Online marketing is a complex phenomenon that involves a lot of interrelated activities. To get good results, they need to co-exist in harmony.

When business is small (and same is the marketing team), it’s challenging to keep an eye on everything at once.

Plus, newbies might get confused by the verity of today’s marketing tools and tactics. For instance, just recently, I’ve bumped into a listicle featuring over 50 types of marketing.

No worries! Though marketing activities can take very peculiar forms, they all spin around some major notions that lie at the core of digital marketing.

Today we’ll look at 7 fundamental marketing activities that are essential for business success online and find out how to strengthen each with the power of video.

#1. Content marketing activities

Content marketing is huge and important. It is what creates a solid basis for all other online marketing activities. Why?

First, because it involves the creation of your website, which is the pivot of any online business. In general, everything you do online boils down to driving the target audience to your website, as this is where people convert from leads to customers.

Everything you do online boils down to driving the target audience to your website, as this is where people convert from leads to customers.

But to generate that traffic, you need to create much more companion content that would be relevant, interesting and valuable for your audience. 

What content to create? There are dozens of content types that you can experiment with to find your best mix.

How to make your content marketing activities more efficient?

Let’s take a look at blog posts, the most well-known format of marketing content.

It’s not news that visuals make your articles more engaging. To bring it to the next level, add videos.

This format offers blog visitors an alternative way to consume content on the page. And many people prefer watching over reading to learn about new things.

Here is what you can do:

• Embed a YouTube video relevant to the topic;
• Place an explainer video to convey additional information;
• Use video quotes highlighting the message;
• Add a funny GIF or video meme;
• Shoot a talking-head video with yourself giving a summary of the blogpost;
• Invite some guest to share an expert opinion in the form of a short interview;
• Create a listicle video featuring key concepts;
• Offer a how-to video to share more practical tips like the one below.

#2. Search Engine Optimization

To make your content discoverable, it has to be attractive not only to humans but also to search engines.

Crawling algorithms should clearly detect the value of your content piece for a certain search query.

Search Engine Optimization is a complex marketing activity that doesn’t happen overnight. It requires continuous effort, patience and awareness on the best practices.

How to boost your SEO efforts?

Blending videos in your content strategy is defenitely among those tactics that will help you rank your content higher.  

Since users prefer video over other forms of content, Google loves it, too. It always tries to show videos on SERPs whenever there is a clip that matches a certain query. Especially when it starts with What is or How to.

Hence, it is really important to provide the system with correct information about your video to optimize it for search.

Here is what you need to work on to bring your video higher on SERPs: 

1. Keyword research. Use tools like Google’s keyword planner, KeyWords Everywhere or TubeBuddy;
2. Title. Create a compelling title using your keyword in it;
3. Video description. Accompany your video with an informative, teasing and short description. It’s good to use relevant keywords here, too;
4. Thumbnail. Create a thumbnail that people would want to click on;
5. Transcript. Include a transcript so that Google could ‘read’ the contents of your video.

Get this free extended checklist to master the process of optimizing your videos for search.

#3. Paid promotion

Investing in paid marketing activities is probably the most rapid way to make it straight to the eyes of your target audience. Also, paid advertising is a perfect playground for experiments.

Many marketers test various formats to find out what works better for them. We suggest betting on the video format.

About one-third of shoppers will purchase a product after viewing a video ad. 

2019 Video Marketing Statistics

This number definitely suggests that video is the format of choice for efficient PPC campaigns. 

How to increase the performance of paid online marketing activities?

To find out why videos are great for ads, I decided to ask my colleague who deals with them daily.

As a living proof of what Alexandra is talking about, here is one of our Facebook ads:

#4. Email campaigns

Email marketing can be considered as the pioneer of all digital marketing activities as we know them today. Being over 40 years old, emails still bring companies good gains and keep marketers focused on open rates, better subject lines, and proper segmentation.   

The very first marketing email blast was sent out in 1978.

It was Gary Thuerk who brought $13 million in sales to Digital Equipment Corp by sending an email to 400 recipients as a promotion for his company’s computers. 

Here is the guy. 🙂

Hope you find this story inspiring, too. 

I definitely don’t want to belittle Gary’s revolutionary campaign, but back in 1978, it was an easy (and genius) win. Today, it’s hard to beat the competition and make it to the user’s primary inbox.  

