Video is everywhere.

Whether you’re on social media, watching your shows online (I know, obviously) or pumping gas, video seems to be on the rise and in your face wherever you go. It’s not your imagination and it’s not going away. According to Forbes, by 2021, a million minutes of video content will cross global IP networks every single second.

One million minutes. Every. Single. Second.

Take that in a for a moment. That’s 17,000 hours. Or 645 days. Or 99 weeks. Or 22 months . . . OK, I’ll stop. That’s almost two years! Sorry, that was the last one, I promise.

If you’re not using video to market your services, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to engage with your audience. So, as my dad liked to say, it’s time to shit or get off the pot. Here’s why you need to add video to your content as a part of your marketing strategy. (That last part was me, my dad wasn’t well-versed in content marketing or video.)

It works

Like I said before, video is effective. As much as I hate to admit it, anything I write here won’t convince you of anything without the numbers to back it up.

So let’s start there:

  • Cisco projects that global internet traffic from videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021
  • 43% of B2C marketers say pre-produced video is the most successful type of content for marketing purposes
  • The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video and viewers retain 95% of a message they watched via video versus 10% retained when they read it

Here a few stats for 2019 that should get your attention:

  • 87% of consumers want to see video from brands, 39% of which specifically cited explainer videos
  • 78% of people say a brands video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or app
  • 68% of people say they’d prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a short video

Those are pretty impressive numbers. People prefer video as a learning tool compared to text-based articles (15%), infographics (4%), presentations (4%), or ebooks and manuals (3%). Why? Glad you asked. That actually leads to my next point . . .

It’s easy to understand

As an IT professional, you probably have to repeatedly explain complicated processes over and over again to your customers. This makes sense because most of your customers don’t know that much about IT or they wouldn’t be talking to you in the first place.

As a business owner, there are few people that can explain your business better than you can. You have the passion and confidence that comes with years of experience. You can cite examples of problems you’ve solved from memory at the drop of a hat. So while your sales team is highly trained and knowledgeable, there’s nothing quite like hearing about the service you provide straight from the horse’s mouth, especially with something as complex as IT.

That’s not to say that you or your sales reps should disengage from facetime with clients. Rather, a professionally produced video with all the graphs and charts you could ever want is an easy way to deliver a consistent message or explain a complicated process or service.

In fact, 96% users say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service.

That means your customers get a better experience and you can focus on selling the benefits rather than explaining the technical aspects.

It can be used more than once

Recycling isn’t just for cans and paper products. Once you’ve taken the time to produce a video, you can use it as much as you want as part of your overall marketing strategy. So aside from putting it on your website, you can use it for social media, email campaigns or in ads.

Social media

In addition to YouTube, video is evolving with services like Facebook 360, Instagram videos, and Periscope. 48% of people say they’re more likely to share a video as opposed to posts (23%), news (16%), or product pages (3%). If you struggle to find content to fill your

Email campaigns

According to Adobe, 61% of people prefer to be contacted by brands via email messages that deliver information rather than promotions. Videos in email can be a great way to provide relevant,  informative content that your customers want in a format they enjoy.

Ads

People who visit a website after clicking on a pay-per-click (PPC) ad are 50% more likely to make a purchase compared to an organic search result.

With numbers like these, you’d be crazy not to leverage a video you’ve already produced across as many platforms as possible.

Conclusion

A video is an effective way to market your services, especially when marketing B2B services.

By leveraging video content across your website, social media and advertising, you can make your marketing investment go even further and improve your ROI.

Video’s influence is only going to get bigger and more effective. As more and more businesses take advantage of the opportunities, don’t hesitate or you could be kicking yourself for not starting sooner.