Kiwi marketers urged to jump on the video advertising train
With digital-only advertising in New Zealand surpassing television advertising, New Zealand markerters are being urged to embrace video in their marketing mix.
According to the Advertising Standards Association's latest report on advertising revenue across all main media in 2018, digital-only advertising in New Zealand now takes just over 34% of all advertising spend, surpassing television at 22.2%.
Kim Voon, founder of search agency Insight Online, says a growing part of the digital advertising market globally is video as the popularity of digital video viewing blossoms.
Voon points to a recent American report that found that digital video advertising spend continues to climb.
"The Digital Content NewFronts: 2019 Video Ad Spend Report was released by IAB, the US national trade association for the digital media and marketing industries. It found that brands are expected, on average per advertiser, to increase spend by more than 25% on digital video in 2019," he explains.
Voon says he is encouraging his clients into the digital video marketing arena because it has such high engagement, particularly with a younger demographic, no matter what digital platform they might be using.
"While digital video marketing is still relatively young in New Zealand, it is a great mechanism to get cut through for a brand in a very crowded digital market," he says.
His advice is that a brand's digital video should address the pain points for customers and explain what benefits they will gain from a product or service, rather than being self-promotional.
"The videos should be a maximum of three to four minutes long unless the business is planning a webinar type format," says Voon.
"Some of our clients use webinars to talk about quite complex issues that matter to their clients," he adds.
"For a builder, this might be about all the resource and council consents needed before you can make major changes to your home; or a step-by-step process on the practicalities of building a new home and what decisions the client will need to make, each step of the way," Voon explains.
"We advise our clients that every video they post, no matter what platform it might be on, should include subtitles in case the viewer is watching with the sound turned down. We also suggest a transcript of the video, so if someone prefers to read, rather than watch, they can scroll down and do so," he adds.
Insight Online has had success itself with digital video promoting an e-book it had produced about Google ads, and Voon says digital video can also be a cost-effective medium for their clients, as engagement is so high.
"While some marketing managers may feel overwhelmed by the plethora of platforms and avenues for digital marketing, whether video or not, the important thing is to worry less about tactics and to approach a digital agency with a clear understanding of your brand's positioning, price points and the power of your brand," Voon says.
"No one has the same clear understanding and detailed knowledge as the brand's marketing manager, but an agency can use that knowledge and help you decide on the best channels and platforms."
