<a href="https://www.royallondon.com/" rel="noopener">Royal London</a>, the UK’s largest mutual insurer, has been announced as a finalist for another award this season, for their personalised video campaign, delivered in partnership with <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/" rel="noopener">VideoSmart</a>. The campaign is up for the Campaign Innovation Award at the <a href="https://www.investmentmarketingawards.co.uk/investmentmarketing2023/en/page/2023-shortlist" rel="noopener">Investment Marketing &amp; Innovation Awards 2023</a>, by <a href="https://www.investmentweek.co.uk/" rel="noopener">Investment Week</a>.

This campaign took home the gold award in the ‘Member Communications’ category at <a href="https://benefitsguru.co.uk/2022/10/04/overall-gold-awards-for-royal-london-in-both-workplace-pension-and-auto-enrolment-ratings/" rel="noopener">Benefits Guru’s Workplace Pensions Ratings in 2022</a> and has also successfully shortlisted for a further three awards at the <a href="https://www.europeanpensions.net/awards/shortlist23.php" rel="noopener">European Pensions Awards 2023</a>, for the: 1. European Pensions Innovation Award, 2. European Pensions Communication Award, and 3. Marketing Campaign of the Year.
The Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards celebrate the brightest minds and most innovative campaigns in the investment industry. Being named as a finalist is a true testament to Royal London's dedication to delivering innovative solutions to enhance the way they communicate and engage with their valued retirement customers. Judges from across leading financial institutions will be announcing the final award winners in July 2023 at the Award ceremony.
Personalised Video: A Game-Changer in Investment Marketing
In the ever-evolving landscape of investment marketing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for financial institutions across the globe. Royal London is no exception to this, as the company has proven its commitment to continuously innovate and optimise its marketing and communications strategy, to deliver an engaging and accessible journey for customers.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Copy%20of%20XPS%20BLOG%20PICS%20(1).png" alt="Copy of XPS BLOG PICS (1)" width="1024" height="512" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1024px;">
The nomination for the Campaign Innovation Award is in recognition of Royal London’s Personalised Pension Annual Review Video campaign, delivered in partnership with VideoSmart – an award-winning personalised and interactive video agency in central London. With four present award nominations and one gold award under its belt since go-live less than a year ago, it is clear to see that this campaign is certainly capturing the attention of industry experts due to its top-tier-personalisation and heightened-level of accessibility thanks its use of interactivity and animation.
The traditional approach to pension reviews can often involve the use of complex jargon and a sometimes-overwhelming amount of paperwork. Royal London's video campaign breaks this barrier by presenting vital pension information in a digestible and visually engaging format. The combination of delivering personally relevant data, dynamically demonstrated, and concisely explained, ensures that customers can easily understand their pension performance and make informed decisions on the best next step to positively impact their financial futures.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/RL%20Snippet%20GIF%20(2)%20(2).gif" alt="RL Snippet GIF (2) (2)" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
The Campaign: Royal London’s Personalised Pension Annual Review Video
Royal London's personalised annual pension review video campaign has ushered in a new era of customer-centricity in the pension industry. By creating a seamless blend of technology and customer data, the campaign has transformed the way pension providers engage with their clients. It has set a precedent for other institutions to follow suit, encouraging the adoption of innovative strategies that prioritise customer needs and preferences.
The video includes up to 15 points of personalisation in both text and audio – for accessibility for all audiences. The video is unique to every Royal London Pension Plan member and includes a variable scene that is subject to their contribution method so that recipients follow a narrative in the video that is only relevant to them. The results of this pilot campaign were:
<ul>
<li>A 53% uplift on industry average email open rates.</li>
<li>A 328% uplift in industry average email click rates.</li>
<li>98% of videos played were ended.</li>
<li>And the video received an average rating of 4 stars from viewers.</li>
</ul>
For further information, you can read the full case study on this campaign <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/blogPost/Personalised%20Video,Digital%20Marketing,Campaign%20News/97202853226">here</a> on our blog.
Looking Ahead
We extend our congratulations to the entire Royal London team for their outstanding achievement and for being recognised as leaders in investment marketing. This campaign exemplifies the power of data-driven personalisation and demonstrates the potential for innovation to shape and enhance customer experiences. As financial institutions continue to adapt to evolving customer expectations, campaigns like Royal London's serve as a blueprint for leveraging technology and customer-centric strategies to drive meaningful change, ultimately empowering customers and shaping the future of investment communication.
Stay tuned as we eagerly await the final results of this award. We are confident that Royal London's incredible campaign will shine bright and secure a well-deserved victory!

Royal London has been announced as a finalist for another award for their personalised video campaign, delivered in partnership with VideoSmart.

