Are you spending enough of your marketing budget on video?

Video is here to stay – but through our brand analysis process at DOTF, we’ve often noticed that brands are – all too frequently – still putting the majority of their marketing spend into the more traditional media, such as print, outdoor, online, SEO and television. We love traditional media – but there’s no denying the power of video – but don’t take our word for it, check out the stats from around the globe.

In 2022, video accounts for 82% of all online traffic (Cisco)

Statistics don’t lie, and this fact from Cisco’s research shows that the proof is in the percentage.

55% of people online watch videos every day. (MWP Research)

That’s more than half of your audience, and a full 14% more than the percentage of Australians who still read print media. (That’s 41%, according to Roy Morgan Research.)

500 million people watch videos on Facebook every day. (Tubular Insights)

Social media is huge. Online video is huge. Combining both is the easiest and most efficient way to reach the largest audience possible.

Online Customers

spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than without (Wistia)

are 4x more likely to watch a video about a product than read about it. (Animoto)

who view product videos are 1.8x more like to purchase the product than non-viewers. (Adobe)

With the internet in your pocket, every customer can now research anything their heart desires – using online video to highlight and display your products has proven to be the best way to engage and convert potential customers.

Including video in a landing page and increase conversion by up to 80% (Eyeview)

And whilst we’re talking conversion, having video up front has a staggering impact on your conversion numbers.

Your business is 53x more likely to show up on page one of Google if you have a video embedded in your website. (Forrester Research)

It’d be a waste to apportion a huge percentage of your budget to SEO and not remember the impact of video. 5300% is a massive difference in your site’s Google presence.

Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users. (Vidyard)

That’s an almost 50% advantage over competitors that haven’t learned that video is the most effective marketing tool.

Of course, whilst video is the most effective weapon in your marketing arsenal, as with any tool, you have to know how to use it. The team at Department of the Future have almost 15 years experience creating video content and can create bespoke, innovative creative and strategy to help your business get the most out of video.

Are TV Ads Still Effective In The Digital Age?

With the world of digital advertising and online content providing means for intimate connections with consumers, and providing overwhelmingly more affordable avenues for promotion that traditional media, you’d be forgiven for assuming that television advertising just isn’t worth what it used to be – but surprisingly, TV advertising still has a hold on the Australian viewing public.

Aussies Love TV

The most recent figures from the Australian Video Viewing Report show that Australian homes are averaging 6.6 screened devices for consuming video content includes broadcast TVs, tablets, smartphones, computers and internet-capable televisions. With an increasing variety and quantity of devices at home, all with wide variations of device-specific content, the figures show that Australian viewers now engage in viewing behavior know as “cross-screen spreading’. This ‘spreading’ across digital media has indeed impacted on the amount of time people spend watching broadcast TV.

Despite this new viewing behaviour, broadcast television watched at home is still the primary way that Australians view their video content. According to the report, 82.6% of the population (over 19 million Australians) watches broadcast TV every week – averaging almost 2.5 hours per person, per day or roughly 75 hours every month – more than three times the approximately 22 hours per month spent watching online video on computers or handheld devices.

Whilst smartphone and tablet penetration has levelled off in Australia (around 84% and 50%, respectively), Associate Professor Rachel Kennedy of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Studies notes that “people will default to the biggest screen available at the time.”

Know Your Audience

It shows in the viewing data. Even for millennials, television is still the dominant form of video content viewing, with over two-thirds of 18-24s regularly watching broadcast television – although, interestingly, this is where the scales have started to tip, and in the last quarter of 2017, the 18-24 demographic began to watch more video content on their devices than on a television – whilst still watching over 26 hours of television every month – however, they’re the demographic anomaly, with every other demographic’s television viewing habits exceeding their digital content viewing times by between 135% (40 hours of TV: 30 hours of devices) for the 25-34s to a massive 2500% (150 hours of TV: 6 hours of devices) in the 65+ demographic.

Effectively using broadcast television for advertising is truly dependent upon your target audience and ROI goals. Google are leaders in the world of digital advertising – and experts at effective advertising – an even they understand that TV has a efficiency that’s unique. If a brand needs to reach new audiences, or introduce new products to a wide demographic of tens of millions of customers, you need to use television. Digital can be targeted with razor precision, but no other medium can cast the wide net of television. Back at Ehrenberg-Bass, research from Professor Byron Sharp has dispelled the myth that growth comes from loyal customers, proving that for most brands, growth does not come from repeat customers but from attracting casual buyers, or entirely new customers, and to access untapped markets in this way, brands need the scale only TV can offer.

Cross-Device Synergy

Of course, if millennials are a prime part of your demographic – which they will increasingly become – you will want to look at harnessing the combined power of broadcast television and digital content to create a campaign based upon cross-device synergy.

Cross-device synergy is through-the-line campaign strategy, ensuring that a diverse channel mix will allow for greater cumulative reach. One of the benefits of cross-device synergy from a through-the-line campaign is that different mediums can have content tailored to the audiences that are most likely to consume the video content from that medium, and for audiences that use multiple channels, will provide enhanced repetition of messaging, allowing for greater brand retention in the audience.

