Commentary
Despite Video's Success, Budgets Are Still Hard To Come By
- by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 26, 2015
The success of video is no secret, but content marketers say it’s an even better deal than you might imagine. Not only is “video killing it,” but it’s cost is dropping, too, Brittany Richter, Associate Director of Social Media at iProspect, told attendees of MediaPost’s Content Marketing Insider Summit, on Thursday. Yet, marketers are still having trouble getting budgets set aside for good content. Ellen Sirull, Senior Marketing Manager of Content at Experian Consumer Services, this is the first year her department was actually given a budget. “I got really good at spending other peoples’ money,” she joked, referring to her reliance on budget’s of other departments at Experian. To do so, she had to convince the search team -- among others -- that producing good content was in their own best interests.
Gavin O'Malley edits MediaPost's Mobile Marketing Daily and MoBlog column. Follow him: @mp_gavin. You can reach Gavin at gavin@mediapost.com.
Finally, someone who tells it like it is - video is AWESOME, but companies / people are not adopting it yet.
Video rocks across every point of the funnel...from social, PR, SEO, conversion, nurturing, sales support and post customer training.
Realistically, it will be 2017 and 2018 that business video really hits. Right now there is only about 10-15% of businesses really serious about video marketing (video marketing = a thought plan to produce more than 1 video).
Which means that those companies that do will gain a competitive advantage.
I'm surprised to read that video is not getting the same financial backing as other methods of marketing. Especially since the internet has taken off and become what it is now. Recently, I read an article in the New York Times about how independent financiers are currently channeling tons of money into long form documentary specials for a few reasons. 1. the content can draw ratings the first time it airs, but then will continue to be relevant and obtain ratings in subsequent showings; and 2. because especially in the department of sports the docu's are relatively cheap to produce compared to live event rights. The Times quotes the number at $500k/project. Tying this back to marketing, it surprises me that companies won't back video projects but will pay outrageous prices from the placement of their ads either on TV, radio, in print or outside/ transit, etc. The time is worth investment, but if you don't have quality to use in that space, what good is spending for the slot? Video also seems to connect with an audience better than any other medium. It is the most captivating form of advertising in my experience.