Royal London are finalists for another award with Personalised Video

<a href="https://www.natpen.co.uk/" rel="noopener">National Pension Trust</a>, powered by <a href="https://www.xpsgroup.com/" rel="noopener">XPS Pensions Group</a>, has recently been named as a finalist for the Campaign Innovation award at the <a href="https://www.investmentmarketingawards.co.uk/investmentmarketing2023/en/page/2023-shortlist" rel="noopener">Investment Marketing &amp; Innovation Awards 2023</a> for their Personalised Annual Review Pension video. This announcement means that the company is currently up for a whopping five awards for their personalised video campaign, delivered in partnership with <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/" rel="noopener">VideoSmart</a>.&nbsp;
The Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards 2023 recognise the individuals, teams, and leaders that have delivered outstanding campaigns amidst the volatile and ever-changing environment of 2022. The Campaign Innovation Award recognises outstanding innovation within a marketing campaign, looking for innovation within a campaign's: ideas, messaging, creative approach, media, and ROI.&nbsp;
Alongside the Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards, National Pension Trust is up for four awards at the <a href="https://www.europeanpensions.net/awards/shortlist23.php" rel="noopener">European Pensions Awards 2023</a> for this campaign: European Pensions Innovation Award, European Pensions Communication Award, European Pensions Innovation Award (Pension Fund), and Marketing Campaign of the Year.&nbsp;
The Brief&nbsp;
In September 2022, National Pension Trust, powered by XPS Pensions Group, went live with a campaign in partnership with VideoSmart. This campaign looked to deliver their members’ annual pension benefit statement using VideoSmart’s <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/personalisedVideo" rel="noopener">personalised video solution.</a>&nbsp;
This video campaign acts as a supplemental communication to the traditional annual benefit statements, using video to ‘enhance’ the existing customer journey, and offer a more accessible and engaging version of this important financial communication.&nbsp;
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/XPS%20BLOG%20PICS.png" alt="XPS BLOG PICS" width="1024" height="512" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1024px;">
The Challenge&nbsp;
The last twelve months have been some of the most challenging for the UK as we begin to adjust to the ‘new normal’ since the Covid-19 pandemic, face a cost-of-living crisis, a possible recession, and battle rising rates of pension poverty.&nbsp;
These world events and financial challenges, alongside the new Consumer Duty all mean that it is more important than ever to deliver market-leading levels of Performance, Innovation and Support to pension members, in order to help them improve and protect their financial futures.&nbsp;
As an organisation, the National Pension Trust’s purpose is to ensure better long-term outcomes for pension schemes to protect members and benefit society. They think ‘member first,' and providing good outcomes for their members was the driving force behind the creation of this personalised video campaign.&nbsp;
Overall, the National Pension Trust looked to:&nbsp;
Drive innovation&nbsp;
By helping members with the Cost-of-Living Crisis, through the use of personalised video to provide a more engaging and technologically innovative experience for their annual benefit statement communication.&nbsp;
Improve member experience&nbsp;
By tailoring communication for vulnerable members by using personalised video, including signposting important financial data points, high levels of personalisation, engaging animation-style video, and subtitles.&nbsp;
And deliver a market-leading performance through their strategy, growth, and added value to members' funds.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/XPS%20BLOG%20PICS%20(1).png" alt="XPS BLOG PICS (1)" width="1024" height="512" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1024px;">
The Campaign&nbsp;
The Personalised NPT Annual Benefit Video Statements campaign aimed to:&nbsp;
<ol>
<li>Increase member engagement with their annual benefit statement.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Provide a clear and memorable summary of members’ pension savings and their projections for the future.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Drive members to manage their Pension Account and download their full PDF statement.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
This personalised video campaign comprises up to 17 data points in text and audio. &nbsp;
The video provides a fantastic view of every member’s unique Pension Account, whilst translating the real impact this information has on their future retirement income – in just 90 seconds!&nbsp;
Personalised video allowed XPS Pensions Group to simplify complex pension concepts and tailor the content to each viewer's specific circumstances. By presenting information in a personalised and engaging manner, viewers were better able to grasp the key details and implications of their pension plan.&nbsp;
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/XPS%20BLOG%20PICS%20(2).png" alt="XPS BLOG PICS (2)" width="1024" height="512" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1024px;">
We integrated this personalised video into National Pension Trust’s member portal using an API. This means that members’:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="13" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-aria-level="1">Access their video via a familiar and secure platform (their portal).&nbsp;</li>
<li data-leveltext="" data-font="Symbol" data-listid="13" data-list-defn-props="{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559684&quot;:-2,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;multilevel&quot;}" aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-aria-level="1">Are in the most opportune place to amend and learn more about their Pension Account or get in touch.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
The Outcome&nbsp;
Although this campaign first and foremost delivers on the National Pension Trust’s objective to create communications that are ‘member first', accessible, innovative and provide a high level of support; it also supports their overarching mission statement: to ensure better long-term outcomes for the members of their pension schemes and protect and improve upon their financial futures.&nbsp;
This campaign drove the following results:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>85% of videos played&nbsp;</li>
<li>A 91% video retention rate, where viewers stayed up to 57 seconds in, when they had received all their benefit statement data.&nbsp;</li>
<li>We received a&nbsp;+188% uplift&nbsp;of members logging in to see their video statements.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
 
