January 6, 2017

Using Video to Build Stronger Customer Relationships

If you’re in the pet care or pet health marketing business, someone has probably told you
that you should be using video in your marketing. They’re right. Now more than ever, videos
are where consumers spend most of their time online.

YouTube receives more than 4 billion views every single day and is the second largest
search engine next to Google. In addition, 78 percent of people watch a video at least once a week and over half of people watch videos every day.

What are the benefits? Video provides the viewer with a sense of trust in your business,
service, or product as they can get a more personal view of who you are and what you stand
for.1 It’s a great way to show them what your product or service can do, and you can engage
them in a way the printed word simply cannot.

Getting started with video marketing

Typical barriers preventing companies from launching video marketing are a lack of budget,
strategy and content, as well as no clear measures for success. These are all valid
concerns, but if you commit to working through these barriers with a trusted marketing
partner like WS, we know you’ll find video marketing is just the breath of fresh air your marketing strategy needs.

How do we know? We believe that, of all the audiences out there, those that purchase pet
brands are the perfect audience for video marketing. Why? It’s more than just cute cat
videos.

Videos evoke emotions and build trust

Pet ownership is very emotional and one that requires a lot of trust in those brands that make
pets’ food, treats, medications and other things they need every day. While it’s great to
communicate the features and benefits of your product through video, pet parents want to
feel like they’re taking good care of the physical, emotion and mental well-being of their pet. Showing a happy pet trumps all the lists and features you can throw at them.

Use your video messaging to reinforce that they are doing the best for their pet when using
your brand. Videos that go beyond education or humor to evoke a real emotional response
will gain valuable attention for you.

Being transparent and letting your audience know what’s going on inside a brand or product
can build trust, and one of the quickest ways to do so is through compelling video.

Video, done well, can speak to the core of people’s passions and emotions. These positive
emotions experienced while watching a video can actually impact buying decisions and
brand loyalty.

It’s the most effective way to reach millennials

A recent study by Animoto found that eight out of ten millennials find video helpful when
researching a product or service. They are also 85 percent more likely than baby boomers
to purchase a product or service if they can watch a video explaining it beforehand. Nearly
half of millennials consider companies that produce video content as experts on their product or service.

Social media, which is full of videos, is part of millennials’ everyday lives, and we know that millennials are “generation pet” as we discussed in our advice on how to market to millennial pet owners.

That’s why using a medium that is second nature to them ensures that your marketing efforts
will reach and influence this target audience.

Animals and social media are best friends

From cat videos to “my dog just ate my keys what should I do ” posts, our pets and their
owners are right at home and very prevalent on social media.

A recent study by NewsWhip analyzed 15 brands which regularly feature pets on Instagram
and compared the engagement of their pet photos against their regular content. They found
that brands saw up to 295 percent more comments on content that included pets. The
average increase in comments of all 15 brands was 89 percent, while the average increase
in likes was 19 percent.

Pet influencers are on social media too, and they love videos as much as the rest of us.Having your brand present in this space can reach them and their followers. You’ll build
larger audiences, faster, by engaging these brand ambassadors and creating partnerships.

Videos fill the needs of pet owners hungry for information

Pet owners are in the unique position of needing to shop for almost all the same things that
humans need, like food, bedding, apparel, medication, and toys, for a creature that will never purchase those items on their own. In order to do this effectively and take the best possible care of their pets, pet owners must educate themselves on how to do so.

This is why video marketing, whether it be for the best products on the market, how to apply
a medication properly or to showcase your thought leadership on a topic, is a great way to
connect with and educate this audience. You are providing them valuable content that they
need while building trust and brand loyalty.

With all of these reasons in mind, our team at WS can partner with you to
create a winning video marketing strategy that will inform, uplift and connect to your pet
product consumers.