MarTech Landscape: What is video marketing software?

Video is the current darling of digital marketing -- with more than 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute. Learn how to navigate a crowded field of software tools to succeed in this exciting channel.

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The consumer media paradigm is shifting from text to images. Consumers use more digital devices than ever before, and they are comfortable engaging with videos across screens. But while video marketing can provide unique value, much will depend on your business goals and resources, as well as your company’s size, industry and target market.

Fortunately, once you’ve identified these, there are software tools that can automate many video marketing tasks.

In this article, part of our Marketing Technology Landscape series, we look at how software can automate your video marketing campaigns.

What goes into a video marketing campaign?

Before identifying what steps to automate, let’s first look at the six core elements of video marketing:

  1. Video creation and editing. Video marketing begins with the creative asset itself: the video. That means creating and editing in-house videos, as well as curating relevant external and user-generated videos.
  2. Video management. Video management centralizes the important functions of video content creation, collaboration, scheduling, workflow, distribution and compliance with brand and style guidelines.
  3. Video optimization. Marketing videos should be treated as content and optimized for search engine results pages (SERPs).
  4. Video distribution. Distribution is a key factor in video marketing success. Even the most visually appealing or compelling video will have little impact if few people see it.
  5. Video analytics. Measuring video performance through such metrics as number of views or length of time users spend watching is critical to video marketing success.
  6. Video hosting and integration. Videos can be embedded directly on owned digital properties or hosted on third-party players such as YouTube or Facebook. It is essential to integrate video marketing data and analytics with existing marketing systems to create a more unified view of customers, web visitors and social media followers and fans.
(Source: Third Door Media)

(Source: Third Door Media)

All of the above steps can be automated using video marketing software. Some full-service platforms may also offer more extensive features, such as:

  • video hosting, delivery and customizable video players
  • interactive video functionality, including clickable calls to action
  • video and/or lead scoring for import into CRM and marketing automation systems
  • native video analytics that measure content performance and audience engagement

What are the benefits of video marketing software?

Video marketing has been proven to increase audience engagement. Automating video marketing processes can improve campaign efficiency and scale through the following benefits:

  • Expand brand access across devices and platforms. Automating distribution makes video easily accessible through platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and mobile devices. Smartphone users can access online video any time, anywhere — which is not true for more traditional media channels.
  • Maximize SEO. Properly tagged videos can improve search engine rankings, click-through rates, open rates and conversions. Remember, YouTube is the second-largest search engine and is owned by Google.
  • Boost conversion rates. Nearly 60 percent of online consumers say they are more likely to buy a product after watching a video demonstration. Numerous studies show that retention rates for information that is both seen and heard is as high as 80 percent. That figure drops to 20 percent for information that is only seen, and 10 percent for information that is only heard.

What should we look for during the demo of video marketing software?

Once you’ve determined the need for video marketing software, contact vendors and schedule demos, making sure that all potential internal users of the software are on the call. Pay attention to the following:

  • How easy is the platform to use?
  • Does the vendor seem to understand our business and our marketing needs?
  • Are they showing us our “must-have” features?

Other questions to ask include:

Video creation and editing

  • Do you provide customizable video templates?
  • Can we create and edit videos within the tool?
  • Can we combine video, photos, text and music?
  • Can we make interactive videos that include clickable calls to action?
  • Can we set up, curate and manage customer-generated videos?
  • Do you offer live streaming and can we make the videos available on demand?

Video management

  • Does the platform feature a centralized asset library to manage videos?
  • Can we do bulk uploads via web browser, app, email or mobile device?

Video optimization

  • Does the platform include any SEO tools?
  • Is there a recommendation/personalization engine or algorithms?

Video distribution

  • Does your platform include a customizable HTML5 player?
  • How easy (or difficult) is syndication to social channels?

Video analytics

  • Do you provide native analytics or integrate with our existing analytics tools?
  • If there are native analytics, what do you offer?
  • Can we track total and unique video views, plays and impressions?
  • Can we score video content engagement (i.e., length of time watched) and performance to feed back into our CRM?
  • Can we segment data by video type, channel, tags, device, location and source?

Video integration and hosting

  • What third-party CRM, CMS, marketing automation, ad serving and analytics tools do you natively integrate with?
  • What APIs are available for integration with custom systems or those you don’t natively integrate with?

Video software pricing and support

  • What is pricing based on? What features are included? Are there additional fees (consulting, add-on features, API, quotas)?
  • What is the minimum contract length? Is there a short-term contract or an “out” clause if things don’t work out?
  • What kind of customer support is available? Can I pick up the phone to report problems?
  • What’s the long-term roadmap and launch dates?

What are the names of some video marketing software vendors?

Scott Brinker’s Marketing Technology Landscape 2016 lists 33 companies under the category of video marketing.

Marketing Land’s sister site, Digital Marketing Depot, has published a report, Video Marketing Software: A Marketer’s Guide, which includes profiles of the following vendors: Adobe Experience Manager, Brightcove, HapYak, JW Player, Kaltura, Ooyala, Playwire, Ramp, SproutVideo, SundaySky, TwentyThree, Ustream, uStudio, Videolicious, Vidyard, vzaar and Wistia.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Karen Burka
Contributor
Karen Burka, Senior Research Consultant, conducts research and provides analysis for Third Door Media's Martech Intelligence Reports. She has worked as a digital marketer and industry analyst for more than 20 years at companies such as Peppers and Rogers Group, Cowles Business Media and Simon & Schuster.

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