A Note from Our Stakeholders&nbsp;
“As a tech-centric company, we are amazed by the level of tech-led innovation NPT and the XPS Pensions Group have driven in the pensions space. We love to see that personalised videos are becoming a fundamental part of this, and that above all, they are supporting NPT’s endeavour to deliver good outcomes for their members through demystifying and revolutionising the way they engage with their important financial information.&nbsp;
We can’t wait to support NPT’s rollout of this campaign to more scheme members as the year continues.” – Leilah Aintaoui, VideoSmart Director.&nbsp;
To Conclude&nbsp;
At VideoSmart, we are proud to have partnered with the National Pension Trust and XPS Pensions Group to deliver this personalised annual pension benefit video statement campaign. The nominations for these prestigious awards are not just a testament to XPS Pensions Group's and the National Pension Trust’s accomplishments but also a recognition of the transformative potential that personalised video holds in the world of financial services, pensions and beyond.&nbsp;
We wish huge congratulations to the National Pension Trust and XPS Group team for such a successful award season so far, and the best of luck for securing a win at Investment Week’s Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards 2023.&nbsp;

National Pension Trust has recently been named as a finalist for the Campaign Innovation award at the Investment Marketing & Innovation Awards 2023 for their Personalised Annual Review Pension video. This announcement means that the company is currently up for a whopping five awards, in partnership with VideoSmart.

XPS Pensions Group Up for 5 Awards this Year for their Personalised Video Pensions Campaign

Personalised video helps Royal London take home the gold award in the ‘Member Communications’ category at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/benefitsguru/">Benefits Guru</a> 2022 Workplace Pensions Ratings. At VideoSmart, we are so thrilled to see personalised video drive such great results for our clients and their customers that we’ve decided to share with you a case study to help you understand why personalised video wins big, and how you can do the same.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Royal%20London%20Award%20Blog%20Images.png" alt="Royal London Award Blog Images" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">

