How to Use Video to Generate Leads and Close Sales

Video TechnologyLeads can be expensive, and sometimes the conversion ratios on traditional lead sources like pay-per-click are poor.

For that reason, businesses are seeking new and creative ways to bring visitors to their websites.

Video can be an extremely effective tool, both to generate leads and to encourage sales conversion.

How to Use Video to Generate Leads:

1.  Use Video To Boost Your SEO

Most major search engine algorithms privilege video. This means that adding video to your web pages can boost your search engine rankings. The best way to do this is to include videos on multiple web pages, then submit those videos individually for indexing.

2.  Use Video to Promote Your Website Through Social Media

Video has become more and more popular on social media. When you make a video to promote your business, you can share it on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and on your blog. A recent study by SEOmoz found that blog posts incorporating video attract triple the inbound links, and an Attivio study showed that pages with video will garner 2 to 3 times the monthly visitors, increasing organic traffic from search engines by 157 percent. The most successful social media videos are informative — product reviews, tutorials, demonstrations and how-tos. The more valuable your information, the more likely your video will be shared.

How to Use Video to Boost Your Sales Conversion Ratios:

1.  Use Video to Explain Your Products/Services

Video is the ideal format for a sales pitch, because it’s the closest thing to speaking with your visitors “in person.” Video allows you to show warmth and personality, to make your potential customers feel safe and comfortable. You can explain your products in detail and answer concerns more thoroughly, because people retain information from video better than text alone.

2.  Use Video Testimonials to Endorse Your Company

Video testimonials are far more convincing than text. A block of words could be typed by anyone, but video puts a face, personality and legitimacy to a recommendation. Success stories are the best kind of video testimonial, because video naturally lends itself to a narrative format and people love a good story.

3.  Use Video to Seal The Deal

Video incites customers to buy, simple as that. Study after study has shown that the presence of video increases sales conversion ratios by an average of 64 percent to 85 percent. In a 2012 survey by Internet Retailer, 52 percent of consumers said watching product videos made them more confident in their purchase decisions. Website Magazine reported that customers who watched videos were less likely to return their purchases. And in a Retail Touchpoints study, the shoppers who viewed videos were a whopping 174 percent more likely to make a purchase. The most effective videos in these studies were product demonstrations.

Instead of shelling out for traditional advertising, invest in video to generate organic, valuable, sales-ready leads. Video is a powerful and flexible tool that can be used at almost every phase of the sales process. But remember, the quality of your video will dictate its effectiveness – a cheesy, homemade shaky-cam isn’t going to persuade anyone to buy. You need a professional video that will attract visitors to your site and persuasively demonstrate the value of your product.

Guest blogger George Nielsen is an Internet marketer with Fishbowl, and enjoys writing about lead generation, SEO and social media.

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Photo credit: Robert Neff

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