Old Spice, Volkswagen, T-Mobile and yes, even indie-band, OK-GO are all brands that use video marketing to promote themselves and their products. In this article we’ll be exploring what exactly video marketing is, where it came from and how its changing the face of online entertainment and advertising. So, without further ado let’s start at the beginning and take a look at the origins of video marketing.
In this article we’ll take a quick look at the history of video marketing.
In 2006, a relatively new platform was launched on the unsuspecting interwebs – YouTube. In the early days YouTube was met with a mixture of indifference, distrust and of course, disgust. Sure it was a home for amateur content and pirated material and for many this mixture just made the platform seem vulgar and certainly not something with which to apply to your business. However, despite its nature, the early YouTube content began to attract an audience base and as the user base grew, only then did businesses and marketers start to take notice. However, a corporation navigating the channels of YouTube and all its ‘undesirable’ content and unfettered audience was risky, and so the first form of video marketing was by stealth. A trojan horse as it were…
Over time though the concept of video marketing has expanded. We’re no longer looking just at YouTube but the whole web structure – websites, social media spaces, email, mobiles and apps – all capable of delivering and measuring video content and video has now become a very important and lucrative marketing tool.
Video is also rarely considered as a standalone product, while viewers are sought, brands realise they must get their video shared and open up a channel for discourse and engagement. To this end, video goes hand in hand with social platforms that allow businesses to reach and measure this added social functionality, and let’s not forget the ability to target audiences and measure the returns.
Video features in Google search, YouTube search, Facebook pages, video blogs and mobile ads and does so with a variety of objectives. Brands from Old Spice, T-Mobile, Will It Blend, Orabrush, O2 and Dollar Shave Club have all embraced the medium to great effect and for many small business, Dollar Shave Club for example, have found video to be a great leveller in the online marketplace.
Let us know your thoughts on how your business uses video marketing, or visit the site for more information on using video to market your business or products!
There’s so much more to learn about video marketing! Ryan Stone is Creative Director of Lambda Films, aVideo Production Norwich company. Ryan also curatesRetina Burn a video marketing blog, please take a look!