In terms of ROI, video marketing and email marketing are two of the most effective forms of digital marketing available. But how can they be blended into a single marketing approach? Video marketing and email marketing can be highly effective when used together, but because of their formats, some care needs to be taken. Blending video and marketing requires an in-depth understanding of why each marketing approach is so successful — and the demographic that it most appeals to.

But first, some stats.

The Importance of Video and Email Marketing

51% of marketing professionals believe that video is the type of content with the best ROI. 68% of marketing professionals believe that email is the best digital channel for ROI. So we can see why combining video and combining email would be inherently so effective: it puts the best type of content on the best channel.

Video marketing is effective because it’s engaging. Everyone likes to watch a good video. They also absorb the information and retain it for longer through that format. In fact, 90% of the information that the brain receives is visual. Videos also allow a company to better tell their story and establish their brand, as video can condense more information into a shorter amount of time.

Email marketing is effective because it’s direct. It can be customized and tailored to the individual, it can be targeted and triggered to specific scenarios, and it can access practically anyone in every demographic. There will be 3.7 billion email users throughout the world by the end of the year; there is scarcely any demographic that a marketing professional cannot reach through this content channel.

When used together, video marketing can push compelling, engaging content directly through to your potential, current, and even former customers. Video marketing can be used to tell detailed product stories, build trust in your brand, or even just deliver entertaining and timely content. But because both video marketing and email marketing are challenging, there are a lot of things you need to first consider.

11 Video and Email Marketing Best Practices

1. Create “buyer personas” before developing a strategy — and tailor each strategy to a single persona. A buyer persona is meant to represent your core demographics. They allow you to speak more authentically to your buyers, to determine what they want and what they would find most appealing. A buyer persona is the foundation to any solid marketing strategy and is especially important in email and video marketing. Ask yourself questions about your major demographics: how old are they? What gender? How much do they make and where do they live? When they encounter your product, what problem are they trying to solve? What actions will they try to take to solve it?

2. Keep your branding consistent. Video has the remarkable power to establish a company’s brand identity and voice very quickly. But when that voice is inconsistent, customers can find it hard to trust your business or to understand what it’s about. Throughout your email and video marketing, you need to be able to establish a consistent voice above all else. Figure out your company’s values early on and align all of your media with your mission statement.

3. Create multiple marketing strategies. Every demographic is different as is every buyer persona. Multiple strategies may be needed to encompass the entirety of your market. Not only should you create multiple targeted strategies, but you also need to track them appropriately. Statistics will give you the information that you need to determine which strategies are working best and which may need to be tweaked and fine-tuned. Just like traditional email marketing, video marketing via email also needs to be A/B tested.

4. Keep your video concise. The attention span for content on the Internet is quite short. Though an email can provide additional information, a video itself needs to be short and snappy. Make your basic points, stick to it, and don’t exceed a few minutes of time. If you need to add more information, make sure that the most important information is front-loaded at the very beginning of the video.

5. Consider your entire sales funnel. Email and video marketing is going to guide your buyers through the purchase (and even beyond it). That means that it has to be able to support their journey. At the very beginning, videos will be targeted towards educating customers regarding your product and your business. Further along, the videos will be persuasive; they will be designed to draw your customers in with information regarding why your product is better than the competition, and why they should invest. After purchase, videos should be targeted towards supporting your product and encouraging additional sales. Altogether, your marketing is going to guide your buyer through their relationship with your company.

6. Prepare your hosting service. Your videos are going to have to be hosted somewhere. Third party video platforms are often best; they can provide hosting without the need for you to pay for your own server. If you are paying for your own server, you need to make sure that you have the resources and bandwidth available. If your video goes “viral” (which is often the hope), you’ll need to be able to keep up with the new demand.

7. Track your customer metrics. Just like a loading page, a video can track information on whether users clicked, how long they viewed the video for, and where they came from. Through your email marketing links, you should track as much information as possible so you fully understand how successful your campaign is. For instance, the “bounce” rate of the video is going to tell you a lot about whether the video was something they expected or if they felt that it didn’t provide enough value to them.

8. Get the tone right. Lighter is usually better. On the Internet, videos that are dry or boring are usually ignored. Though you don’t need to create something that’s the pinnacle of entertainment, you usually want something that’s fairly upbeat and fast-paced. The tone of your video is going to impact the relationship the customer develops with you.

9. Don’t just focus on views. There are countless people, for instance, that watch Thai Life Insurance commercial advertisements — but very few people are looking for Thai Life Insurance. When you create a compelling ad, you can expect to get a lot of views, but not all of these views are actually interested in your product. Focus on performance-based metrics instead, such as the number of individuals who continued on to your product pages, or the number of customers who actually committed to a purchase.

10. Invest in a consolidated marketing system. There are many marketing systems that are specifically designed to track your strategies on multiple sales channels. They can track your brand mentions through social media in addition to the amount of clicks that you’re receiving on your video marketing campaign. No campaign occurs in a vacuum; the true impact of your email and video campaign will need to be measured throughout all of the social media platforms you use and all of the owned media channels you’ve developed.

11. Always have a clear call-to-action. Once the video ends, the customer must be aware of the next step. This is important even if the next step isn’t necessarily a purchase. The next step could also be watching more videos, visiting a certain website, or simply requesting a quote. Make your call to action as direct and simple as possible.

Challenges When Mixing Video and Email Marketing

•Video marketing needs to be produced professionally. Video marketing requires an in-depth knowledge of both video and audio production. It also requires better equipment than most people have at hand — and a poorly produced video can actually have a negative impact on a campaign rather than a positive one. In addition to this, attempting to produce video without an understanding of video marketing can lead to costly expenditures. Professionally produced video can be less expensive than video produced by those outside of the industry.

•Email marketing has to be appropriately targeted. There have been tremendous volumes of information posted on targeting email marketing. Without appropriate targeting of specific demographics, most commercial emails are going to go completely unread. Most people receive dozens of emails every day, and for the most part they delete them without opening. Email marketing is a science: there are countless studies regarding exactly what gets someone to click on an email and open it. Professional marketing knowledge is required.

•Video marketing covers many types of video. From standard commercials to in-depth explainer videos, there are dozens of types of video that a company can choose from. But only some of these video formats lend themselves to an email distribution channel. For the purposes of email marketing, videos need to be very specific and need to speak directly to the consumer. Each video has to be tailored to the email marketing campaign (and the opposite is also true) for it to be truly effective. General videos, such as commercials, are not well-suited to the format.

•Email marketing requires contacts. Email “cold calling” usually doesn’t result in a sale; instead, email addresses need to be appropriately sourced so that all messages are directed to customers who could be truly interested in your product. Rather than attempting to convince someone to purchase your product, most email marketing is targeted towards educating customers on why they already needed your product, That means that you also need to invest some time in developing your email list before you can begin your email campaign.

The numbers don’t lie: video and email marketing, together, are extraordinarily effective. But because they are also both complicated paths, it often does require a professional to pull them together into a cohesive and coherent campaign. Investing in video and email marketing can bring a company some substantial returns, as well as further building out their marketing strategy as a whole.

Article by Joe Forte, co-owner and producer at D-Mak Productions, a corporate video production company based in Phoenix, AZ.

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