Is video really going to help your online marketing? It depends.

The use of video is going to grow. With Google’s universal search (AKA blended search) integrating multiple media into search results, video can give you another way to be found. It gives you a way to explain how your product works in a way that text and static images cannot. It can help you form a more personal connection with potential customers.

But before investing in video, it’s important to understand your primary audience – your users.
I started thinking about this after reading Why Text Remains King of the Web on Micro Persuasion. In this post, Steve Rubel writes about the ways that text continues to beat video on the web. He points at that text is easier to scan, more appropriate for certain settings such as an office cubicle, and faster to bring up on a mobile device.

So when you consider whether to invest in producing video for your online marketing, the the thing you’ve got to consider is how the video is going to help your potential customers. What sort of environment is the user going to be in? How are they persuaded – will they think that videos are simply information-empty commercials?

There’s a good chance that video can help you. Now how are you going to get people to actually take the time to watch it? You’ve got to give it a good label or description, or put it at just the right point in the conversation with the user, where he or she is ready to watch. If you can’t think of a way to entice people, then that video, no matter how good it is, isn’t going to help you at all.