Video marketing can deliver powerful results. Not only can it boost your conversions, but it can also help to teach your customers more about your business and its offerings. In fact, just by mentioning video in the subject line of your email, your subscribers are already more likely to open the email.
So, if you have not added video to your email marketing strategy yet, it is about high time. It is a great tool as it is easy for your target audience to digest and make sense of the info. Plus, it is one of the best ways for your target audience to see for themselves what sets your business apart. To help you get it right, here are tips for how to get started and six super practical ideas for how you can add video to your email marketing strategy.
Tips for getting started
If you want to add video to your email marketing strategy, start by identifying clear goals. Do you want to use it to create more leads? Perhaps you are planning an upcoming event and need an effective way to announce it?
Once you have a better idea of your goals, you can start to identify your target audience and competitors. Armed with this info, you can create your budget and to-do list.
Before you include your video in your email or upload it to a platform such as YouTube, take the time to test it first. By simply sharing it with a couple of friends first, you can get valuable suggestions that you can use to make your video even better.
How Can You add Video to Your Email Marketing Strategy?
#1. Give them insight into how you operate
A goal of any successful email marketing strategy is to portray your business as more trustworthy. One way to achieve this is to introduce your employees to your customers in a welcome email. Another great idea is to give them an inside look into how their favourite products are made. In short, use it to treat your target audience to a peek behind the scenes of your operations.
As a matter of fact, if you do not know where to start, creating a video in which you share your personal story is the easiest. It does not have to be long! You can simply share with your target audience the key values of your business and which issues you are trying to solve.
This info might not be as clear to your target audience and will help them to see that your business cares about their needs. If you feel that you have too much information that you want to share, you can create a series of short videos. After all, the most effective videos are two minutes max!
#2. Share a how-to video
Most of us learn better when information is presented to us in a visual format which makes videos ideal for how-to guides. By creating a tutorial, you can teach your customers how to take full advantage of your product or services. Not only will you be creating helpful content that empowers your customers, but you can also use this chance to brag a bit about your business. It is a win-win!
#3. Summarise the news
Most businesses have a lot of updates that they would like to share with their customers. This is where video can help. An effective email marketing strategy is to create a short video about what your team has been up to and then include a link to your video in one of your emails.
#4. Announce a new feature or product
If you have an upcoming event or a new product or feature release, you can use video to trigger more interest. Why not spoil your email subscribers with a sneak peek? This way when the product hits the shelves, your customers will have already had enough time to save money.
#5. Share follow-up information
Just like you can use video effectively to create a type of preview of an upcoming event, it can also be an effective tool even after the event has been held. If you have ever organised some type of event, you will know only too well all the effort that goes into such a day.
By including a video with information and photos about the events that took place, you can continue to reap the rewards even after the actual event has ended. What’s more, it is also a very effective way to encourage those who could not attend to be there next year. For example, if you are a non-profit organisation, you can use this type of video to motivate more people to get involved.
#6. Show your appreciation
Who does not love feeling appreciated and valued? After all, your business would be nowhere without the loyal support of our customers. So, make sure that you take the time to tell your customers that you appreciate their support. Instead of an impersonal email, you can create a short video in which you and your team thank them personally.
As mentioned earlier, by introducing your employees to your customers you can portray your business as more trustworthy. It is this type of personal touch that makes video one of the most effective marketing tools!
Wrapping up
Video is just more interesting than paragraphs of text. For starters, it takes less time to digest the information and it is much easier to make sense of complicated instructions if you can watch someone else actually doing it. All things considered, people just respond better to video as most of us learn better visually.
And we are not the only ones… Search engines love it too! As a video can go viral overnight, it can be a great way for people to share your business story on your behalf.
That being said, whatever you do, avoid autoplay. Although most of us find video interesting, we still want to decide for ourselves whether or not we want to watch it.