THE IMPORTANCE OF VIDEO IN DRIVING SALES

For many businesses, generating sales is a delicate task. It involves building professional relationships with potential customers; employing methods that leave a lasting impression about your business and making the audience feel that your business is the ultimate solution to their demands and desires.
Video content has a big role to play in all these steps. Videos are dynamic which makes them more interesting and attention-grabbing than mere images or written posts. Consider the following statistics that advocate everything we just mentioned:
• Video Ads account for being the top reason people discovered a brand and bought from.
• More than 75% of marketers admit to experiencing increased sales by employing video ads.
• More than 90% of brands gained new customers from Instagram video ads.
• More than 80% of people hold video ads accountable for having them make the buying decision.

The attention-grabbing audio-visual element and interesting and informative content combined appeal to the viewer. Also depending on the type of the video like Testimonial Video, Explainer Video, How-To Video, etc, you have the opportunity to attract, entertain, gain and retain existing and potential customers. This contributes to increased sales.
The benefits of using video ads are multiplied if your sales team uses them for direct outreach. Videos aid in streamlining the endeavors of your salesperson without having to chase the leads.
Below is how to get started to use videos for driving sales:

Take Into Account the Sales Funnel
It is usually recommended to properly underline your goals before starting on a video project. Considering the Marketing Funnel- Attention, Interest, Desire, Action- is a great way to analyze your goals. The goal of marketers like you behind creating video ads is to make the potential customers glide through the marketing funnel smoothly, ultimately driving sales.
A video fit for one stage of the marketing funnel may prove useless for another stage. Therefore, it is important to identify your goal before embarking on the journey of video production.

You may consider the following ideas for different stages of the funnel:
AWARENESS
The Awareness stage corresponds to the first few interactions with your prospective customers and creating awareness about their problems and the existence of your brand in the market.
Videos for this stage aren’t focused on conversions or closing the deals but on gaining the audience’s attention and conveying some key points about your brand or products.
Before-and-After Videos, Commercials, Promos are the most effective video types for the Awareness stage. Such videos work well on OTT, Social Media, TV, or other digital spaces.

INTEREST
This stage relates to when the customer is already aware of the existence of your brand but isn’t planning to buy. In this stage, your brand and products are portrayed as the solutions to the problems identified by the customer in the Awareness phase. It accounts for creating interest in your brand by showing your story, product qualities, or other specifications.
Explainer Videos, Brand Videos, Crowdfunding Videos, and Product Videos perform well in this phase of the funnel. Distribution Channels like Emails, Social Media Handles, Websites, Paid Ads are involved in this stage.

DESIRE
This phase kind of coincides with the interest phase. Here, you showcase your brand as the best or the only solution to the problems identified by the customer in the Awareness phase. They turn from just finding your brand interesting to requiring or desiring it.
It makes it a good idea to present your brand or products in action in this phase. Employing videos like Customer Testimonials, How-To, FAQs, Product Descriptions where customers get the feel of actually using and living with your products accounts for drawing in more sales.
Such videos are usually directly used by the salespersons while interacting with the customers. Other channels include Emails, Product Listing on E-Commerce Websites, Social Media, and your Website.

ACTION
This is the phase where the customer converts. All your efforts finally some up to drive revenue, sometimes making you feel it a quick process. Over 90% of marketers admit to considering video as a very important part of the marketing strategy for a reason!
This phase is when you add the final pinch of salt to your food by making your customers make their buying decision in your favor. You can use Testimonial Videos or any important thing you feel will act as the catalyst. This is the phase where the customers are already interested in your brand and need a final push to buy from your brand.
Personal interactions and follow-ups account for this stage but other channels like Emails, Social Media also play an important role.

Consult Your Sales Team
Once you figure out the phase of the marketing funnel you wish to put your focus on, keep in mind to consult your salespersons. They are the one directly interact with you customers regularly and know which points to emphasize on.
This also is a great way of making your salesperson feel valued and connected by taking their opinions and advice into consideration. They will feel more connected to the content and hence would do their best to make customers relate to the video and ultimately convert them.

Test, Adjust, Repeat
Last but not the least, creating just one video and expecting miracles out of it would be of no use. While it may account for comparatively increased sales than having no video at all, it still is not enough.
The best way to receiving the most out of your efforts is to monitor and analyze the video as to the total no. of views or interactions, the total length up to which the video is being watched, the total time spent on the website, which distribution channel attracts the most traffic and interactions, is your video accounting for sales or mere interactions, etc
Publishing a video and analyzing its performance can prove to be a gold mine to learn more about the taste and opinions of the customers and channel your efforts in the right direction by overcoming your shortcoming and creating improved videos.
It is never too late to add videos to your marketing strategy and reap its benefits. Confused about how to get started? Reach us now and let us help you make the important decision!