Does online video advertising actually work?
How to know if online video advertising is the right fit for your business:
Last week a client contacted us at Newcast Studios to discuss an online video advertising campaign. They had tried advertising in local newspapers (to the tune of $10,000) but saw no one extra customers and they weren’t keen on radio advertising or TV due to the rarely engaged audience and highly priced competitive time slots. So they asked us; does online advertising work?
Benefits of online video advertising:
Unlike other mediums, online video advertising facilitates a high degree of customisation and audience targeting. Compared with traditional media, video advertising allows you to target:
time, day or week
audience age
gender
parental status
personal status
topics of interest
preferred viewing device
language
precise location
It even enables you to specify specific websites for your ads to show on!
The rub: how much does it cost?
Businesses throwing money at conventional broad-spectrum ads tend to be lazy! They don’t seem to notice they could be saving thousands of dollars online. Savvy businesses are investing in efficient, well-marketed online video advertisements. People who hear about your law firm on the radio might not bear you in mind next time they need a lawyer. The old man down the road isn’t likely to want your spray-tanning services. Online video advertising allows you to define your target audience and only market your products and services to them. The best thing about online video advertising is the cost; you determine the budget you pay per day, so you can start off small and end strong.
But mass media works, right?
In today’s mix of social media and 24-hour news cycle, society’s attention span is increasingly fleeting. The way we access media has evolved to the point where we no longer rely on mass broadcasters to advertise, we can advertise directly from our own pages or groups, directly to our target audience by appealing to their distinct taste, and we don’t have to worry about financial risks associated with marketing to non-engaged viewers.
Not only is online video advertising more efficient at isolating your target audience, but is also often a cheaper alternative to traditional marketing mediums. Corporations that are buying up traditional broadcast media space are simply pushing smaller businesses out of the market, and into an approach with an advantage. Online video advertisers often see lower costs per conversion than their mainstream media counterparts.
So we implore you, big business; keep out of the online video space and stick with mass media! Continue spending megabucks on the old mediums and pumping out content to throw blindly into the sphere. We’re happy to keep this gem all to ourselves.