Can Audience See Through Branded Content?

Everyone and their grandma knows about influencers and how they use their social media presence to promote brands for money – but how can you tread the fine line between authentic engagement and promotion via the right people for your brand and uh, just being annoying?

Instagram

With new rules cracking down on transparency in regards to branded content, influencers and anyone sponsored by brands are required to add a hashtag ad or hashtag sponsored (although the more inconspicuous option: #sp is more widely used).

So, what does that mean for brands who want to utilise the abundance of Instagram influencers? Are people more likely to be put off with the brand as a whole if they know for a fact that their favourite online personalities are actually being paid off? Could genuineness be the only way for brands to be received well?

Not really.

The old-fashioned way of marketing seems to have fallen out of favour. Bombarding your audience with in the face, over the top, or even just outright annoying ads can cause people to tune out your promo, block your profile or even associate your brand with negative connotations. Instead, if you attach an influencer onto your name, audiences are more generally going to try the product you’re trying to sell as they perceive it as a recommendation from their favourite celebrities rather than just an outright hard sell. However – pick your influencer wisely. Yes, you may want Kim K’s millions of followers to see and want your product – but are they the correct audience? Start local, think global.

Facebook

We’re all familiar with Facebook’s sponsored posts. But just because people see your posts does not mean they’re actively engaging with your brand. There’s a huge disparity between viewing, liking, and commenting on a Facebook ad and actually buying or actively engaging with the brand in question.

Unless you already have an engaged following on this platform, it’s hard to branch out organically to other people unless you’re willing to put in serious money and also follow the rules of Facebook ad posting: less words, more photos. However, any post with the word ‘Sponsored’ on the top that appears on your feed five times a day would undoubtedly turn some people off – so work on creating natural inertia through maintaining a great brand personality on Facebook with posts that add value to increase shareability of posts that aren’t tarred with the ‘sponsored’ brush.

Twitter

Again, the effectiveness of ‘Sponsored’ post comes into question. Unlike the other two platforms, the 240 character limit also severely limit what a brand can spread in terms of their messages. On the other hand: quick, concise, and catchy tweets can work wonders!

Often, companies and brands have taken a much more unique approach when it comes to branding themselves on Twitter: instead of focusing too much on pushing the newest product or announcing their latest campaign, they’ve adopted personalities. Akin to human interaction, these social-savvy companies opted out of marketing in the most traditional sense and seek to build rapport and relationship with their audiences.

Creativity is never a bad thing when it comes to standing out from your opponents. Simply paying Twitter to have your post pushed to the priority section on everyone’s’ newsfeed is no longer a viable way of ensuring your popularity as a brand. It never hurts to crack a few jokes here and there. Don’t be shy about being more casual and more fun. Most importantly, be authentic.

Cultural and Social Sensitivity & Content Creation

There are dozens of tiny details to consider when creating content – demographic, brand DNA, channel mix, distribution, scheduling, ROI – all of these considerations are essential to successful content. However, no matter how excellent your content, if your brand neglects to employ social and cultural sensitivity the effect can be disastrous. We’ve put together a few basic areas to consider to avoid your brand blowing up the internet for all of the wrong reasons.

Don’t contribute to gender oppression.

Whilst this may seem obvious, there are many behaviours, referred to as microaggressions, that whilst, they may not be blatantly sexist, can contribute to a culture of gender oppression. A very common behavior is defaulting to binary pronouns. We recommend using gender neutral pronouns such as ‘they/them’ unless the subject has clarified otherwise – and always use a person’s preferred pronouns. Whilst this is obvious in regards to dealing with content creators and talent, as a brand you have the opportunity to normalise non-binary gender and oppose gender oppression in your content without making it the focus of your content.

Whilst gender bias is the focus of this content we created for Our Watch, check out some of the advice on how to avoid gender oppression.

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Don’t engage in racist behavior.

Again, fairly obvious, but again, consider ways in which microaggressions, or more subtle behaviours can contribute to an unwelcoming reputation, including an absence of representation, or reinforcing stereotypes. Whilst content is good at saying a lot in a little, and can rely on cultural clichés and stereotypes as coded ways of communicating to do so, stretch your creativity and find new ways to avoid old racist clichés. In terms of representation, your brand can contribute to fostering a positive space for non-white people by ensuring that you engage with a diverse range of people – not only as part of the public-facing side of your brand, but also behind the scenes, to ensure that voices of minorities can have a say about your brand .

Don’t be homophobic or transphobic.

Whilst we know we’re beginning to sound like a broken record – representation matters. Normalise LGBTI+ people by including them in your content. The webseries that we created for The Line, Asking For A Mate, featured young people discussing relationships, gender and sexuality. It was of the utmost importance to have a diverse cast of talent, across genders, sexualities, races, classes and cultures to ensure that the content appealed to the widest audience. Whilst representation matters in social content, it’s also one of the best things you can do to help your brand find a wider audience.