<h3>The Who:</h3>
Royal London is the largest mutual life insurance, pensions and investment company in the United Kingdom and has been successfully serving pension and protection products for the past 150 years. As a purpose-driven mutual, Royal London’s mission is ‘Protecting today, investing in tomorrow. Together we are mutually responsible’ – a statement we believe that this personalised video pension campaign has truly delivered on from conception to launch, by keeping true to this ethos throughout every stage.
We are VideoSmart, an award-winning marketing agency specialising in personalised and interactive video and partners of Royal London in the delivery of this pilot pension campaign. We love to challenge our clients to rethink video in order to discover the value it can have when used effectively in their marketing and communications strategy, and this is a fantastic example of it doing just that!
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Royal%20London%20Award%20Blog%20Images%20(1).png" alt="Royal London Pensions" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
<h3>The Challenge:</h3>
As the world is facing uncertain economic climates it is more important than ever for financial services companies to challenge the way they are serving their products and services to customers, and ask themselves – is this achieving what it needs to, to protect their financial futures? With a possible recession and the FCA’s new Consumer Duty on the horizon for 2023, firms are presented with the challenge of keeping their customers’ eyes on their future financial health – in other words, their retirement – no matter the crises they are being faced with today.
Furthermore, firms are also having to tackle an ever-changing and increasingly digital environment when it comes to customer communications. In turn, marketers are presented with a ‘sweet shop’ of channels, CRM systems, media and more to choose from; hoping to find the best one for their product or service, its audience and delivered at the right touchpoint in the customer journey.
The next challenge financial services marketers are faced with is that intrinsically, financial products and services are both more complex and of great importance to consumers’ lives. Where communications fail to effectively serve customers, the outcome can be of great detriment to both parties. Poor engagement can lead to everything from lost pensions to high customer churn rates, low customer satisfaction, improper financial planning for the future – and critically, non-compliance with the Financial Conduct Authority’s latest regulations.
<h3>The Solution:</h3>
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/RL%20Snippet%20GIF%20(2).gif" alt="Royal London Video GIF" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
Royal London chose personalised video to deliver their pension customers’ annual pension review. This campaign, delivered in partnership with VideoSmart, was deployed earlier this year as part of a pilot launch to 12-18,000 members. After the fantastic levels of engagement this campaign received, and helping towards the winning result at Benefits Guru, this personalised pension video is due to be deployed to more members over the coming months.
<h3>The Objectives:</h3>
Whilst combatting all the industry-wide challenges addressed above, Royal London also looked to deliver upon their purpose and strategy upheld as a business in relation to their pension products:
<ul>
<li>
Creating a positive social impact,
</li>
<li>
Helping drive positive financial futures,
</li>
<li>
And championing their customers to take action to build a better future.
</li>
</ul>
They achieve this by keeping their customers at heart whilst delivering:
<ul>
<li>
Carefully crafted investments,
</li>
<li>
Clear and simple communications,
</li>
<li>
And flexible retirement options.
</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Royal%20London%20Award%20Blog%20Images%20(2).png" alt="Royal London Persionalised Pension Video" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
This personalised pension video campaign looked to:
<ul>
<li>
Inform customers about the key information in their yearly pension statement,
</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>
Prompt members to log in to their online account,
</li>
<li>
Drive members to download the Royal London App where they can view their full statement,
</li>
<li>
And direct them to contact an Advisor&nbsp;if they need further support.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>The Royal London Personalised Pension Video:</h3>
As per the Financial Conduct Authority’s new Consumer Duty, this video is a great example of using ‘signposting’ to highlight important financial data for the customer, including in this instance: an overview of the members’ total plan value, their investment fund name, the estimated plan value of their pot once in retirement, and what this translates into in terms of yearly income for the customer.
The video includes up to 15 points of personalisation in both text and audio – for accessibility for all audiences. The video is unique to every Royal London Pension Plan member and includes a variable scene that is subject to their contribution method so that recipients follow a narrative in the video that is only relevant to them.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Royal%20London%20Award%20Blog%20Images%20(3).png" alt="Royal London Personalised Pension Video CTA" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
Finally, no pensions campaign is complete without a call to action that incites recipients to take control of their retirement and actively participate in their financial futures. This video includes an in-video CTA button leading members to take the next step naturally and login to their online service to view their full pension statement and discover whether they are on track for the standard of living in retirement that they require.
The video itself is a fantastic combination of animation and personalisation, taking viewers through their pension statement at a comfortable pace, in a visual manner that demystifies what can often be a complex financial product. Ultimately, this personalised pension video provides a dynamic and engaging experience for Royal London’s Pension Plan members.
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/Royal%20London%20Award%20Blog%20GIF.gif" alt="Royal London Pension Video User Journey" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" style="height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 1920px;">
<h3>The User Journey:</h3>
This video campaign was deployed via email, driving users to a secure landing page where they could use 2-factor authentication to watch their personalised video, during which they could take the final step in their journey by clicking the in-video CTA to login to their online service.
<h3>The Result:</h3>
The results of this pilot campaign were:
<ul>
<li>
A 53% uplift on industry average email open rates.
</li>
<li>
A 328% uplift in industry average email click rates.
</li>
<li>
98% of videos played were ended.
</li>
<li>
And the video received an average rating of 4 stars from viewers.
</li>
</ul>
Here’s what David Meliveo, Royal London’s Customer Life Stage Director said about their recent success:
“We’re delighted that the strength of our workplace pensions proposition, our auto-enrolment support and our member communications have all been recognised with Gold Medals from Benefits Guru. We continue to invest in our technology, our people, and our service to ensure we offer a modern, best value-for-money proposition that delivers a seamless and engaging experience for advisers, employers and our customers.”
You can read more on this from Royal London <a href="https://adviser.royallondon.com/pensions/viewpoint/2022/october/gold-from-benefits-guru/">here</a>.
<h3>What’s next?</h3>
VideoSmart is grateful to be a partner in Royal London’s endeavour to achieve good outcomes, with strong engagement for their members, and we love to watch personalised video become an integral part of this. We are thrilled to see that personalised video is supporting our clients in receiving the recognition they deserve for the work they are doing in the retirement and pensions space. Clear and simple communication plays a key role in driving education and engagement in the finance sector, as it improves accessibility, contextualises complex data, and simplifies the steps needed for retirement members to take action.
We can’t wait to see what’s next as this campaign continues to be deployed to more Royal London Pension Plan members in the new year.
To discover what value personalised video can bring to your marketing and communications strategy in 2023, get in touch at <a href="mailto:hello@videosmart.com">hello@videosmart.com</a>, and we would love to help you find out.
&nbsp;

Personalised video helps Royal London take home the gold award in the ‘Member Communications’ category at the Benefits Guru 2022 Workplace Pensions Ratings.

Personalised pensions video helps win gold award for Royal London - and here's why

With nearly everyone spending a significant portion of their time online watching videos, it makes sense to focus your marketing efforts on this medium. However, you need to do it right if your business is to gain from this type of content. This article highlights the importance of including video in your strategy and how to create marketing videos. 
 
