Marketers, Post a Video!

Way back in 1995, I was doing some unusual things for a media executive. One issue was that I was helping to take some infomercial marketers from Direct Response TV (DRTV) to retail. They were a motley crew of Runyonesque characters but for 18 months or so they broke up the monotony of discussing Reach & Frequency estimates or the pattern of frequency distributions with conventional marketers perhaps far more bored than I. One day, my favorite infomercial guy called me and we had a long talk. He said something very interesting. Apparently, his call center was getting jammed with calls at certain times from people inquiring how his gadget worked. So, he started sending videos of his informercial in with every DRTV sale. Magically, sales continued to grow and the phone only rang a fraction as much as it did a few weeks earlier. He said he planned to do that permanently. I laughed and said it sounded great but told him the TV billing that we did for him might plummet (It did!). My friend asked me what this kind of advertising he was doing and I said it reminded me of an article that I had read recently. I told him that he could call it “content marketing.”

Well, a lot of things have happened since 1995. And, content marketing, truly novel then even when discussed in a package, still has a very nice future. Why? There are a few reasons from my perspective and they are:

1) People watch videos and they like them! Stuck too much at home during this horrendous pandemic. I bet that Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and perhaps Disney + is getting a lot attention from you. Some prognosticators have fragmentary research that says online video viewing is up more than 50% in the last 24 months. It may be a lot higher over the last 90 days.

2) I am an outlier in that I read all the time. Most people do not but their preference for getting information tends to be with videos. They keep their attention, educate in many cases and are considered entertaining. Two recent studies indicate that people learn about a product through word of mouth to a large degree but two thirds say that, all things being equal, they would prefer videos. A textual description only gets the stamp of approval from 18-20%.

3) The track record for videos is strong. Nearly 90% of marketers say that embedding a video in an e-mail increases website traffic significantly. Also, the “pass-along” audience is very solid. It appears that people may not forward a verbal product story to a friend, associate or relative but they will if it is a short video.

4) Videos appear to turbo-charge e-mail marketing. What triggered me to post this is that in recent months, a few readers have contacted me and stated that their e-mail blasts are getting diminishing returns. To a person, none have used a video. In a world where we use FaceTime, What’s App, and Skype with friends, relatives and business associates, a simple video in the mix can certainly help. Amazingly, people are not doing it some 25 years after my friend stumbled upon it.

If this post seems mundane, too bad. Sometimes, people ignore the simple blocking and tackling that all marketers need to do.

Should you wish to contact Don Cole directly, you may reach him at doncolemedia@gmail.com