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Respect Indigenous peoples.

We’ve had the pleasure of working with NAIDOC Victoria, First Nations Foundation and Djirra, all organisations that work with the Indigenous peoples of Australia. Many of the content we’ve been discussing has been of a sensitive nature, such as domestic violence or justice for Indigenous youth. In such situations, we have always allowed the organization to lead us through sensitive areas, and defaulted to their judgment for all decisions about culture and inclusion. As Australians, we are living and working on land that was never ceded, and it is essential that we pay respects to the traditional owners. Acknowledgement of this on websites, social media and longer form content is way of paying respect, as is ensuring you have an official Acknowledgement of Country at any experiential marketing events – or even contact your local people’s elders for an official Welcome to Country at larger events.

One thing you should never do, as a brand, is use Indigenous artworks without permission, or have artworks (including music) that use Indigenous traditions and styles made by non-Indigenous artists.

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Whilst these might seem obvious, insensitive brand behaviour makes the news more often than you’d hope – check out the furor around Pepsi’s tonedeaf ad with Kendall Jenner or every complete trainwreck on this list.

At DOTF, we pride ourselves on the strength that comes with our diversity, bringing a variety of different intersectional perspectives across gender, sexuality, race, class and culture to every piece of work we create.

Different Types of Video Content Explained

We all know that in 2022, video is the king of all content, accounting for more than 82% of all internet traffic. But whilst YouTube vloggers are earning millions and web platforms scramble to integrate video content hosting into their offerings, what are some of the online video options for brands?

Branded Content

One of the strongest ways for a brand to authentically connect with their demographic is to create content that engages the interests of their target audience. Whilst that sentence sounds obvious, brands continually fail when it comes to the authentic. Branded content is one of the strongest ways to create an authentic personality for your brand. The content created does not centre on the brand, does not directly push any product nor deliver any strongly branded messaging, but becomes a creative space to create an emotional bond with your audience. (See: Why Use Emotive Storytelling In Your Creative?)

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Cornetto has been using this method for the past few years, with their Cupidity series, a series of long-form content about romance, spanning their international market, with special focuses in the UK and Turkey. Watch to see the subtle brand integration through graphics, background branding that is appropriate to the story, “presents” crediting.

Branded content doesn’t have to be fictional. Branded documentary content is where DOTF started, with SpeakerTV. Whilst the primary focus of the show was taking viewers behind the scenes of music, fashion and culture around the country, we worked closely with brands to integrate their products and messaging into the segments.

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Brand Videos

The majority of the time, a brand video will be a sort of mini-documentary, an explanation of a brand’s ethos, a promotion for what it does, how it sees itself and why your audience should be interested. These videos can take similar forms to branded content, they can be a single video, or a cinematic series – however, the difference is the focus on the video. Whereas branded content focuses on the content, with the brand as the cherry on top, brand videos focus on the brand. A brand video is what you think about when you think about an ad.

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The difference between a traditional ad, and a brand video, however, is that there are fewer time restraints online, so that a brand can take its time, and create a mood and a universe. They can use techniques similar to branded content, use ambassadors or not, use a fly-on-the-wall documentary approach, a fictional filmic world, real any kind of approach that works authentically with the brand’s goals and more important – the brand’s values.

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Whilst brand videos are frequently longer than a standard social media edit, they’re generally kept around a three minute maximum, to ensure that messaging is delivered efficiently and effectively to the viewing audience.

If you’re looking to enter into video content with your brand, a brand video should be your first step.

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Supporting Socials Edits

In 2022, a content agency should always offer supporting edits for any major video content created. Whether a brand video, a particular promo or a call-to-action, shorter promos for socials should be part of the package.

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Whilst social media such as Facebook or Instagram is frequently the main point of distribution for the primary video, supporting edits can go across other forms of social media to direct attention from all platforms. For example, a brand video is posted to Facebook, with supporting edits on Twitter, Instagram, TIkTok and LinkedIn, directing viewers on those platforms to engage with the primary content on Facebook.

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Socials edits should be created in at least two formats, the original 16:9 widescreen (for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc) and 9:16 vertical (for Instagram Stories and TikTok). A 1:1 ratio format for Instagram (although content on Instagram is no longer locked to this size), and in-feed viewing on Facebook is another option, although not as necessary as vertical content.

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Most of the time, social edits will be honed from the longer form edit, however it is becoming increasingly common to create exclusive content for social cutdowns.

Microcontent

Microcontent is exactly how it sounds – if you hit 15 seconds, you’re getting too long. More of an exercise in quick promotion and establishing an aesthetic or tone for your brand, the increasing prominence shows the way that people are engaging with video on their devices.

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Somewhat of a hail back to the television commercial, microcontent requires efficiency of video language, and a single focus to the brand’s message, and should be a planned part of every brand’s suite of video content, to maintain an ongoing conversation with your audience.