<h2>Why use videos for marketing?</h2> 
You’ve probably done it before; you go online to watch video reviews of a product before making that final purchase decision. It is the same case with most people, who find product review videos more informing and reassuring than commercials of the same products. There are even more benefits to using <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/">videos for marketing</a>: 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/2-Aug-25-2022-10-55-22-80-AM-Dec-07-2022-03-09-51-3662-PM.png" alt="People prefer video" width="1200" loading="lazy" style="width: 1200px;"> 
<h2>It’s what people prefer</h2> 
People would rather consume video than any other media or source of information. Videos convey more information in a minute than an article or graphs could. Watching a video doesn’t require much effort, and its ability to inform is unrivalled. Videos are fun and easy for the audience, from product reviews to how-to guides. 
<h3>It helps rank your website higher in SERPs</h3> 
Google considers how much time a person spends on your website after a search when ranking your page higher. Therefore, offering people interesting videos that’ll keep on your website helps boost your ranking, thus netting more visitors. This positive feedback loop helps strengthen your business’s grasp on the market, making it more profitable. 
<h3>It’s easy to share</h3> 
Consumers are more likely to share videos on their social media profiles than links to articles or blog posts. Video generates far more interest for people to consider sharing. 
<h3>It perfectly fits the smartphone</h3> 
People spend so much time glued to their screens, forming a ready market for your videos. Creating short, fun, and highly informative videos with appropriate CTAs drives more people to your website naturally, all because of how much they enjoyed your video content. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/3-Aug-25-2022-10-55-22-77-AM-Dec-07-2022-03-09-46-6162-PM.png" alt="How to create marketing videos" width="1200" loading="lazy" style="width: 1200px;"> 
<h4>How to create marketing videos</h4> 
After understanding why videos are critical to your marketing strategy, let us look at the steps involved in creating compelling video content: 
<h4>Define your audience</h4> 
You can't proceed until you determine who you intend to reach with your video. Most businesses fail because they understand what they have to sell but not who they need to sell it to. Therefore, take time to research your target market and envision how they would receive the video. What reaction are you aiming for? How compelling do you need the video to be? An excellent place to start is understanding the potential buyer’s need and how you’ll fulfill it, then working out how the video will convey that message. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/4-Aug-25-2022-10-55-23-41-AM-Dec-07-2022-03-09-53-8020-PM.png" alt="Short videos are best" width="1200" loading="lazy" style="width: 1200px;"> 
<h4>Aim for a short marketing video</h4> 
The staggering success of the TikTok platform perfectly demonstrates this point. People have short attention spans and presenting a video longer than three minutes won’t get much viewership. That period infringes on music video territory! Since you need to sell and not win the Grammy Awards, ensure the video doesn’t cross the two-minute mark. The shorter and punchier the video, the better its reception, ease of sharing, and more compelling its CTA. 
<h4>Immediately hook your audience</h4> 
Remember your audience’s short attention span? Another complication is your competition’s efforts to grab that same attention. Your marketing videos must be most appealing in the first few seconds. In addition, you need to tell the audience what the video is about within the first five seconds. YouTube illustrates this point well. 
When consuming content on the platform, ads randomly come up, with an allowance to skip them after five seconds. Therefore, you have five seconds to convince the audience to keep watching the video ad. If all you get are those five seconds, you want to ensure you've passed across your main message. If you make it good enough, you’ll get a bit longer to rope in the potential client. 
<h4>Use an online marketing video creator service</h4> 
Why divert precious company resources for video creation tools and software when you can outsource? Apart from this solution being cost-effective, you’ll also tap into their expertise in handling such work with speed, conviction, and adherence to what’s trending. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/5-Aug-25-2022-10-55-23-72-AM-Dec-07-2022-03-09-47-4792-PM.png" alt="Video analytics" width="1200" loading="lazy" style="width: 1200px;"> 
<h4>Track your analytics</h4> 
Analytics reveals your marketing video's performance and areas you need to fine-tune. Additionally, they point out what works well and in which demographic, to guide future marketing video creation projects. Therefore, focus on metrics like total views, average watch time, conversions, click-through rate, and social media engagement in terms of shares, likes, and comments. 
<h4>Conclusion</h4> 
Marketing videos are a vital component of your marketing strategy, considering how much the audience loves to watch videos. You only need to understand the audience enough to create effective and interesting videos for your marketing campaign. Reach out to us and tap into our years of experience and expertise in creating engaging <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/personalisedVideo" rel="noopener" target="_blank">personalised videos</a> for a wide range of top global clients. Check out some of <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/ourwork" rel="noopener" target="_blank">our work</a> here. 
&nbsp;

With nearly everyone spending a significant portion of their time online watching videos, it makes sense to focus your marketing efforts on this medium. However, you need to do it right if your business is to gain from this type of content. This article highlights the importance of including video in your strategy and how to create marketing videos.

