Recently, I saw a social media video saying that people don’t look at pictures anymore, so they start posting their pictures in video format. The creator then played a few-second-long video of a still image with music in the background.
While the video is intended to be fun, it captures the truth about the direction of digital marketing trends. But how much truth is there?
Truth: People are increasing their video consumption.
Mistakes: Images, written content, and other formats are no longer relevant.
While video is ubiquitous in digital marketing, it can never replace your other content marketing strategies.
Learn how to find a balanced marketing strategy that capitalizes on the popularity of video while complementing your marketing with other media formats.
Key Takeaways:
- Video is critical to content marketing strategies in 2023.
- Video is the most engaging content format.
- Written content is more effective for SEO and lead generation.
- A comprehensive marketing strategy combines video and written content.
The Benefits of Incorporating Video into Your Marketing
According to HubSpot’s State of Video Marketing 2023 playbook, video is already part of 81% of companies’ marketing budgets . Among these marketers, the top benefits they saw from using video included:
- raise popularity of brand
- shared product
- educate their audience
- Improve customer service and trust
Revenue and sales also increased for marketers using video.
What makes video so effective in marketing?
Because video involves more senses than other media formats—it’s more immersive. Your audience isn’t just reading or listening to information. They’re looking, listening, and reading, which holds someone’s attention longer and evokes a stronger emotional response. Being able to engage your audience also builds trust and loyalty with them.
Plus, using so many senses allows marketers to share more information in less time. For example, a diagram showing a buyer’s journey next to a verbal description takes seconds compared to reading a paragraph describing the same process.
Image via HubSpot
When video cannot replace other content
For all its benefits, video is still not the golden ticket for marketing. You need other forms of marketing to stay on top of digital marketing trends. Most importantly, you should spend the majority of your budget on written content.
Here are four ways written content can perform better than video:
Written content ranks higher in SEO
While video can improve your content’s ranking, you need written content to rank in search engine results. In 2023, search engine algorithms won’t be able to search video to identify its subject matter and surface it in relevant searches the way they can search written content.
So if you want your video content to appear in search results or drive relevant traffic, you still need those high-quality blog posts, well-written web pages, and optimized video descriptions.
Written Content Generates More Leads
The best format for lead generation depends on your audience. Gen Z apparel brands are likely to see the most potential customers from short video content. However, if you are a B2B business, you will generate more leads through your blog posts.
Research your audience and understand the format in which they are engaging before deciding on the best way to capture relevant leads, as many prospects still prefer written content.
Written content is the smaller format
Written content takes up less storage space than video content.
The size of your media affects how quickly your site loads and which devices can view it.
A simple yet powerful text blog post has minimal impact on your site’s load time, allowing viewers to view it even on spotty internet connections. Text posts also take up less space when your readers download or share them via email.
Written content is cheaper to create
Effective marketing campaigns rely on regularly published content.
Written content costs less and takes less time to create, which means you can build a more regular content calendar. Published content on a regular basis will appear in more search results, target more potential customer pain points, and open up more conversion opportunities.
More content is also critical to building authority and increasing brand awareness. It is crucial to gain a reputation in your industry, as the Google algorithm is shifting more towards prioritizing authoritative and expert works, rather than just those with relevant keywords.
