Want to grab your member’s attention? Try video

Vying for the consumer’s attention is a very real struggle. The engagement war is being waged on many fronts as companies strive to influence their target audience and engage them at every turn. The landscape is riddled with competing messages rivaling for your members’ attention from multiple sources. Creative, attention grabbing messages have only seconds to inspire an extended look, or the intended audience has moved on. According to Advertising Age, people receive messages on average of 10,000 per day. This means the vast majority of messages become irrelevant within seconds. Companies need to develop long-term relationships going beyond just engagement and clicks as the goal.

Enter video. Companies small and large are using this medium to tell their story to reach customers. Statistics support this trend, a study by ACMA, a content marketing association, found videos help viewers retain 80% of the information presented, versus retention rates of only 20% for information presented in text articles. Videos linked to an email will boost open rates by 19%, increase click-through rates upwards of 65% and a video reduces the dreaded unsubscribes by 26%. There are many uses for video, making it a reliable tool to reach the masses.

Speaking from experience, GrooveCar introduced video marketing in 2015. We added staff and expertise to the marketing department with the goal of producing two videos, of varying lengths, a month. Meanwhile, we also utilize an outside production company for our longer corporate videos, which take considerably more time and have a greater shelf life. For telling a story on a specific topic, used to assist in a sales presentation or deliver a short sales message, our in-house video production now performs most messaging we do.

Video scores high on delivering information and increasing the dialogue. As an inbound marketing strategy, it touches on all the main communications points: marketing messages, sales messages and brand communications. Video is also preferred by Millennials who like a casual message with lots of visuals and prefer to receive information in a video format. Younger audiences enjoy the real-time, in the moment experience. Video also offers a multitude of uses on social media, email marketing, sales presentations and for use in trade show displays. As an attention getter, it works.

The average age of a credit union member is 47 years and getting older. The truth is, in order to compete and grow; credit unions need to embrace how the next buying power, the Millennial, is messaged to. Every credit union on our program understands this. Video has been hailed as the next big thing in digital marketing according to ACMA, however costs associated with the medium still keep potential users at bay. There are other hurdles to mention; excessive creative hours, at times, needed to produce a video message that is both engaging and doesn’t stray from intended topic. Putting production hurdles aside, producing a finished video is very rewarding. When it does its job in reaching its audience, the results are gratifying. It’s addictive as well, once one is done, there are suddenly many more to do.

What video essentially does is it goes beyond mere engagement to forge an enduring bond with customers. The term Entangled Marketing is being used to describe marketing communications that moves beyond the reliance on clicks and builds ongoing relationships. We want the member to be entangled with what we are offering and inspire them to seek out the brand. To accomplish this requires consistent, creative messaging that educates and builds loyalty.

Video should be on your radar as part of the way your credit union communicates with members and part of the overall strategy to provide relevant and engaging content. The challenge will always remain getting viewers aware of your message without selling to them. By the way, you don’t really have more than .07 second to grab them, so use that time wisely!

Karen Johnson

Karen Johnson

Karen Duane Johnson is Vice President of Marketing for GrooveCar Inc., a national online automotive buying platform for credit unions and their members. She has provided guidance to companies and ... Web: www.groovecar.com Details