How to Create Marketing Videos

<a href="https://www.videosmart.com/">Video marketing</a> started earnestly in 2005 after the launch of YouTube and has skyrocketed since then. The rise of smartphone technology made the creation of quality video much easier, but that is not the only reason why video marketing is so popular among marketers. 

According to Statista, online videos make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. Also, new research revealed that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch a video compared to 10% when they’re reading it in text. However, the icing on the cake is the fact that 64% of consumers purchase a product after watching social videos created by brands. 
So, how do you create a successful video marketing campaign to enjoy the same benefits for your business? Continue reading to find out. 
<h3>1. Set goals</h3> 
You need to set goals at the beginning of every marketing strategy. In this case, think about what you want your videos to accomplish and where you want them to make an impact in the marketing funnel. Three of the most common goals for video marketing are increasing brand awareness, increasing engagement, and lead generation or conversion. These goals touch on every stage of the sales funnel, but at the start of your video marketing journey, you might have to focus first on the stage that is most important to you. If you are a new business, you may need to start with creating videos that attract customers to your business. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/2-Aug-03-2022-03-37-37-00-PM-4.png" alt="2-Aug-03-2022-03-37-37-00-PM" width="1024" loading="lazy" style="width: 1024px;"> 
<h3>2. Fing your target audience and figure out where they spend their time</h3> 
Now that you’ve set your goals, the next step is to find your target audience. Having a specific audience in mind when creating your videos is crucial so that you get your messaging spot-on, so how do you go about finding your target audience? 
The key to this puzzle is developing a buyer persona. A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. You can create one by conducting research, surveys, and interviews with your customers, prospects, and other contacts in your database. Use the information you gather to determine your target audience’s basic demographic information, interests, challenges, and goals. 
Once you understand your audience, find out which social media platforms and communication channels they use the most. For example, Instagram has a firm hold on Gen Z and Millennials. The majority of its users are between 25 and 34, closely followed by 18 and 24. However, if you're in the B2B realm, delivering your video via LinkedIn or an email may be better suited. Understand&nbsp;where your target audience is the most engaged. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/3-Aug-03-2022-03-37-37-03-PM-4.png" alt="3-Aug-03-2022-03-37-37-03-PM" width="1024" loading="lazy" style="width: 1024px;"> 
<h3>3. Decide on platforms to host and distribute your video</h3> 
Besides your target audience, there are a lot of factors that determine which platform you should use to deliver your video. These factors include: 
<ul> 
 <li aria-level="1">Size and sound limitations</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Average view time</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Budget</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Promotion</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Communities</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Contact data</li> 
</ul> 
Trying your hand at social media video marketing? Older platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram support different types of video and have fewer limitations. That said, new platforms such as TikTok make it easier for your content to go viral and favours short-form video. Every social media platform has its benefits and drawbacks, so do your research before deciding which one to use. Here is a guide to help you pick the best video platform for your campaign. 
Want to take your video marketing strategy to the next level? Transform your everyday marketing communications with <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/personalisedVideo" rel="noopener">personalised video</a>. Combine data with video to deliver engaging, dynamic and personal video messages to your audience. Deliver your personalised video via email, SMS, landing page and more to speak to your audience where it matters most. 
<h3>4. Select video format</h3> 
When creating social media marketing videos, you must take two things into consideration; your content and the form in which you present it. Here are some of the most popular types of video: 
<ul> 
 <li aria-level="1">Commercials: They are brief, attention-grabbing videos that highlight your company’s product with beautiful imagery and a clear call to action. The primary goal of commercial videos is to create brand awareness and attract new customers.</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Behind-the-scenes: BTS videos give your audience exclusive insight into your business, allowing them to be part of the making of it. They help brands be raw and authentic, which helps build trust and loyalty.</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Educational: There are different types of educational videos, including tutorials, guides, instructional videos, and explainer videos. They are a great way to establish your company as an expert in the industry and create awareness. Our <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/interactiveVideo" rel="noopener" target="_blank">interactive video</a> solution can be a fantastic way to bring your educational video to life and drive action.</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Entertaining: All work with no play makes Jack a dull boy, so it’s important to incorporate light and fun videos into your content plan. While the purpose of these videos is solely to entertain your audience, they can also help to emphasise your brand voice and create a sense of community. Skits, parodies, bloopers, pranks, and animal videos are great examples of entertainment videos. Social media platforms are the channel of your choice for entertaining video content.</li> 
 <li aria-level="1">Testimonials: These are one of the most impactful marketing videos, especially when your contact is at a crucial stage of their buying journey. They showcase satisfied customers using your product which helps create social proof and build trust among new audiences to get them over the line. These are especially important in the B2B space and even play an important role in influencer marketing.</li> 
</ul> 
<h3>5. Promote your videos</h3> 
Sticking to social media video content? Then once you’ve created and published your video on your chosen platform, you may want to promote it so it reaches more of the right audience. You can optimise the text surrounding your video for SEO, craft alluring thumbnails, upload your videos on multiple platforms to maximise reach and pay for sponsorship if you're trying to grow your audience. Repurpose, cut or resize your video so that it is suitably adapted for each channel or platform, for example, you can upload a trailer video on Instagram stories to help promote your YouTube videos. 
Want to promote your personalised video? Opt for a multi-channel approach, via email, SMS, an application or even integrate it into a key customer touchpoint so that it reaches them in the right space at the most opportune time. 
<img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/4-Aug-03-2022-03-37-36-87-PM-4.png" alt="4-Aug-03-2022-03-37-36-87-PM" width="1024" loading="lazy" style="width: 1024px;"> 
<h3>6. Use analytics to measure the success of your video's performance</h3> 
The last step in any marketing strategy is analysing and measuring performance. Views, average watch time, engagement, and video reach are great metrics to measure the performance of your video and see where improvements can be made. 
At VideoSmart, we understand the importance in analysing the performance of your video campaign, which is why every single campaign we deliver has a personal dashboard where you can find your qualitative and quantitative results. Every day in marketing is a school day, so why stop at video? 
If you need help creating <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/personalisedVideo" rel="noopener" target="_blank">personalised </a>and <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/interactiveVideo">interactive videos</a> for your business, or, if you would like to send <a href="https://www.videosmart.com/products/videoMessageApp" rel="noopener">1-2-1 video messages</a> to your clients and customers, then get in touch with us today and talk to our team of professionals at hello@videosmart.com.

