Video marketing is a key tool in any marketer’s toolbox. From brand storytelling, to direct-response ads to client support assets, it is a key element to leverage when building your brand’s content assets.

I am at the tail end of the Gen-X generation and when I hear the word video, I see computers, phones, tablets. And when I hear the word TV, I see a television set, a remote, a couch.

But that’s me, and it has been changing for a few years now.

Nowadays, watching video content can be on a couch and watching TV can be on your phone. Nothing new here.

What might seem “new” is that the younger generations have ALWAYS lived like this. There is no distinction between one or the other.

Nothing new here either.

What is new is that although this seismic shift has been happening for years, we are at a crossroad, with everything getting blurred and mixed together (For the good! I am not complaining here!)

Want to get your content team up to speed on this? Organize a team workshop or one-on-one coaching with an expert of our team. You can also book Alexandre to come and speak at your event!

Want to add an ingredient to the mix? Throw branded content and brand storytelling in there.

More and more statistics are pointing to this shift and the reality of video content.

eMarketer has always been a great source for this and their most recent data paints a fairly clear picture on the situation. These figures are from their article “5 charts on video marketing’s momentum.”

How can brands and content creators navigate this new 2022+ reality?

For one, they must realize that video is TV, TV is video, ads are video, BUT… video does not necessarily mean ads.

As eMarketer adds:

Struggling to get content out the door? A good content strategy required good prodution partners. Discover our capabilities in video, audio and editorial-SEO content production.

“[…] social media users, especially young ones, are extremely savvy when it comes to spotting paid content. Users will watch content that’s a few minutes long, but they won’t necessarily watch an ad for the same amount of time. Consider focusing on native ads within curated content.”

This is one of the things that our branded content strategists and producers at Toast put a lot of emphasis on with clients: bring value in all the content you produce.

People buy from brands they like. And brands they like help them become better, allow them to have a good time, and do not pitch them a product or service in every interaction they have.

Your brand doesn’t have to be in pitching mode all day and night.

Reflecting on what’s next

In this same article on video statistics for 2023, eMarketer also highlights:

Struggling to get performance out of your content? If your content team is living through content chaos on a daily basis, schedule a quick call with us to discuss Content strategy and content operations. We can help you get all your ducks in a row.

  1. A brand’s potential to reach its audience with video ads is now on connected TVs and mobile (very little on desktop);
  2. TikTok has surpassed YouTube in terms of daily time spent by its users and is now heading toward Netflix;
  3. Native (video) advertising is growing steadily and will continue to do so.

As your brand reflects on their next content initiative, whether it be with video marketing, or even editorial content (because in the end, your end objective remains the same, only the format changes), make sure you are always considering the value your content brings to your audience.

No one, even you as a marketer, wants to always be pitched a product or service. Just watching, listening or reading content is part of the user journey and as brand marketers, we need to keep reminding ourselves of that (and if you need help with the “reminding” part, our experts at Toast are never too far*): our goal is to build durable relationships with our audiences, and endless pitching will not help us do this.

 

(* OK, OK, you caught me, I pitched you our services here. I hope this didn’t turn you off too much and the earlier parts of the article brought you value!)