

Why is online video such a popular marketing tool? It’s effective for businesses, and consumers love it too. If those two reasons aren’t enough to get your business on the video marketing bandwagon, a new survey has plenty more.
Here’s a closer look at the results, and what they mean for small businesses.
Over eight in 10 (81 percent) businesses surveyed use online video for marketing purposes, up from 63 percent last year. What’s more, a whopping 99 percent of businesses that use video marketing plan to keep it up in 2018—and almost two-thirds of those that don't market with video say they will start this year.
Marketers in the survey say they use online video marketing for a wide variety of purposes. Attracting more visitors to their websites, and increasing their time spent on site are key reasons; however, marketers also hope to educate prospects about their products or services.
Consumers can vouch for online video’s effectiveness: Over eight in 10 consumers surveyed have made a purchase because of a video. While video is often a starting point for consumers researching purchase options, it also works as a “tipping point” that helps them decide to pull the trigger.
When it comes to online video marketing, consumers just can’t get enough. Fully 95 percent of consumers in the survey have watched an “explainer video” to learn more about a product or service. And 72 percent would rather watch a video about a product or service than read about it.
You might think videos posted by businesses for marketing purposes wouldn’t get the same kind of interest as videos shared by friends and family. Not true: Some 85 percent of consumers in the study say they’d like to see more video from businesses in 2018, and 83 percent share businesses’ videos with their friends and other connections.
Not surprisingly, YouTube ranks as the most popular channel for online video marketing among businesses in the survey and also the most effective. Some 87 percent of respondents market on YouTube and 90 percent of those say it’s effective.
But maybe you don’t have to worry about Snapchat just now. Only 11 percent of companies in the survey ever use Snapchat for video marketing, and just 27 percent say it was effective. No wonder that only 9 percent of businesses plan to use Snapchat for video marketing in 2018.
If you’re already sharing online videos on YouTube, where else should you go? Here are three areas offering opportunity for online video marketing:
The average consumer in the survey spends over an hour and a half each day watching online video. Clearly, the market is far from saturated—making 2018 a great year to make your mark with video.
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