Online videos make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic. So, how do you create a successful video marketing campaign for your business? Find out here.

How to Create a Successful Video Marketing Strategy in 2022

<h2 style="font-size: 18px;">Why is video marketing one of the most successful tools for engaging the 21st-century tech-centric audience?</h2> 
In recent years, video has come out on top as the most powerful promotional tool for a business, all whilst marketing has become more and more saturated with new CRM tools, a multitude of channel options, and non-stop messaging through automation services. But what makes video marketing such an effective tool amongst all this noise? 
When done right, the marriage of motion, music, and a great script is hard to beat when it comes to making a lasting impression on your audience. If a picture&nbsp;paints a thousand words, then imagine what a video can achieve? The effectiveness of video is behind why <a href="https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/#stat-1-2">a huge proportion of marketers (92%) continue to value video as an ‘important part’ of their marketing strategy.</a> 
At VideoSmart, we have gotten video down to an art, we live and breathe great video marketing. So, 6 years and 10 million minutes later; it’s only fair we share our best practices for you to follow to succeed in video marketing and get your audience hooked. 
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 Our best practices to make your video stand out
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 <h3 style="font-size: 16px;">Understand your audience</h3> 
 Create a plan for your video that targets the viewer directly. How are they influenced? What are their needs? What do they value? All these considerations impact the tone and style of the video. The more you know about your audience the better... failure to do this may lead you to fall at the first crucial hurdle: relevance. A relevant video is an engaging one; great video marketing always provides value to the viewer in one way or another. 
 The best way to approach creating a video that is relevant to your viewer is to focus on them as an individual. Personalised video is tailored to each viewer; therefore, the consumer knows you are speaking to them on a 1-on-1 level, serving content that they either want or need. From addressing the viewer directly by their name, to provide valuable insights into their consumer behaviour. The value-offering is never questioned by the viewer with a personalised video… Furthermore, to really cement the effectiveness of personalised video, 93% of companies who use personalised video content experience an increase in conversion rates. <a href="https://econsultancy.com/reports/conversion-rate-optimization-report/">(eConsultancy)</a> 
 <h3>Make an impact in the first few seconds </h3> 
 The first few seconds are a crucial part of inciting and retaining viewer engagement in a successful marketing videoThe 21st-century audience’s attention span is only getting shorter as we are getting more and more bombarded with social media content, especially short-form video with the sharp rise of TikTok. <a href="https://www.wyzowl.com/human-attention-span/#:~:text=According%20to%20research%2C%20our%20attention%20span%20has%20markedly,on%20a%20task%20or%20object%20for%209%20seconds.">Wyzowl</a> states that “our attention span has markedly decreased in just 15 years. In 2000, it was 12 seconds. Now, 15 years later, it’s shrunk significantly to 8.25 seconds…” putting some truth to the saying ‘attention span of a goldfish’, which at 9 seconds long, now surpasses ours! At VideoSmart we know that personalised video is the ultimate way to overcome the attention span challenge and grab the watcher’s attention – making sure to increase watch time and drive click-throughs through the roof. In fact, <a href="https://www.kernel.video/">personalised videos have an 86% average click-through rate, compared with 34% in generic (non-personalised) videos</a>. 
 <img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/Untitled%20design-1-4.png" alt="Untitled design-1" width="663" loading="lazy" style="width: 663px;"> 
 <h3 style="font-size: 16px;">Keep it short</h3> 
 Short-form content is on the rise, influenced by platforms such as TikTok and the new launch of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/creators/shorts/?gclid=CjwKCAjwk_WVBhBZEiwAUHQCmSBkyH-KROiGNfQb9MZOmqKDnfPvtDk7DZPi8etMiw6qMDoZieH2fxoCBUAQAvD_BwE">YouTube Shorts</a> in 2021 as a bid to keep up with video consumer trends. With our short attention span, streamlining your video is the only way to ensure that your message gets across. Industry analysts predict that in 2022 <a href="https://www.reelnreel.com/short-form-video-statistics-and-marketing/#:~:text=Short-form%20video%20will%20be%20the%20most%20popular%20type,18%20minutes%20worth%20of%20short-form%20videos%20per%20day">short-form video marketing will be more popular than ever, with over 70% of marketers using it</a>. 
