If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's the value of video?
Since Brian Palmer first conceptualised video marketing with the birth of television advertisements around 70 years ago, video marketing has evolved incredibly. Now 82% of ALL internet traffic is video in 2022.
With 86% of businesses using video as a marketing tool, can you really afford to be part of the 14% of businesses that don't? In this blog, I'll answer 3 of the worlds most common reasons for not using construction marketing video, allowing you to convince your Boss of its importance. Let's go!
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Construction is famously known for being slow to adopt modern technology and approaches and the same can be said for video marketing. Wyzowl gathered data in December 2021 regarding video, and these are the main reasons why marketers didn't use it.
However, even with these statistics, 79% of non-video marketers said they expected to start using video in 2022 (10% more than last year.)
In simple terms, if you don't currently use video - you're not alone... But you soon will be. With some business leaders sceptical about video marketing it's no surprise that you find it challenging to convince them of its importance. But rest assured, this blog sets out to answer each of these burning questions and after reading it, you'll be better equipped to convince your Boss!
With video often being an 'additional' marketing tool and not a fundamental one to a business strategy, the service is frequently oversimplified to meet the deadlines and expectations of the client (you) who is usually juggling multiple things are seemingly more important than video. Unfortunately, this pattern will usually yield a lower quality end product resulting in an unsatisfied client, and there's no escaping that.
So, how do you achieve great video marketing with limited time, for a reasonable price? The answers are simpler than you think, and there are three of them.
You want to work with someone who "gets it" quickly. Someone who pays attention to the details, asks the right questions, does their homework and comes ready to work quickly. Outsourcing is ideal for those who lack the time to do video themselves. The key here is finding a construction video specialist you trust with a robust system so you know what's going on at all times, without having 100 meetings.
A robust system doesn't need to be rocket science, something as simple as this will do:
Oh, I know what you're thinking, "where are we going to get the money for that, Dorian." But, hold your horses, my friend. Nobody said you needed to employ Steven Spielberg, in fact, nobody said you needed to hire a videographer at all... Let me explain. With video becoming a fundamental part of marketing, many marketers are honing in on their videos skills in their own time, so in recruiting marketers with skills in video you're pretty much killing two birds with one stone.
You don't need the newest camera or the snazziest editing software to do video, most mobile devices can record fantastic video, and that alone is a great start!
Firstly you'll need to start with a few simple questions:
You need to speak to the people who interact with your customers day in, day out to answer these questions. Yup, you guessed it, yours sales reps. Think about all the questions your sales team receive in their first meeting/call with a potential customer; I can guarantee 80% of those questions are exactly the same.
IMPACT conducted a study where they asked hundreds of companies about this particular instance, and the results were unmistakable. Most individuals said that 80% of the questions asked in the first call were the same.
This is where a video completely changes the game.
To smoothen your customer experience and shorten the sales process, you should consider setting up a short meeting with your sales reps where you conjure up and collate all the questions and queries brought in those early meetings; this will act as the basis of the questions your video(s) should answer.
It can be challenging to wrap your head around something as technical as video, right?
Sit back, we've done the leg work for you. Here is a list of the equipment and software we use to make our videos:
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Equipment |
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(Camera A) –Sony A7iii |
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(Camera B) Sony a6400 |
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(Lens A) Sigma 28 -70mm 2.8 |
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(Lens B) Sony 16 – 50mm 2.8 |
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(Tripod) MANFROTTO Compact Advanced Tripod x2 |
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(Lights) Neewer LED 660 x 2 |
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(Lights) Neewer LED 440 x 2 |
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(Lights) Neewer Ring Light x 2 |
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(Audio) Rode Wireless Go 2 |
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(Backdrop) White & Blue Back Drop 3metres x 3.6metres |
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(Stands) Backdrop Stands |
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(Mobile Phone Gimbal) DJI Osmo 3 |
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(Camera Gimbal) DJI Ronin-SC Mirrorless Gimbal |
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(Teleprompter) AMBITFUL Teleprompter |
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(Hard drive) WD 5 TB |
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Podcast Equipment |
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(Audio Interface) Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 |
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(Mic Arm) TONOR Adjustable Suspension Boom Scissor Mic Stand |
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(Mics) Shure SM58 Podcast Mic x 2 |
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(Laptop) Microsoft Surface Book 3 |
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Software |
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HubSpot |
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Vidyard |
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Adobe Creative Suite (Premiere Pro, After Effects etc) |
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HitFilm Express |
Depending on your requirements you may need more or less equipment than we have. Our media stack is centred around our requirements; we shoot an audio and video podcast, and we go on-site to shoot video for our clients, so our technology needs to be ranging.
But please do not get swayed by mass opinion here, 'newer the better' isn't real. In fact, it is a marketing trick! Use the necessary equipment and software for your needs, not what everyone else says you need!
For example, 1080HD (2K) cameras were considered as the standard for content creation; yet, in recent times, 4K has taken over, offering a much clearer and more detailed image. However, this has once again changed with Canon, Sony, and Panasonic (to name a few) relasing 6K and 8K cameras, 1080 and 4K is now seen as a thing of the past. But does that really matter?
Short answer - no. Most TV's, mobile phones, and laptops can't currently display footage of such quality at its intended resolution. Therefore all of those lovely K's go to waste, along with the investment needed to acquire one. This gets even worse when you consider that most videos are viewed on small areas on a screen. Think, how often do you press 'enlarge' when watching a video? This means you could theoretically get away with a resolution 16 times smaller than 8K, and perhaps 16 times cheaper!
Finally, a bit of science. The human eye can only see up to 8K in detail, therefore anything above 8K, and we won't know the difference. Folks, we've hot the roof when it comes to resolution. This means the better film equipment gets the less of a difference we'll actually notice, crazy right!
Don't waste money chasing an unrealistic standard. If you'd like to speak more about the equipment you need, feel free to contact me directly here, I love chatting about media (as I'm sure you can tell), and I'd be glad to help.
I hope this blog has answered this question already. HOWEVER, if it hasn't, you just wait to see these stats!
If you are a construction product business trying to educate or inform, this is one of the best reasons to invest in video marketing or even a digital CPD. Users retain information better when it's embedded within a video instead of text. This makes your message register much stronger and has a longer-lasting impact.
Google is continually evaluating which content they should show to specific users. Video content gets prioritised because platforms are more likely to show video. After all, it is also likely to have a longer shelf life in people's news feeds.
Video builds trust, and in the built environment, this has never been more important, with value engineering and shady deals taking priority over the quality of the product. Businesses nowadays command as much trust as their founders and employees, and video is a great way to establish this.
But trust is one thing, what about the impact on business! Well, website visitors are 64 to 85% more likely to purchase after watching a product video. So not adopting video isn't just an uncreative decision, it's a lousy business one too.
Video is here to stay, and with the monumental shift happening in construction marketing the first to get over the digital marketing hill are usually the first to reap the rewards from the land, and video is your secret weapon when doing this. Now go and get that buy-in from your Boss!
At Insynth we deliver a predictable flow of leads, customers, and specifications for building product brands through our inbound marketing approach, proven to reach a technically demanding audience.
We use the latest marketing techniques such as construction inbound marketing, to equip building product companies to grow sustainability in this era of digital transformation.
As the only HubSpot certified agency to major in construction marketing. We have a proven formula of bringing a variety of functionalities together including CRM Implementation, Web Design, Sales Automation, SEO, and Email Marketing to achieve your ultimate aim: Growing your business and gaining new specifiers and customers.
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