What if we could look into the future and predict exactly how video content marketing will be perceived in the future?
Well I believe we can, in a way at least.
Have you ever heard of the Kano model? It’s a customer satisfaction theory developed a few decades ago by Japanese Professor Noriaki Kano. The Kano model maps Basic Needs (features that must exist to meet customer demands, see the green arrow), and Value-Added Attributes (extra features that may be unforseen, which make customers delighted, see the red arrow).
When you look at your marketing activites and how your company comes across to your customers, are you focusing on Basic Needs, or Value-Added Attributes? And more importantly, which should you spend your valuable time on?
What if you were a car salesman?
If you were in the business of selling cars, you could say that a braking system was a Basic Need and an on-board computer was a Value-Added Attribute.
You couldn’t sell a car without brakes, they are a fundamental feature and exist to meet customer demands. If you sold a car without brakes, you would have very dissatisfied customers, and by selling cars with brakes, the most you can achieve is meeting your customers needs. The green arrow shows that basic needs will only stop your customers from being dissatisfied, they won’t ever make your customers truly delighted.
If you sold cars with on-board computers, this adds value to the car because not all cars have on-board computers, and this extra feature makes the car more attractive. (Hopefully this car also has brakes!) By selling cars with extra value-added features, you can go from meeting your customers needs to really making them delighted.
How this applies to video marketing
Where is video marketing at the moment? Well considering not everyone uses videos in their marketing, we can say they are a Value-Added Attribute. They may be unexpected and make your company more attractive, credible and trustworthy (among other benefits). In this way they help you stand out from the crowd and give you an extra edge in making your customers (or your boss) delighted.
Here’s the catch. Over time, Value-Added Attributes shift to become Basic Needs. Imagine in the future when all cars have or need an on-board computer to function and integrate with the technology of the day. Then on-board computers will no longer delight your customers, they will only meet their basic needs, and you won’t be able to sell any cars without them.
Much like with simply owning a car, in the past it was an extra, a luxury, but as the needs of the modern world evolve, they are becoming more and more a necessity, and many people cannot get by without one.
The future of video marketing
So here’s the future of video marketing. As videos become more and more common in marketing, they will eventually become the standard, and everyone will expect to see them. They may stumble upon your website, but with no video to greet them, they look elsewhere without another thought.
At the moment videos are Value-Added and help you stand out from the crowd. In the future they will become the standard, and you will need them just to keep up.
According to recent research reported by Cisco, by 2018, 84 % of internet traffic will be video content.
Are you ready for when video becomes the norm?
If not, there’s still time to get ahead of your competitors and get started with video marketing. There are some easy ways to start putting videos to use, which don’t cost the earth and are easier than you would think.
What have you got to lose?