 If you can effectively communicate your key messages in a shorter amount of time, then the general rule is that the audience will find it easier to digest. <a href="https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics#sm.0000h4rgwfoa1fouwqm23llpma557">HubSpot reported</a> this year that “only the top 5% of video retain 77% of viewers on average till the last second.” So, you’d better get your message in when it counts! 
 <h3 style="font-size: 16px;">Create a good quality product</h3> 
 It is important to create a professional-looking video using reputable resources. We believe in using industry-leading voiceover artists, video editors, animators, and scriptwriters to create a product of the highest quality. When every moment of your video matters, this can make all the difference for the end viewer; leading to an increase in = view time, social media shares, and action rates. This gets your customer to where you need them to be in their journey with you or your business, effortlessly. 
 With even the smallest of creators filming great quality video content and recording clear and engaging voiceovers on the likes of TikTok and Instagram just using their phone, marketeers in the B2B and B2C space have no excuse to skimp on quality. Recording a clear, professional voiceover is vital to creating an accessible video, tone is also a great tool for conveying the more subtle messaging of your video, and it goes without saying, that every video should provide subtitles. <a href="https://www.newtontech.net/en/blog/23083-captions-increase-viewership-accessibility-and-reach/#:~:text=The%20survey%20involved%205616%20American,sound%20off%20on%20private%20places.">As many as 69% of people watch videos with the sound off when in public places.</a> 
 <h3 style="font-size: 16px;">Consider your delivery channels</h3> 
 Think strategically about the where, how, and why of the delivery of your video. The delivery of your video must be purposeful; it may very well be a key step in your customer’s journey. Will you embed your video into a branded landing page? Post it via social media? Host it on your App? Every step must be intuitive, for example, internally linking back to your core website via your video’s landing page can help promote your products and services, and even boost your website’s traffic. Want to progress them down the sales funnel naturally via your top-quality video? Get the most out of their engagement by using our interactive technology to build clickable call-to-action buttons linking to the next stage in the video itself. 
 <img src="https://20378409.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/20378409/VideoSmart/Imported_Blog_Media/Untitled%20(663%20%C3%97%20398px)-4.png" alt="Untitled (663 × 398px)" width="663" loading="lazy" style="width: 663px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block;"> 
 <h3 style="font-size: 16px;">Video mobile optimisation</h3> 
 Always optimise your video and its delivery channel for mobile, in 2021 <a href="https://techjury.net/blog/mobile-vs-desktop-usage/#gref">55% of page views in came from mobile devices.</a> It is important to cater to today’s on-the-go audience. Notably, <a href="https://gs.statcounter.com/platform-market-share/desktop-mobile-tablet">mobile phones have a 59 % worldwide market share vs 38.65% for desktop computers</a>. Failure to make mobile optimisation a priority can detract from the video you have used resources to produce as it can run the risk of not looking professional. This can have a detrimental effect on the time the user spends on video. Use <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/">Google’s mobile-friendly test</a> to check if your website is optimized for mobile devices. 
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 At VideoSmart, we can help your business to navigate video marketing in a way that effectively engages your audience and promotes your products and services. Our team of experts and industry-leading marketing technology stack will create the best personalised video product available. Contact us today at <a href="mailto:hello@videosmart.com">hello@videosmart.com</a> for a no-commitment consultation on how to use video to drive results for your business. 
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Whilst marketing has become more and more saturated with new CRM tools, a multitude of channel options, and non-stop messaging through automation services. What makes video marketing such an effective tool amongst all this noise?

Video Marketing News, Opinion and Personalised Video Insights

Helping you make the most of your marketing.

Video Marketing News, Opinion and Personalised Video Insights

Helping you .css-37han8{font-family:Archia SemiBold;}make the most of your marketing.

Helping you make the most of your marketing.