While we’ve been pushing the importance of video marketing for years, there has been a huge sea change as of late – and a lot of this is due to the evolving habits of those consuming online video. YouTube is at the center of all this exciting news, and it comes at a time when YouTube’s parent company, Google, has been making organic search marketing much more difficult.
It’s likely that AI is the driving force of many of these changes. If you’ve googled something lately, you most likely found your answer in the “AI Overview” rather than from a blog on one of the many websites that provided that “AI Overview” answer. As organic results get pushed further down the page, search on Google is more and more becoming pay to play. Over on YouTube, however, some exciting developments are indicating that online video and video advertising is the best path forward for both Google (YouTube’s parent company) and your business marketing strategy. If you’ve been afraid to bite the bullet before, it’s finally time to give video advertising a go!
Video advertising is now the best way to reach your audience – in their living room!
YouTube just announced that their “TV” viewership has now eclipsed video consumption on both mobile devices and desktop. YouTube is now, officially, the most popular platform or network watched on living room TVs, and this means that online video advertising is the hottest thing going!
For small businesses with a local audience, video advertising is now an ideal way to reach that local audience. In some ways, we are returning to the era where paid local advertising on TV was both affordable and effective.
Small Channels Are Blowing Up on YouTube
Why is this important for marketing? It shows that YouTube is doubling down on the idea that it will become the new TV. By empowering more new creators, it means there will be even more diverse content on the platform as well as content that is “Hollywood Quality”.
It also means that YouTube ads on the videos of local creators who are just starting to make it big have a greater chance of being seen by your target audience. If you can identify one of these creators, it might be possible to negotiate a deal where your ad is embedded in the video rather than through the YouTube advertising platform.
Similarly, if your business has its own YouTube channel, now is a great time to invest some resources into growing a following. If you’ve had trouble getting views and subscribers in the past, it’s important to work with a marketing professional to make sure your videos are optimized and the metadata is properly formatted for the competitive space that is YouTube content creation.
AI Is Making Video Production Much Easier – and Cheaper
The downside to video advertising has always been both the expense and expertise needed for professional looking video production. A pro quality video ad can cost into the tens of thousands – way beyond the budget for most small businesses. But now, working with a marketing team leveraging AI tools, Great quality video ads can be produced for far less – and you get the added bonus of having a marketing team to optimize, place, and monitor the ads. While AI has shaken up marketing in some negative ways, a lot of new opportunities for both marketers and their clients have been created by it as well.
If you are looking for a marketing team to help you with your business marketing goals, whether they include video advertising, content creation, search engine optimization, or web design, we can help! Contact us today for a marketing consultation.
