message. Mission accomplished! In addition to project management, the script, a large part of the interviews, and the concept, we also launched a campaign around this video. The campaign allowed us to distribute the video beyond Buma/Stemra’s network and expand the reach of the message. Check out the result here:

Company Presentation Video (Technical) Donghua

Donghua is a supplier of chains, sprockets, and complete chain systems. In addition to being responsible for their website and recently for integrating their product database with that of MRO partners, we were also able to produce two videos. The main goal of these videos is to show that Donghua Europe is more than just a distributor.

With this video, we demonstrate that Donghua Europe not only has over 15,000 different products in stock but is also a true competence center. A competence center has everything it needs to integrate seamlessly into the customer’s chain. From a modern workshop with state-of-the-art machinery to an extensive laboratory, everything under one roof.

In this video, we showcase the competence center, from customer-specific design to shipping. Check out the result here:

Campaign Video for Wisseloord Studios

Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum is world-famous. Many renowned artists have retreated to one of their studios to record albums, from Michael Jackson to The Police, from the Scorpions to Simply Red. Even today, Hilversum is sought after for top productions. Wisseloord Studios has become more than just studios. Under the leadership of CEO Malik Berrabah, it is becoming a true music hub. This hub plays a vital role in bringing together knowledge, networks, and talent.

The Wisseloord Academy is where this talent can further develop, guided by the absolute top experts in music and production. It’s also a place where individuals engage with music together. For this esteemed client, we were able to create a series of videos and write articles with the main goal of connecting new talent to them. These videos are organically distributed through the Wisseloord Academy’s website and social media channels and supported by periodic campaigns around the start of new courses.

We created a total of 5 videos and wrote various articles. Here’s one of these videos for you to watch:

Video to Strengthen Your Positioning

Merkelijkheid has been working with Apex Dynamics in Helmond for years. The initial positioning, “Apex loopt harder” (Apex runs faster), was recently reevaluated, and it was decided that the brand was due for a repositioning. The new positioning is now “move forward” and emphasizes the contribution they make to innovation. Innovation takes various forms, at the product or process level, but also by supporting the next generation of engineers. Apex Dynamics accomplishes this through a combination of knowledge, products, or financial support. One of the projects they have been supporting for a long time and with great enthusiasm is University Racing Eindhoven (URE). URE is a student team that builds electric and even autonomous race cars at a very high level. Every year, a group of students from the Eindhoven University of Technology dedicates an entire academic year to the project. Normally, URE participates in various international student races across Europe. However, in 2020, due to the pandemic, this was not possible. Thom van Oss, owner of Apex Dynamics, spoke with URE about the consequences, disappointments, and the future. It’s no surprise that these driven students quickly want to look ahead and “move forward.”

This film was not only used by Apex but also featured in the URE launch event, a great example of how compelling content always finds its way to other distribution channels and audiences. This also had the added benefit of gaining thousands of extra views for the video (starting at 5:24, the video we created for Apex).

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