We’ve all heard that video marketing is the future and can enhance business growth efforts. The truth is that finishing and coating operations need to incorporate video marketing now. Here’s how to step up your finishing operation with video marketing.
AJ DoppkeVideo marketing means more than just an ad to attract new customers. There are many reasons why it is important to include in your finishing and coating marketing plan. The video can impact and resonate with people on a deeper level. When it is done well, it can greatly enhance your business in multiple areas. First, review why video marketing is important for the manufacturing industry.
Create a Visual and Emotional Impact
Video allows companies to demonstrate the quality of their plating and coating process in a visual format. Seeing your work and the final product in action is more convincing than reading it. The video also combines motion and sound to evoke emotion. While this is a B2B industry, at the end of the day, you’re still trying to appeal to people. Well made video can turn an explanation into an exciting announcement by adding motion and the right music.
Video naturally captures people's attention and is much more effective than written text or static visuals. Engaging video and dynamic content can keep your audience’s attention for longer. Additionally, videos have proven to be more effective in marketing. We see them outperform static graphics or images in engagement and lead conversions.
What better way to showcase your quality of work than a before-and-after segment in your video marketing?
Build Trust and Credibility
Seeing is believing, and when trying to stand out in a crowd, whether you are trying to highlight your level of quality or a key difference in your process, video marketing can build trust and credibility. Using a well-made video instead of static content makes it easier to convey nuanced information. The more easily people can understand you, the more likely they will trust what you share.
As mentioned above, sharing information quickly over video is often much easier than through written content. Even instructional or reference materials can be more effective and save time if shared via video instead of written or static content. Video allows you to explain technical information quickly at a high level or deeper level in longer-form content.
The effectiveness and engagement from video can be very valuable, but how can you use video marketing for your finishing and coating business? Let’s look at some use cases below and see how they can add value to your operation.
Behind the Scenes
We’re not suggesting that you reveal all of your trade secrets, but showing a behind-the-scenes video of the process or technology can absolutely be leveraged in your marketing. Demystifying your operations through a well-crafted video showing your process at a high level can build trust and credibility. Additionally, being transparent can create a closer connection with customers.
What better way to showcase your quality of work than a before-and-after segment in your video marketing? Show before-and-afters and showcase the end product or process through 3D animation. With video, you can show off the end product from various angles, in different lights, or with multiple examples quickly and more engagingly.
The key here is to produce a testimonial video that sounds natural but is effective.
Recruiting Staff and Training
Finding new talent is a challenge we are all familiar with. Adding a recruiting video to your job post or on your careers page can help increase the number of applicants you receive and attract better-quality applicants. Additionally, after they are hired, training videos offer higher retention, meaning shorter training time and better safety awareness from your team.
If you want to stand out from the crowd at the next trade show or industry conference, consider adding a marketing video element to your booth. Video can catch people's attention and pull interested parties in for further conversation much more effectively. Additionally, it elevates your presentation and, thus, your status at the trade show, giving a perceived higher level of quality before they even talk to you.
Customer Testimonials
Other brands rely on testimonials so much because they can quickly help customers identify if people like them work with companies like yours. There’s some in-depth marketing science behind this, but at the core of it, seeing testimonials makes people feel like they can trust you more and that they belong working with you.
The key here is to produce a testimonial video that sounds natural but is effective. Either way, the video testimonial will be watched much more often than the quoted reviews on most sites.
Highlight New Initiatives
When people outside the manufacturing world think about plating and coating, they usually think about the industrial side of it by default. If you are trying to break through that mindset with a new initiative, video marketing can help you achieve it. You can set the tone for green initiatives or an exciting new piece of technology that will improve the process. Sharing new initiatives through video can get people in the industry talking about your brand and alter the mindset of people outside the industry.
We, of course, need to include the number of marketing channels that can benefit from using video. Once you have the video made, you can give your new asset the ability to accelerate by using it on digital marketing channels such as:
- Social Media - videos have proven to outperform static images and graphics on both organic and paid ads
- Email Marketing - make your next email announcement or newsletter more engaging and effective
- Website - the best websites include video elements to keep potential customers engaged longer and to easily convey important information that is otherwise looked over
- YouTube - with a good marketing strategy and regular content, you can build up an organic following for your YouTube channel, but you can also use YouTube ads to target your ideal customer
- Recruiting Sites - recruiting and hiring staff is a part of marketing efforts, so using the video where you post jobs can increase the number of applicants.
In addition to these digital channels, if you have the marketing budget for it and it makes sense from an ROI standpoint, you could look at traditional linear platforms such as TV ads on cable or local news stations. The reason we start with digital channels is that you can be hyper-targeted in your audience instead of wasting marketing dollars.
If you want your finishing operation’s marketing efforts to be more engaging and effective, video marketing is how you can stand out from the crowd. Whether you are using video for recruiting, trade shows, or to generate new customers, well-made videos can help you achieve your goals.
AJ Doppke is a partner at Marketing Qubed. Visit www.marketingqubed.com.
