Unless visitors find clear value, they will leave your website in 10-20 seconds.
The pressure is on business owners and webmasters not just to provide that needed value, but to do so in a way that engages and communicates efficiently. After evolving rapidly over the past decade, web video has become one of the most effective ways to both capture visitor attention and communicate your business’s value.
Why Video?
You take pride in your work and products, and you constantly spend time and effort explaining to customers why. Video enables your customers to see firsthand what sets your business and products apart from other companies. For example, instead of just displaying a few before/after photos of a restored product on your website, let the customer watch as you take them through the restoration process, from point of acquisition to the finished product. They’ll see your employees actually creating your product or providing your service, giving the customer both a sense of connection to your business and a chance to see the value that your business has to offer them.
Video is simply the most engaging and convincing means of communication available on the web. Once a short-form video has started, a customer won’t simply scroll to the bottom of the page before hitting the back button. When the potential customer starts the video, it is a conscious decision to give it a chance to impress them, which should be the only chance that your business needs to inspire a potential customer to become an actual customer.
The DSLR Video Revolution
When it comes to web video, there was a game changer 5 years ago in the form of HD video capable Digital SLR Cameras. What sets DSLR apart from other forms of video is its extremely large sensor size and vast assortment of interchangeable lenses, allowing for a narrower depth of field and a previously unimaginable range of creative possibilities. All this, combined with a cost far below that of professional grade cameras a decade ago, has led to a modern renaissance in the field of short form videography.
Short form corporate video has resultantly evolved to focus more on creative visuals and less on spoken word. The videos are more genuine and messages are more believable. They are now potent branding assets instead of simply messaging tools. For this new style of video, narrative has become paramount.
Visual Proof
First up is the Inverted Bike Shop, in Brooklyn, NY. This is a business with a unique approach to selling bicycles — one that is well suited to a creative video focused on their narrative. On display in this video are many of the traits that make DSLR video unique; extremely high production value, rich color, and many artistic shots only possible with the large sensor and lens selection.
The video is unhurried, split between short shots of the shop and longer shots of a customer going through the process of building the bike. We get to see the story unfold of how a bike goes from concept to construction with a convincing narration by the shop owner about his business. Unlike traditional video marketing, this piece feels genuine, and fulfills far more than simply explaining the shop’s value proposition.
A second example is Intelligentsia Coffee. An early adopter of DSLR video, Intelligentsia’s remarkable growth over the last 5 years has been partly fueled by their excellent use of video to promote their brand. They started with artistic how-to videos, which exposed their brand to hundreds of thousands of people searching for information on quality coffee brewing. While this isn’t something that sticks out as an interesting subject, they are able to make it exciting by using a more artistic modern style.
More recently, they have released a series of video testimonials. These emphasize Intelligentsia’s growing BtoB business, and depict both the value of their services and the necessity of them to other businesses seeking to stay competitive.
Adding short-form DSLR video to your website not only engages and retains visitors, but it gives you a leg up in many other areas such as search engine optimization, brand building, and visitor conversion. Of particular note, only 24% of national companies are marketing to their customers with video, yet Youtube is the second most popular search engine in the world. Consumers regularly utilize YouTube to seek more information about products or services. Having video on YouTube allows customers to find your business not only through text-based search engines, but when searching for videos.
Though investing in video can be daunting to businesses, the value of the medium is becoming impossible to ignore. Embracing web video now will pay dividends through website engagement and conversion, customer acquisition, and branding.