Visual content is at the core of every modern content marketing strategy. According to studies by market researcher eConsultancy, almost three quarters of all digital marketers surveyed now agree that brands are increasingly taking on the role of publishers. They are using digital media, and online videos in particular, to expand their relationships with existing and potential customers. According to Internet Retailer, product videos not only increase consumer confidence in their current online purchasing decisions, but are also 85 percent more likely to increase the actual purchase among consumers who have been able to learn about a product through an online video.
In addition, a new “Kaufrausch-Studie” (spending spree study) by the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bvh) shows that videos (“moving images”) and blogs are increasingly becoming decisive drivers for female purchasing decisions. The continuous advance of digitalization – which is reflected, among other things, in the increase of multi-screening and mobile shopping – gives consumers the opportunity to give in to a buying impulse anytime, anywhere. This development, also known as “Everywhere Commerce,” is changing some of the parameters of content marketing.
## Commerce environment and marketing are merging
Online retailers today have the opportunity to communicate much more directly with their customers. This has a positive effect on both sales growth and customer retention. Content marketing is ideal for this – it enables brands to convey their message in an authentic way via more or less branded content and to engage with existing or new customers. Branded content is therefore an ideal gateway to the brand for consumers. To offer customers an omnipresent shopping experience, online retailers must break down the often still existing separation between the shopping environment and marketing. If they succeed in merging the shopping experience with the brand experience, a company’s storytelling will also be seamlessly integrated into the purchasing process.
## Anytime, anywhere: targeted content delivery
Online retailers should find their customers and not the other way around – to do this, they have to provide their content exactly where their customers are. For purchasing processes in a digital world, it is essential that customers can access the appropriate content at any time and on any of their end devices. Brand companies that create a cross-screen content experience with a corresponding responsive design have a clear advantage. Because only with this will the shopping experience truly be “ubiquitous.” Consumers have a natural need to identify with brands and products and to make purchasing decisions exactly when they want. They also want to make purchasing decisions in a way that makes sense to them – that is, wherever they are at the moment of the purchase impulse, and only when it suits them.
## Visual delivery of the message as part of the purchasing process
Visual elements such as images and videos should be at the core of your content strategy. For this to become a truly sustainable and value-adding resource, visual content must of course produce results – in e-commerce, this primarily means measurable sales! Interactive visual content, so-called “shoppable” content, is therefore one of the most promising trends in content marketing for retail right now. This shift towards interactivity is particularly evident in the video sector, where interactive videos are developing from a tool for increasing passive brand awareness to a truly active sales channel. According to a study by IFH Berlin, a product sells on average four times as often when it is offered via a video, which is why demand from retailers is increasing. However, the magazine Wirtschaftswoche (http://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/handel/retail-studie-jeder-dritte-haendler-noch-ohne-online-shop/9034998.html) sees great potential for growth here, as about a third of all retailers surveyed by them do not yet have an online presence.
## The technology is ready
Modern video and shoppable technologies such as those from Brightcove and, for example, our partner Kiosked enable brands to integrate their brand story with their e-commerce model and publishers to monetize their content. By bringing visual content and the purchasing process together, consumers will in future be offered a seamless, omnipresent shopping experience. Interactive online videos are a key tool for this and should therefore play an important role in the marketing strategy of every (online) retailer.
