As a building material manufacturer, your company invests a great deal to stay front of mind in your customer’s world. Every effort made by your sales and marketing teams to bring in new customers, and each dollar spent creating awareness of your brand has a goal that begins with attracting, engaging, delighting and eventually, retaining clients..
We can all agree that innovative and personable methods of outreach and engagement are the standard for effective customer acquisition in today’s marketplace. The pandemic and the ride that was 2020 educated the world, howbeit a reluctant and sobering education that refined the rules of the game and pulled both innovation and intentionality to center stage.
So How Does Outreach And Engagement Look in 2021 ?
According to Wyzowl Research, one of the worldwide market leaders in animated explainer video production, “video has been one of the breakout trends in the marketing world for the past decade.”
Studies show that 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, increasing slightly from 85% in 2020. That’s saying only 14% of businesses in existence choose not to use video. Are you one of the few who have yet to be convinced of the power of video? If so, we should talk.
Another interesting find is that 93% of marketers who use video say that it's an important part of their marketing strategy. This is an increase from 92% in 2020, making this the highest percentage of any year since 2015.
Perhaps most compelling is the fact that 87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive ROI — a world away from the lowly 33% who felt that way in 2015. This could well be attributed to greater understanding of how to use video, as well as how to track and quantify its impact. Not to mention the idea that necessity is the mother of invention, and when circumstances require a virtual approach to outreach, one learns to adapt, and as a result develop and produce great content.
Nearly eight out of ten marketers feel that video has a direct, positive impact on sales. And for those within the building materials industry who operate in the channel, this one’s for you: 94% of marketers agree that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service, with 43% reporting that video has reduced the number of product support calls their company has received.
When it comes to metrics and measuring success, most marketers (63%) consider video engagement the top factor . Views or plays were a close second (58%).
While only 29% of video marketers consider sales as a measurement of success, 78% report that video marketing has improved their company’s bottom line — meaning that videos will have a positive impact even if the focus remains on other metrics.
And What of the Pandemic--How Has it Influenced Customer Behavior?
Well, let’s see…
Research has proven that 91% of marketers feel the pandemic has made video more important for brands (for obvious reasons). Also, 40% of video marketers said their plans to create video were affected by the events of the last year — with around 74% of these saying they were more likely to use video, and 26% saying it was less likely.
Truly worth acknowledging is the fact that around 60% of video marketers say they expect their budget to be affected for 2021, with around 70% of those people expecting a higher video marketing budget, and the other 30% expecting it to be lower.
Strikingly, 68% of consumers say the pandemic has impacted the amount of video content they've watched online, with the overwhelming majority (96%) saying this has increased. This may indeed be the greatest takeaway for the building materials industry, by far! What are you going to do with this information?
Moving Forward…
It may be worth noting that of the people who don't currently use video, 69% said they expect to start in 2021. (This is 10% higher than last year's figure of 59%.)
The net result of this is that we can all expect to see more noise and competition for audience attention in the coming 12 months. Many agree that competition will be tougher since the pandemic made video a necessity. So, hesitation leaves you not only out of the equation but also out of the customer’s line of sight…
Keeping in mind that oversaturation is a challenge, it isn't an insurmountable one. Researchers agree, It simply raises the bar in terms of content quality. Your videos will need to be well-planned, and very well-executed.
You'd be forgiven for looking at these numbers and feeling that video might be on the verge of reaching saturation point. Most of the data around usage, spend, and consumer opinion are in the 80s and 90s — where they've held, consistently, for a number of years.
But the good news is that there still seems to be underutilized opportunities for marketers to explore around video.
Unsurprisingly, YouTube and Facebook are the most widely used platforms among video marketers — used by 89% and 70%, respectively.
But some of the lesser-used video tactics also seem to be reaping real results for video marketers.
Explainer videos have seen huge success. An overwhelming majority of people (94%) report watching explainer videos to learn more about a product, with 84% being swayed to make a purchase. The product doesn’t have to be physical, either. Eight out of ten people say that they’ve been convinced to purchase an app or piece of software because of a video.
A Few Last Points to Drive This Home...
Nearly nine out of ten people report wanting to see more videos from brands in 2021, making video an excellent tool for lead generation and brand awareness.
Also consider that In many ways, with people being isolated at home, and teams working with less budgeting and resources than pre-pandemic funding allowed, the demand (and consumption) of video has tremendously increased.
As research has shown, video looks set to continue its ten-year overnight success story into the coming decade. The stats above provided by Wyzowl Research help to paint a picture of a media type that's almost universally popular among both marketers and their audiences, helping achieve a number of incredibly important goals, while contributing to the tone that has been set to increase the momentum towards digital growth in the building materials industry. (Adapted from HubSpot Marketing Blog : Essential Video Marketing Stats to Know in 2021)
Interested in learning more? Let’s chat...