We deal with a wide variety of clients just like you when providing video services and as common as video has become in 2017, it’s still a hard sell. Video ads are a huge booming way to advertise and it’s growing more and more each year. Most top advertising companies are already on board pushing their big name clients to invest in video ads and most SEO companies will tell you that you need video on your site. I am here to tell you some of the reasons why you NEED video ads, and not just so you hire me, but so you can be informed on how to market and grow your business no matter who you hire’ your budget or end goals.

What are video ads?

Video ads on the internet are not unlike TV ads. They usually run 15, 30 or 60 seconds and can be shown on a website or places like YouTube, Facebook or other social platforms (more on that later). They are used for many different reasons, but like most broadcast advertising, they are used to gain more clients and get more $$$ in your pocket.

You probably see video ads all the time when you’re surfing the web. They play before most YouTube videos and sometimes are used as pop-ups for websites. As common as videos are online (billions are uploaded every day) you would be surprised that over 50% of sites still don’t have video of any kind. And those that do aren’t using video correctly, hoping that people randomly stumble across them online. If you open a new restaurant and don’t tell anyone about it, do you think people will just show up? Of course not!

OK, so why does my business NEED video ads?

There are a billion of websites already online and millions being created every day. It’s safe to say that unless your business is truly one-of-a-kind, you have competitors. Just putting up a website and maybe having a social media presence isn’t enough unless this was 1995. And even though video ads are just one piece to the marketing and advertising puzzle, it’s a HUGE piece.

Let’s take the largest online video platform YouTube and talk about their statistics for a moment. There are over 1 billion active users on the site worldwide, billions of views each day, and hundreds of millions of viewer hours per day. Think about that for a second Those are millions of eyeballs that could be seeing your ad! That’s more than any TV episode or event, even more than the super bowl! The most surprising statistic is that only about 9% of small businesses use Youtube as a part of their marketing. With its user base and low cost to use (uploading a video is free), it boggles the mind more small businesses aren’t tapping into this goldmine.

Of course just uploading a video isn’t enough. Youtube uses algorithms to dictate what people see. And even though uploading is free, actually getting the video seen by the right people requires some money and thought. But the cost is much lower than broadcast and the research required is something you should already know about your business. Who is your target market? If you have the right message, the right length and push the video to the right market you can see a large return on your investment.

What about the other online juggernaut Facebook? It has more than 1 billion active users that spend an average of 20 minutes a day on the social platform. Over 70% of users interact with brands they like and video posts average 62% more engagement than other post types. It used to be that sharing a link via your business page from Youtube created a large viewer base, but Facebook is a business just like you are. Uploading the same video directly to Facebook and paying (just like mentioned above for Youtube) will ensure your video si viewed by potential customers.

With Facebook’s large user base, auto-playing videos and low-cost advertising, there is no reason it shouldn’t be a part of your video ad campaign. Let’s not forget Facebook’s newest feature: Going LIVE. This allows you to interact with your customers in a may that wasn’t possible a few years ago. The best part is you can do this right from your phone. No fancy equipment needed.

Lastly, twitter, arguably one of the most influential social platforms has over 1.3 billion registered users and an average of 320 million active users. 100 million of those log in every single day. And 82% of user’s view videos on the platform. Almost any blog or article will talk about how important Twitter is to advertising and marketing, yet many businesses still don’t have an account or actively participate. Over 40% of the total registered users never even send a single tweet!

Twitter can be a bit overwhelming when it comes to advertising. They have a dedicated page that will help you every step of the way. And although all of your followers will see your tweet ( which should include a link to the video) you may want to get people who do not know about your business to see it. This costs just as gthe above platforms do. But again, the cost isn’t high to get results.

Lastly on this list, although there are many other platforms where you can show your video ad, is Instagram. What used to only be a place to share photos is now a prime destination for advertisers. The platform, which is owned by Facebook has over 500 million active users a month. 95 million photos and videos are shared every single day. Not only can you post videos up to 60 seconds on Instagram, but you can advertise by making a post sponsored. This allows people who are not following you but, are part of your target demographic see your post.

Videos don’t have to be the only way to boost your business via Instagram. Pictures are still an important part. Make sure your video has the 4:3 format for optimal viewing and you use the proper hastags.

The cost of video ads

There is no definitive number to how much video ads cost to produce and share. I went over why video costs what it does in this article, but let’s give some ballpark numbers on video costs based on my services. I can create a simple 15-30 second video ad in the range of $750-$2500. It depends on the content, amount of shoot time and overall production of the piece. This includes all pre-production, shooting, and post-production.

Now that you have a great looking and sounding video the next step is to use it as a video ad. The common mistake a lot of companies make is creating a video and not using it to its full potential. Or even worse, using it in the least effective way!

Using Google AdWords as an example, you first share the URL, create an attention grabbing a headline and set where you want viewers to go. You can choose between your YouTube Channel, or more importantly to your website. Next, you set your budget. Even if you spend just $10 a day, there are an estimated 200-300 views for your ad. If you bump that up to $100 the number jumps to 1-2k!

Lastly, you set who it is you want to target. This is probably the most important of all the steps. If you sell coffee only in Colorado for instance and don’t have an online store, then having your video play in Cambodia doesn’t make sense. Alternatively, if only people over 50 buy your product, don’t try to sell to people who are 18-49, unless you are using the video to expand your demographic. You can get even more detailed and add the targeted user’s interests, making sure to really hit the people you want.

The set up is the same for other platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Upload your video or URL, set a price and who you want to target and share it! It’s easy and can be as expensive as you want it to be. In the long run, it’s still cheaper than TV ads and other forms of marketing and advertising.

What you should know beforehand

Knowing who your demographic is, and what your strategy is for your video is important. Some video companies also do marketing and can help. It’s important that you don’t just create a video and “put it on your website” and hope it helps. You’re basically throwing money and time away, and I promise you won’t get many results. Using Google analytics can help on the web side to see who is viewing your site.

Even though video is a HUGE way to market, it’s not as much of a wow factor as it used to be. We all view videos online for one reason or another, so you have to make sure your video has a purpose. If you have a marketing team and an SEO person, they can help establish the best way to use video, and what it needs to contain. If you’re a small business with limited employees and resources you can find production companies like mine who help with the marketing and SEO of your video. No matter how you go about your strategy it’s important that YOU as the decision maker are armed with the all of the information. This allows you to make sure that your marketing money is going in a place that can actually get results.

Final thoughts

A common question I get from clients and potential clients is: how do I know the video is working effectively? It’s true that video metrics can be a bit harder to track, and the details are a bit beyond the scope of this post, but the truth is it can be measured just like any other marketing strategy. If you are prepared and have a good strategy you will be effective with your video ads, and it will be at a small overall cost vs. some other marketing strategies.

Video ads will continue to grow, and with the growth, the cost will rise. Most of the major advertising agencies are already using video ads because of its effectiveness and low cost. What are you waiting for?