Planning the annual marketing budget is often a roundtable affair with plenty of heated debate and opinions. Every executive at the table feels justified in their requests for additional funding, some willing to concede, others willing to fight to the death.

It is the latter that should be employed when the suggestion of producing video content is tabled. (Okay, so I run a video production company!)

Here a my top 5 reasons for your company to invest in video content to help your bottom line and improve your brand awareness.

1. eCommerce
According to a recent report by eMarketer, 42% of online retailers who are planning to redesign their website this year confirmed they will be including online video into the mix. That’s second behind social media tools. WHY? Because online video is a proven winner in converting browsers into buyers, helps reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts and returned product. 94% of Ad Executives in a Brightroll survey said they would be spending more on video content than ever before.

2. Video is a Creative Way to Solve Your Communication Challenges
The Internet is a powerful and intrinsic tool for most businesses these days. Without it, many businesses would grind to a steamy, shuddering holt. Video is fast becoming just as potent to Internet users. The latest figures from comScore reveal that YouTube topped 14.6 billion video streams in May. 
Video is a powerful way to deliver information in a creative, coherent and engaging way. How-To videos are a great example of this. Video puts your product in motion. It adds personality to the person. It convinces, reassures, empowers and entertains in ways the written word or still imagery cannot. We have many success stories of clients who weren’t convinced that video could help their communication challenges. They now use video exclusively for a lot of internal and external communication because of the engagement and retention of message that video achieves. 

3. Measure Your ROI with Video
I worked in commercial radio for 15 years as a Creative Director. One of the biggest challenges that I faced in that time was skirting around the issue of ROI and metrics. Radio is a very hard medium to measure, particularly in terms of branding.
Video allows for instant measurement. You can access up-to-date figures on the number of viewers. You can measure conversion rates with new interactive video tools that take viewers directly to your online check out. You can track the viral journey of your video across the Internet. You can listen in to the conversations wrapped around your video content and respond immediately to positive and negative comments.

4. Websites Perform Better with Video
Firstly, I never assume that the mere presence of video on a website means that that website will perform better than its competitors who don’t have video. But a well produced video placed carefully on the website has shown to be highly effective in driving conversion rates. Read the case studies (below) from EyeView in the US where they claim that video helped increase conversion rates by 80% for some clients, who also achieved ROI within the first week of the video campaign.
http://www.reelseo.com/video-accountable-roi/

5. It Doesn’t Have to be Expensive or Time Consuming
Time and Money are the two biggest obstacles for most companies when considering investing in video content. I could spend a lot of time on these two points, but essentially, it really boils down to your communication objectives, weighing up the options of communication channels, considering your budget and knowing how to get video produced. 
Whether you produce your own video, or outsource it, make sure you at least cover off these three absolute must-dos:
1. Develop Your Content Strategy. 
2. Define the Purpose of your Video Content. (ie To increase traffic to our website)
3. Invest in the tools (cameras, editing software and audio) to ensure your content reflects the quality of your brand