Over the past few years we’ve seen the value of content marketing. Incorporating videos as part of your strategy is also considered a must have. So why don’t more people invest in this medium?

A recent study by Ascend2, Video Marketing Strategy- Survey Summary Report – surveyed 280 marketing professionals to understand how video ranks as part of the marketing mix and the challenges marketers face.  Here are my three take aways from the survey:

The most effective video may not be the easiest to produce

Customer testimonials, tutorials and demonstration videos ranked as the top three most effective videos respectively. Yet when asked about the most difficult to produce, customer testimonials and case studies (which are similar) ranked the most challenging.

This isn’t surprising due to the time and effort to secure customers to participate in a medium that is so visual.

Everyone wants video but who’s going to pay

While marketers are seeing the benefits off videos to tell their story, the budget being allocated to videos is increasingly marginally (51%). The initial equipment  investment to build out a video recording studio is just the first step. Who’s going to storyboard, produce and edit the video?

According to the survey, 70% of respondents use a combination of in-house and outsourced resources.

Video as an engagement – not – sales tool

This finding was interesting. According to the survey, the top three objectives cited for video were brand awareness, online engagement, and customer education. Objectives related to sales leads and revenue were 4th and 6th respectively.

Conclusion

Video will continue to be an important component of the marketing mix, though budget and production resources currently limit how extensively it can be used. And with the emphasis of video for brand, engagement, and education, marketing teams may opt for tactics that directly contribute to the sales funnel.

In my next blog, I’ll offer thoughts on how to overcome these challenges for your video marketing efforts.