10 Compelling Statistics Proving the Essential Nature of Video Marketing for Small Businesses

By Josh Sleigh

By 2019, it’s predicted that video will account for 80% of all web traffic. This highlights just how crucial video is becoming in the marketing world. With more and more people consuming video online, businesses can’t afford to overlook it in their digital content strategies.

To grasp why small business video marketing is so important, it’s key to understand how people are engaging with video. Once you see the immense scale of video consumption online, you’ll realize how effective it can be for growing your business.

Putting videos on your landing pages can increase conversion rates by up to 80%. Videos help consumers get a better understanding of a product, offering a 360-degree view and an explanation of its unique selling points, similar to what a salesperson would provide in person. Videos give more insight than text and images alone, and as businesses offer more product videos, consumers come to expect them. If you haven’t started showcasing your products with videos, now is a great time to begin.

Video offers instant information. Consumers just need to press play to get all the details of a product in minutes. It’s quicker and often more engaging than reading a long text, thanks to elements like music, voiceovers, and live footage of the product. If consumers are more inclined to watch videos rather than read copy and you’re only offering text, you could lose potential customers to competitors who use video effectively.

Videos aren’t just for showing off products. Instructional and how-to videos are immensely popular, with YouTube seeing over 100 million hours of them watched every year. These videos provide value, and if you invest time in creating them, consumers will start to see your business as a trustworthy and knowledgeable source.

Research from HubSpot shows people are actively looking for business videos. Video marketing isn’t just about reaching consumers through a popular medium; it’s about giving them what they want—valuable and informative content. One of the biggest advantages of video marketing is that it meets proven demand, making the investment worthwhile since it’s exactly what your audience is looking for.

Video marketing pairs well with social media marketing, as videos are extremely popular on social platforms. If you’re already spending time and money on social media marketing, you can enhance your efforts by adding video. On average, Facebook videos receive 135% more organic reach than photos. Investing in video content can significantly boost your social media presence.

Businesses using video marketing are seeing great returns. Plus, video production costs can be scaled according to your budget, ranging from $1,500 to $50,000. You can start small and expand your efforts once you begin to see positive results.

It’s also worth noting that 60% of millennials prefer video over newsletters, and 80% consider video when making purchasing decisions. Younger generations increasingly expect video content from businesses, and those that fail to meet this demand risk falling behind.

Compared to 52% for social media posts, 33% for interactive tools or articles, and 29% for blogs, video tends to grab more attention. It’s a perfect medium for delivering important information and sales messages. While you shouldn’t abandon traditional forms of content like blogs and articles, you should incorporate video for your most significant marketing campaigns in 2018.

With over half of all video content viewed on mobile devices, smartphones have made it incredibly easy to watch and share videos. Videos are highly shareable, and if you’re not using them in your marketing strategy, you’re missing out on a vast mobile audience.

Video marketing also integrates well with SEO marketing because it adds value to your consumers and is favored by search engines. When a page features both video and text, it signals to Google that the content is valuable. If that video gets plenty of views and shares, it further indicates its importance to search engine users. This improvement in user experience can boost your organic rankings. Every modern business should be utilizing search engine marketing, and incorporating a video strategy can enhance your SEO efforts.