How Traditional Industries Embrace Video Marketing

60% of marketers used video for their marketing and 73% planned to increase their video content, according to a recent report on social media marketing trends.

A significant 50% of marketers planned to use live video services, such as Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Periscope.

The era of content marketing is here, in which it's not the companies that have the power, but the customers.

Customers nowadays are always hungry for authentic and high quality content. According to HubSpot's latest research into content marketing in 2016, 43% of people wanted more video content from brands.

It's also reported that brands which used video for marketing could grow their revenue 49% faster than those without. And more than a half of marketers worldwide name video as the content that generates best ROI.

Unfortunately for some companies, content marketing is no piece of cake - ask yourself, among brands that you know, how many can produce content that you actually care about?

The content marketing race has put traditional brands, which are more familiar with conventional ways of doing business, into a  vulnerable position.

However, there have been more long-established businesses that succeed in engaging with their target audience with smart video marketing strategies. Now you can see local restaurants upload their kitchen tours and cooking tutorials to Facebook, gas and oil companies utilise TV commercials, hotels feature customer testimonials on their landing pages, and real estate agents upload house opening clips to their YouTube channels.

Let’s take a look at a couple of brands that are doing video marketing the right way.

Metro Trains use animated video to entertain, educate and engage

Take 'Dumb ways to die' campaign by Metro Trains in Melbourne as an example. This campaign was a great hit in 2012 and it significantly changed the way people perceive the public transport industry. At the time of this post, the video has had over 147,300,000 views on Youtube - pretty impressive for a serious and old industry like public transport.

They use animated characters in the video - an euphemism that makes the deaths not too creepy for viewers, and making it more attractive to younger generations - their target audience. The deaths are described in a fun way but it's still educational. And the name obviously makes people giggle and triggers their curiosity - it's neither 'dry' nor 'old'. The melody and lyrics are also pretty catchy. I'm sure that line "Dumb ways to die, so many dumb ways to die..." will keep running through your mind a few days after listening to this:

Needless to say, Metro Trains has proved that public transport can be witty and friendly while still completed their goal of educating people about safety.

Wal-Mart use quick tip videos to inspire, educate and interact

Another great example of video marketing for traditional industries is Wal-Mart. The retail giant is significantly benefiting from its content marketing.

In an interview with eMarketer, Heather Loosemore, Senior Director, Marketing and Communications, Wal-Mart Canada said that they were mostly interacting with their consumers through 5 to 10 second videos on their Instagram and (up until recently) their Vine accounts.

Wal-Mart has also built a quite impressive YouTube channel with awesome tips and ideas for cooking and celebration. The videos deliver a happy, cosy and family-oriented feeling, which a vast majority of their target consumers can relate to.