Use video to engage customers and boost brand recognition

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Video is gaining in popularity among consumers seeking information online. When video and text are available on the same page, 72 percent of people asked would rather watch a video than read text to learn about a product or service (Source: Wyzowl.com).

“Video is critical to your company’s content strategy because it is snack-sized, memorable and measurable,” said Jeff King, president, The Pest Rangers, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He uses video to attract and inform customers, and shared tips during a presentation he gave on the subject at the National Pest Management Association’s 2019 Technology Summit.

Most of his company’s videos are between 30 and 45 seconds. King said these short clips are posted on his company’s social media platforms — Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn — and included on his company’s website. Blog posts and emails are other ideal spots for video.

Currently, King is looking at every landing page on his company’s website and trying to put that text into a video.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” he said. “But it’s easier [for the customer] if you take that information and put it into a video.”

Jeff King

In addition, he plans to record videos of his technicians sharing their personal stories, and post them next to their photos on his company’s “Meet the Rangers” page featuring company employees because “people are going to watch that video rather than read that content,” he added.

Video’s visual format makes it ideal for teaching complex concepts, King said. For example, ThePestRangers.com features a video in which King explains the differences among the company’s three home protection service packages; how the visits are scheduled; and what the service calls entail. Videos that help customers make a buying decision are more appealing than those that simply offer a history of your company, he explained.

“They probably get more hits than your company video,” King said. “The only [people] looking at your company video are your employees and you, because you are so proud of it.”
 

WHERE TO BEGIN

King offered four steps for ramping up your digital video content:

1. Create a video marketing strategy that defines your video marketing goals. Are you trying to increase traffic to your website? Boost sales of a specific pest control service?
2. Decide what type of videos to make, who will make them, and what your budget will be. Many companies produce videos in-house with nothing more than a smartphone and bright lighting, although many digital cameras also have video capabilities. Others outsource the work.
3. Decide where you will host your videos. Will they appear on your company’s social media platforms, the website, or both?
4. Choose a way to measure video performance. King said Google Analytics is an invaluable tool that makes it possible to track every view of a company’s website, and the videos on it. It lets you know whether a visitor to the website watches a video, and if so, for how long. Once you have metrics, you can adjust your use of video accordingly.

MORE: See Jeff King’s list of video category ideas here.