Why Use Videos
Video is everywhere on the Internet nowadays and there’s an excellent reason for that. The simple fact is that people engage better with video than either the written word or static images, alone or when blended together.
The combination of moving images, music, dramatic effect, facial expressions, tone and pitch is incredibly powerful. When you add to that the fact that video can be embedded into a landing page with the written word, supporting graphics and a strong call to action, then you can understand why video marketing has grown year-on-year and will continue to do so as the entry point in terms of costs, software and knowledge improve.
Videos By The Numbers
If you want some figures, let me give you some right now.
Increase Conversion Rate
Data suggests that video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%. Now obviously it will depend on the product, quality of the page and video, but the basic fact is you will see an uplift. Unless your video content is poorly thought out and presented of course, but that’s knowing your market and your creative limits.
Rapid Growth
Just in terms of video consumption, YouTube reports that mobile video is growing rapidly, by at least 100% each year, with video content consumption now accounting for 57% of all Internet traffic, a trend that is expected to rise to 80% in the next two years.
Create Engagement
Video is not just about the viewing. Video generates user action. Social media shares, comments and other viral activity are significantly higher with video than any other medium.
Build Trust
Videos are also about building trust. Studies suggest that 64% of people are more likely to purchase a product after watching a video about it, with 90% saying that video content is useful in making a buying decision. There’s a reason that charities around the world, from the large to the small, are now embracing video in their advertising campaigns online, it’s simply grabs the heartstrings and converts through building emotion and trust rapidly.
So with all that in mind, I’m going to give you the lowdown on my top four video marketing tools, which I am personally using as well, so that you can get involved in creating video content and increasing your conversion rates ahead of your competitors starting right now.
Camtasia
TechSmith Camtasia is a wildly popular and comprehensive screen recording software suite. There’s a good reason why it’s so popular, and why you will find it mentioned wherever making on-the-fly video is discussed, and that’s because it’s very easy to use, which means people who are starting to make video for the first time don’t have a steep learning curve.
What makes Camtasia so beautiful is that all you need is your computer screen and a plan. Because it’s a screen recording tool, you can record mouse movements, use on-screen windows, animations, talk through PowerPoint presentations, whatever. With a headset on you can talk and present at the same time, making it very quick and powerful to get your point across.
On top of that, you get lots of free libraries, such as music and effects. It is at its heart though an advanced screen recorder rather than video editing software, which allows you to do live tutorials, or create desktop videos, and it even allows you to integrate the built-in Windows speech to text feature. What this means is that as long as you know what you are going to say, you can create video content very rapidly.
The benefit of this is that you can become very rapid and targeted in terms of video marketing. Imagine you have a customer who asks a question, you could create a section on your website where you can answer that question, using live screen recording to show graphics, information or demonstrate use of something. Or you could answer a social media questioned by embedding it in a tweet, building the power of social media sharing.
So it’s a great way to respond to and interact with your customers and provide value, while creating something that could be shared across social media bringing more traffic.
The powerful video editing options within Camtasia mean that you can take your raw captured footage and make it appear incredibly professional, with a full suite of effects you can apply, and the ability to sync video to audio better and add titles.
It also has the ability to import and export nearly every video format, and even allows quick export to social media. All in all it’s essential for rapid video production.
And the final good bit of news about Camtasia is that you get a 30 day free trial, so it’s completely free to see how great it is.
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Viddyoze
Viddyoze is a web based software that allows you to rapidly create intros, outros, logo stingers, and transitions. It can help you to create studio quality special effects using the tools it provides in these areas. It makes it ideal to use alongside Camtasia if you want even more control over the professionalism of how your video seamlessly moves through its timeline, or for joining together multiple recordings.
It’s very easy to use, with a suite of templates you can quickly begin building a project from. You can create and launch a project in as little as three steps, leaving you with some high-grade content for your website, YouTube channel or Facebook page literally in minutes.
All you have to do to get a great effect is choose your template, then customize it and click “Build”. So you don’t need great tech skills to get some solid results fast using Viddyoze.
Whatever the type of video you are producing, Viddyoze allows you to great linkups through your video content, seamlessly bringing everything together in a professional manner.
My last point is probably the most important, Viddyoze allows you to easily add branding across your video content, which will benefit anyone interested in marketing their product or service. As it’s price is very reasonable, for me it’s a “no brainer” to have it on anyone’s video marketing arsenal, so I got this one for myself as well.
I published a review of this software a few months back, and it would be best if you read it as well. Just click the button below to read my review.
UPDATE:
The Team of Joey Xoto just released the newest version of Viddyoze called Viddyoze Live Action and it has defintely set the bar higher in terms of video animations. For more information, click this link for my review of Viddyoze Live Action
VideoPal
If you’ve ever wished that you could add and truly professional touch to your videos, something unique and engaging to anybody who watches it, then VideoPal could be what you been looking for.
In just five simple steps you can create a fully animated 2D or 3D talking avatar, basically a cartoon human who can speak and move, presenting the content on your behalf. You’re probably seen them around the net, they are especially popular with software companies.
It has an awesome text to speech engine which is second to none and incredibly lifelike in its sound and how it can sync to the movement of the animated spokesperson (the VideoPal). There are 47 different male and female versions in the software, in 24 different languages.
It’s so powerful that you can easily add call to action buttons, forms, coupon code reveals, all that amazing stuff that gets people excited and ready to interact. And on top of that, you’ve got something that is moving and talking, engaging with them and encouraging them to take action.
Its cloud-based software which means you don’t have to have anything slowing your computer down and it’s always up-to-date, which means you always getting access to the latest version with the latest features, and the best part is it can be downloaded via a third party video downloader so you can use it alongside Camtasia to create a visually stunning video presentation with a talking avatar.
Check my personal tricks on how to get the most out of VideoPal by reading my review. Click the button below to learn more.
VideoScribe
The last piece of software I’m going to tell you about in my four-pack armory for marketing success is called VideoScribe.
It is a comprehensive video animation software program. You know those clever whiteboards you see, when you have voice and music, with animation, graphics and writing appearing. I’ve used several of these pieces of software, but hands down VideoScribe is by far the most easy to use, feature rich and powerful.
When I say writing appearing, I mean when you see a real hand writing the animated text on the page, really writing the words as you listen. It’s awesomely powerful and you can either use your own hand, or you can use one of the hands that is included in VideoScribe.
VideoScribe is very easy to use. You basically have a blank canvas and a timeline you add things to, to create a whiteboard animation. You can morph objects into each other and create transitions for a really smooth and professional look.
There are loads of tutorials and templates and the learning curve is not steep. It’s an amazing way to create instant engagement with someone who is looking for information presented in a clear and professional manner. That’s why it’s been used to create VideoScribes for Barack Obama and the British government (to explain official government policies). That’s quite some recommendation.
Wrapping Up
As I said at the start, nothing else engages as quickly or as concisely as video does when you want to get a message across to somebody. Whether it’s for charity, marketing or purely for information, you can get things quickly across to the viewer using that intoxicating blend of moving visuals, text and audio.
The really shrewd companies and individuals out there are using video marketing right now across everything they do. It’s embedded on key landing pages, they use video to engage on social media, and they drive traffic to their products and services through creating a YouTube channel and promoting it.
Video use is going to dominate the net as bandwidth and speed becomes less of an issue globally over the next few years, and as the proliferation of mobile devices and tablets continues to allow us to consume on the move.
So I strongly recommend that you look at the four essential video marketing tools I have put together here for you. You can create a complete marketing suite for just a few hundred dollars and a few hours of your time getting competent.
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