All my current clients have one thing in common: they understand the power of video in their marketing and communication, and they embrace it as much as they can. To me it is obvious how critical quality video is to a brand's image. That is why it is shocking to discover how few businesses even have a line item for video on their marketing budget. I do not mean they consciously decide not to spend on video. I mean it is not even a thought, because it is not anywhere on the list.
Radio, check. Print, check. Direct mail, check. Those are all fine ways to advertise, but they are a constant expense. The content must be produced, then that ad has to run continually and be mailed repeatedly to have any real impact. What kind of advertising do you create once and get a massive amount of mileage out of?
Granted, the cost to create video content is generally higher up front. But once the video is finished, it has a huge number of applications and can be used over and over, often at zero cost. Have a website? Embed it in a prominent spot. Emailing a potential customer? Attach it. Have a social presence? Share it. You can use the same video in sales presentations and on a loop at job fairs or trade shows.
Can you do all that with a full-color page ad? How much does it cost to design and run that ad in a major publication for a single month? Chances are you can have a professional video created for around the same cost and get years of use out of it. Meanwhile, that magazine ad will be bird-cage lining in a few weeks.
In the likely event you do not have a line item for video on your marketing budget, it is time to update that, before your competition does, if they have not already.