Video Content Changes the Face of Traditional Marketing

Companies will continue to analyze their marketing plans as we enter 2011. Traditional marketing approaches will be reconsidered as they have become less effective in reaching their target audiences. Businesses are rapidly embracing digital media as the preferred tactic to reach today's consumers.

Harris Interactive, an information gathering group for surveys, polls and web marketing analysis applications, recently reported the results of an in-depth study:

  • 87% of online adults use social media
  • 17% of adults ages 18-34 use social media 6 to 10 hours per week

The concept of video marketing has emerged as a highly effective tool in increasing companies' search engine optimization. At the 2010 Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo, Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder of SEO-PR, revealed that:

  • Americans watch more videos a month on YouTube than they conduct searches on Google
  • A video is 50 times more likely to get a first-page Google ranking than a text page

Platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and other video or image social sites will get more attention as a marketing method. Among the most common types of video being used by businesses are company introductions, customer testimonials, product presentations/demonstrations, video blogs (vlogs) and company seminars/presentations.

Digital marketing tools also provide companies with the "feel good" benefit of being earth-friendly by reducing traditional printed marketing materials. Savvy business owners will weigh all of these options as they review their marketing plans in 2011.