Everyone is spending more and more time on the internet these days. Whether it’s social media, scrolling through memes, or finding a recipe for chicken parm–everywhere you turn, everyone is online. Today we have a plethora of information and resources at our literal fingertips. As a result of all of us carrying around the world’s knowledge in our pockets, people are looking to traditional information sources less and less.
Evolving Advertisement – Because who even reads the newspaper anymore?
Probably not you, because newspaper sales have been down 11% respectively to the previous year, which might not seem like a lot until you translate that number to 31 million weekday newspapers. How many of us still watch T.V. normally? Wait, do you mean Netflix or Hulu? Not even close, because most people have begun to steer clear of standard cable packages altogether, relying instead on streaming services. If you do subscribe to cable, you likely DVR your favorite shows, so you fast forward through most commercials anyway, eliminating a former key source of advertisement. Traditional sources of marketing and advertising, like print and television, have had to take a backseat. Out of necessity, marketers have had to become creative to ensure their products or services are being appropriately seen through effective advertising.
Hello, “sponsored ads,” is that you? We have all seen how often pop-up ads get in our way or how strange it was that a product we viewed before is now being advertised on the side panels of our favorite sites and apps. We have become well trained in averting our eyes from these ads. We are living in a society of disengagement. If something doesn’t grasp our attention and keep it, we will continue to scroll, and scroll, and scroll.
Video Ads Slide-In
Gif or video? You tell me, but either way, video ads have become more and more common. They typically appear when we’re waiting to watch a video or when we click on a popular website. The ads pop-up and we have to watch them in order to get to our requested content. Typically, they’re brief and it’s not even worth going to another tab. But for both music and video ads, you have to pay the premium services or else you hear and see ads for just about anything. Game of Thrones or Bejeweled? Pass on both. Consider yourself lucky if they’re only audio, because many are accompanied with video in an attempt to further engage the listener and to push their product or service that much harder.
Videos in Politics
Shout out to all the politicians in HD — a deviation from typical door to door campaigning, candidates are getting down to a relatable level by using a documentary style commercials for both TV and video streaming channels. This method has become a hot commodity in campaigning to make candidates more friendly, relatable and viral. As both primaries and a new presidential election approach, seeing your fave (and least fave) candidates on video is sure to continue to grow and light up the campaign trials for years to come.
Viral Videos in Marketing
In marketing, video has significant potential to greatly change the way that businesses, well, do business. Viral videos can increase sales and product interest by leaps and bounds. If companies have a video on their landing pages, they are more likely to land a lead and a potential customer.
A Wise Investment
Video isn’t always the cheapest advertisement option, but it is fairly reasonable and can be easily done. Video offers a high return on the investment and allows for a deeper connection with the consumer. Depending on the subject matter, a video can pull at the heartstrings of a future customer far better than text or images alone. There is a level of intimacy a truly engaging video can use to build trust.
Some say that simply adding animations into online ads can increase your productivity and success significantly. Simple advertisements are the most basic (read: cost-efficient) and easy to work with when getting started. Social media platforms also have the offered option of live video broadcasting, which can easily be a second step in adding videos into your business model. Live videos can be intimidating at first, but once you’ve established a familiarity with the camera and an engaged audience, you’ll rock the red dot.
Video Funneling
Once you’ve mastered live videos (ala Facebook & Instagram), you can venture into the realm of video funneling–hello YouTube eternity! Consider this the ultimate goal of every ad and video you’ll create. This requires more work and likely outsourcing services, but it is purely the divine intervention that will take sales from 500 to 500,000.
All in all, it is wise to think about adding video content to your online business campaigns. No matter what end of the business spectrum you may land on, odds are video and animation ads could greatly impact your success. It’s easy to be afraid of change and new technologies, but it’s important to remember that we’re in a technological world and we need to embrace technology as the new business platform.
