When it comes to marketing and advertising on the internet, the ubiquitous presence of pay-per-click ads and banners might come to mind first. Increasingly, these advertising strategies are being complemented by a perhaps more traditional medium: video.

Video ads are an extremely powerful way to get your brand’s message across and grow your sales. Here are 4 reasons why video advertising works for any business:

1. Video Drives Traffic

Videos from YouTube, the internet’s most popular site and second most popular search engine, appear often in very high positions on Google search results.

  • When a video is associated with a particular search phrase, it increases the likelihood of that video appearing on the front page up to 53 times (Forrester).
  • Video results appear in about 70% of the top 100 listings, the type of content most often displayed in universal or blended search results (Marketingweek).
  • Videos in universal search results have a 41% higher click through rate than their plain text counterparts (RealSEO).

Video brings traffic to your business’ website more than any other type of search result.

2. Video Encourages Discovery and Engagement

Simply put, people love to watch videos. The numbers support this statement: 3 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day. For the past few years, online video viewing has been exponentially increasing. It is expected that by 2014, 90% of internet traffic and 66% of all mobile data will be video.

Not only do people watch videos, they also act on them:

  • 60% of content-sharing messages specifically mention a brand or product name.
  • Landing pages with professional video generate 4-7x more engagement and response rates (SearchEngineWatch).
  • When it comes to engagement, online video is 5.33 times more effective than text.

Videos associated with your business will get your brand known and shared across the internet.

3. Video Increases Conversion

When potential customers view a video, there is a greater chance that they will contact your business. Visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not (Internet Retailer, April 2010). Videos on your business website can significantly affect visitors’ behaviour:

  • It’s been shown that videos can increase the number of business profile clicks by more than 30%, business calls by 18%, website visits by 55%, incidence of purchase by 24% (PRWeb).
  • Retail sites with video increase conversion by 30% and boost average ticket by 13%. (L2 Specialty Retail Report, September 2010)
  • Product pages with video have higher conversion rates than product pages without video. (Internet Retailer, February 2010)

4. Video Builds Trust & Loyalty

Online video is second only to word-of-mouth for its ability to influence decision makers in every stage of the purchase lifecycle. Studies have shown that over 90% of shoppers surveyed found video useful in making purchase decisions (Internet Retailer, October 2010). Video is a powerful way to sensitize potential customers to your brand, products and services, leading to significant increases in sales.

Video production is a complex and involved process that demands the skills and expertise of trained professionals. A badly done video can actually hurt your brand, while a quality production can bring your business all the benefits mentioned above and more. From video advertisements to company profiles to testimonials, BlueHat Marketing offers professional video production services for any modern business.