When one thinks of sponsored content, paying to secure favorable placement for content on a social network immediately comes to mind. Think sponsored tweets, sponsored stories, paid blog reviews, etc. With the continued growth of video as an impactful marketing tool, there is another opportunity to integrate sponsored content into the marketing mix. This time, however, it is an opportunity for your partners and advertisers to invest in premium visibility within your company’s video marketing assets.
Forrester Research reports one minute of video has the equivalent value of 1.8 million words. Consuming online video is also one of the most popular online activities. Further, visual commerce solutions company Invodo’s 2014 Video Statistics Report predicted 74% of all internet traffic will be for video come 2017.
As companies increase their usage of Instagram, Vine and YouTube to showcase their video assets, add company profile videos to their website and embed thought leadership videos in their blog posts (which are then shared across LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and so on) there are significant opportunities for businesses to monetize their video marketing efforts. Here are a few examples:
Conferences, tradeshows and other events
Whether you are producing a synthesis video of an upcoming event, filming thought leadership sessions during an annual tradeshow or looking to make a keynote’s conference address available for viewing after the big day, companies can look to secure partners to help underwrite these expenses. Whether you want to sell a dedicated video sponsorship for the event and have the supporting party listed alongside your other sponsors, offer your sponsor a shout out at the front end of the video or sell the opportunity to have the film “presented by” the sponsor with logo recognition in the opening and a “thank you” in the closing credits, there are multiple ways to structure these opportunities. The key is to make the delineation clear as to whether the production of the video was sponsored or if the sponsorship dollars influenced/guided the direction and content of the video.
A golden opportunity for destinations and tourist attractions
In many instances, tourism agencies have a happy problem – too much of a good thing to share. Creating sponsored videos can help to satisfy the need to provide exposure opportunities for a high volume of assets. Whether you collaborate with tourist attractions within your area to produce day trip guide videos, behind the scenes tours of new venues or tasting tours of the hottest restaurants, there are countless, creative ways to use video to market these assets. Securing video sponsors for these projects can help to underwrite the production expenses. This is also an upselling opportunity as the content is naturally conducive to a short series of videos, as well as longer – and shorter – content formats.
A storytelling tool for nonprofits
Storytelling is critical for helping nonprofits to share their stories of impact with a wide range of stakeholders. Video can help bring these stories to life and give nonprofits multimedia assets to use in everything from their social media updates and email marketing to online appeals and website. Whether it is a corporate partner, foundation or private donor, finding a partner who will invest in helping to produce video marketing assets to tell your organization’s story can help to bolster stakeholder engagement and drive fundraising.
As video’s popularity continues to rise, and more companies and causes turn to video as a way to tell their story and support marketing, the focus needs to be on generating high-quality, audience-centric assets that are shareable and provide value to viewers. By creating video sponsorship opportunities, for-profits and non-profits can enhance their ability to develop a broader base of multimedia assets that will enhance marketing and help to achieve their long-term goals.
