Marketers are well aware of the role mobile devices play as a vital marketing channel. Most of your target audience carries their smart phone at all times, and many of them rely on these devices as the primary access point for going online. Often, they use their smart phone or tablet for work purposes, but internet users are also focusing on entertainment in their downtime. Mobile games are an ideal channel for reaching your prospects, and video raises the stakes considerably. Here’s why this strategy is so successful and what you can do to get on board.
Five Reasons to Focus on Video in Mobile Marketing
- Video is more consumable than text: A typical mobile screen is 3×4 inches, quite limited when you want to convey a message via text. Even if your platform is optimized for mobile, the content must be condensed. Video is presented in full screen mode, making the most of its “real estate.”
- Visuals enhance engagement: Your prospects gain more meaning from a short video than from large blocks of text they have to strain to read. They’re more focused on the content and are attracted to the movement and sound. Plus, visuals enable you to add branding messages through logos, colors and themes.
- Video appeals to multiple senses: This content format typically includes an audio element, gaining the attention of a potential customer’s sense of sound. The impact of audio makes the message more memorable to the viewer.
- A video is user friendly: It’s pretty unmistakable what action you want your target audience to take with a video – and they can easily comply by clicking “play.” They’re more likely to interact with your video when they don’t have to scroll or find a call to action.
- Videos are affordable: Contrary to the popular notion that it’s expensive to produce a video, they can be created on a budget with consumer-grade equipment; you might also consider retaining a firm to handle the process. Either way, the investment is far less than the cost of not producing videos.
Best Practices in Optimizing Video for Mobile
Now that you’re onboard with creating videos for use in mobile games, there are a few concepts to keep in mind to ensure that yours is engaging and appeals to your target audience.
- Keep it around a minute;
- Avoid Adobe’s Flash platform, which doesn’t work on all mobile devices;
- Bear in mind font sizes and image resolution for mobile videos;
- Make sure to include a call to action in the video to let viewers know the next step; and,
- Give viewers the option to skip ads if they so choose. An ad displayed before your video decreases the changes the person will watch it.
You know the importance of using video in your content marketing efforts, but it’s important to not overlook the impact of users in the mobile environment. You reach more of your target audience, because they’re increasingly turning to mobile devices for video viewing. And reaching more of them means turning more of them into customers.