How to empower your email marketing activities with videos?

If you want your email to be opened and then clicked through, consider including video in it.

Even though not all email clients support video replay as such, there are a few tricks on how you can add clips to your emails.

Create video-stylized visuals and link them to your video. Here are 4 methods to make them:

Method 1. Use a static image with a ‘Play’ button

• Step 1. Take a nice frame from your video or use the thumbnail;
• Step 2. To give it a video-like look, put a Play button in the middle
• Step 3. Embed the picture in your email;
• Step 4. Link it to the place where the full video lives.

Such a visual gives readers a clear idea that they will land on some video after clicking on the image.

Method 2. Create a GIF

Turn a video scene into an animated GIF. It only lasts for a few seconds, but it’s enough to convey the dynamics and fun of the video format.

Again, to increase the likelihood of clicking on it, place a ‘Play’ button in the middle.

Here is an example from our last email blast. Isn’t it cool?

Method 3. Use a still picture with player controls

This is the quickest way to create a video-stylized visual for your email:

• Open your video on YouTube, Facebook, Wave.video or some video player;
• Make the progress bar and other controls visible;
• Select a good frame, pause the video and take a screenshot.

What’s great about this method is that the image conveys the topic, length, and feel of the video right away.

#5. Social media marketing 

Though it looks like pure fun, social media management stands among marketing activities that you’d better take seriously. Of course, not in terms of content, but the attention you pay to these channels. 

Why should brands enter social media?

• To humanize your brand

Social media platforms are made for laid-back, natural communication. This is how you can connect to your audience and show your real personality, not just branded elements.

• To reach out to billions

The number of social media users is constantly growing, and won’t stop doing so. Here is a chart by Statista that makes it evident.

Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2021 (in billions)

• To talk to your audience in real-time 

People come to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms every day. Some users check out their profiles several times a day, bouncing from one platform to another.

Thus, you can connect to your followers right here, right now and learn about their preferences, concerns, and tastes. And that is invaluable information for the marketer.

It’s obvious that video format has hijacked all popular social media platforms. To say more, all recent major releases made by Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other networks somehow relate to new video features that make it easier to share and consume short clips.

Just look at these numbers. Imagine how much potential is out there. And take measures. 

 

#6. Educational marketing activities 

Back in the early days, marketing was almost equal to sales pitching. A well-crafted product demo or brochure was enough to impress the audience and generate enough interest around the company.

Today, people are more cautious about their purchasing decisions. They tend to thoroughly explore products and services before making any commitments. 

The good news is that it’s you who can lead this process and help them make the right choices. How?

Create a set of marketing activities that are aimed at sharing valuable information, expertise and tips with your prospects in order to build trust. This is what education-based marketing all about.

Create a set of marketing activities that are aimed at sharing valuable information, expertise and tips with your prospects in order to build trust. This is what education-based marketing all about.

To make it truly valuable, it’s important to cover some broader topics rather than your own product. You can educate your future users about the industry news, trends, life hacks and other relevant matters.

 

How do videos enhance the educational process?

Video format works perfectly for learning new things because it appeals to 2 main channels of perception – vision and listening – at once.

According to the video marketing statistics, 96% of people say they’ve watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.

Here are some more video-based activities that you can use to share valuable information:

• webinars;
• themed live broadcasts;
• online courses;
• video product tours;
• video interviews with industry experts;
• all other types of digital events.

 #7. User-generated content  

Who could better tell about your product or service if not those who already checked it out?

Customer feedback (both positive and negative) is an enormous source of motivation to constantly improve the way you do business.

Social proof and word of mouth are two extremely powerful marketing tools. Consumers want more authentic, more real content from people just like them.

60% of consumers say content from friends or family influence their purchases decisions.

The Consumer Content Report: Influence in the Digital Age

So, seize any opportunity and induce your users to share their happy reviews and excited comments about what you do.

Video customer testimonials work exceptionally good because they show real mimics, real smiles that are hard to fake, so people trust them even more.

Bottom line

Whether you are a seasoned marketing professional or a newbie, you might be looking for ways to improve your performance on all fronts.

Be it content marketing or customer care, organic growth or paid promotion, we recommend turning to video-making to enhance these marketing activities.