The benefits of digital video advertising have quickly switched it from a “nice to have” for larger businesses to a “must have.” Now, this status has begun to trickle down to smaller businesses.

Brands already embracing video ads have a distinct advantage over their competition.

Soon, video advertising for small businesses could become table stakes for all business owners. Without it, they may not be able to viably compete for new customers and overall sales.

In other words: video ads provide so many advantages that small businesses without a video marketing strategy may get left behind.

Discover the benefits of video advertising and learn about six huge reasons your small business should consider video ads by reading on.

1. Digital Video Has Runaway Growth with No Signs of Slowing Down

First, business owners should know that digital video is not just a “fad.” It’s a legitimate trend that reflects our evolving use of technology.

Online video has become an absolute monster in the past few years with no signs of slowing down. People watch over 500 million hours of video on YouTube each and every day. An estimated one-third of all online activity is spent watching video.

Video uploaded to newer platforms has also quickly caught traction. Since introducing native video for Facebook users in 2013, the platform has grown to have over 500 million people watch at least one video on a given day.

There are many reasons behind this upsurge in video production and consumption, but mobile is one of the most important to keep in mind. As smartphone adoption rates rose and device owners gained access to cheaper data plans, the simultaneous explosive growth in content production and attentive audiences created a full-blown phenomenon.

Over half of video content is now viewed via a mobile device, and mobile video saw 20 percent consumption growth last year.

Altogether, these facts show that if your business invests in video, it won’t be stuck with something no one uses five years from now. Instead, not using video advertising could actually make your business feel like a dinosaur.

2. Most Marketers Are Buying into Video Ads, And They’re Seeing Real Results

While more consumers are watching videos, more marketers are also spending more money on video advertising. Comparing 2016 to 2015, marketers spent 53 percent more on digital video ads — $9.1 billion in total. Looking just at mobile video ad growth, spending increased 145 percent year-over-year during the same period.

And while video ads made up just 12.5 percent of overall digital ad spending last year, digital advertising as a whole eclipsed traditional TV advertising. TV has long been the king in the ad world since the 1960s. That fact that digital can unseat it is a big deal.

Also, many brands have begun to give video the lion’s share (56 percent) of their ad budget, signaling a larger sea change in the handoff between digital and traditional pay TV.

Overall, people have begun to pay less attention to traditional media outlets like broadcast TV and more attention to digital video. Businesses using video ads will find bigger and bigger audiences over time. Those who stick to older forms of ads will have shrinking audiences.

This trend has strongly motivated marketers to pay attention. Currently, over 67 percent of brands say that they purchase video ad inventory on Facebook. The majority intend to spend more on video in the next year.

Since “programmatic ad platforms” can automatically match your video ad with people most willing to buy, the tremendous appeal of video content has helped marketers find big, high-value audiences and better conversion rates.

3. Video Sharing Helps Your Ads Go Viral and Expand Reach

Video is not only appealing but also highly shareable. In fact, traffic to video sharing sites has more than tripled. Also, 92 percent of mobile video viewers report that they regularly share videos with others.

Because video is so shareable, a single ad placement can turn into free exposures from people sharing your ad with friends and associates. Video ads, therefore, help small businesses get more value for their dollar.

Additionally, video ads that are blatant advertisements can still hold a high amount of appeal to buyers. According to one recent survey, four times as many people would prefer to watch a product-focused video compared to reading about it.

4. Video Communicates More Than Words or Images Alone

Video content combines sight and sound with motion to create a deeply engrossing experience. By combining moody imagery with soothing music, for instance, small business brands can make viewers feel emotion more effectively than images or text can by itself.

Consider that a two-minute explainer video can be capable of delivering over 200 words of script. It will also show deeper information with animations, visual cues and things like editing. Maybe this is why people say that if a picture is worth 1,000 words, 1 minute of video must be worth 1.8 million!

Additionally, people tend to remember video far more clearly compared to text. The average viewer claims to remember 95 percent of what they saw in a video compared to just 10 percent of what they read through text.

For small businesses marketing, these benefits mean that video does more with less. Your viewers will get more of your message, enjoy it as an experience, and remember it better overall.

5. Video Helps You Rank Higher for SEO and Social

Google’s search index gives video approximately a 50 times higher chance of appearing on the first page of results compared to any content page that just uses text. Video search results also tend to show at the very top of SERPs (search engine results pages) or near the top-five overall results.

By having your video more likely to appear in search results, you can get more clicks from search users directly in the SERPs. Having your video appear on the SERPs can also increase organic traffic by 157 percent compared to text-basedwebb pages

Put together: each video you make can generate more business with less effort.

6. Video Can Drive Serious Conversions

The addition of video to your existing campaigns can help convert more people more quickly. For instance, including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by over 80 percent. Similarly, including a video in the first email of your drip campaign can increase your subscriber click-through rate by 96 percent.

On top of this, using video anywhere on your website can drive engagement overall. According to studies, the average user spends 88 percent on websites that contain video. Additionally, blogs incorporating video tend to earn around three times as many inbound links compared to text-only posts.

Small business owners using both paid video ads and non-ad-related video content will therefore have an easier time finding more leads from multiple sources.

Some Tips for Incorporating Video Advertising for Small Businesses into Your Marketing Strategy

1. Start with a short 1-3 minute video explaining your company’s primary product or what makes you different than competitors.
2. Testimonial video serves as social proof to help win new customers still considering your services.
3. Consider uploading a few videos a month in lieu of text content to educate your customer base and help solve pain points related to your industry.
4. Facebook video advertising has been shown to lead the market in growth and share potential. Even a <12 second ad loop can draw the eye and drive engagement compared to a static image.
5. Product demonstrations comfort buyers who want to see the product in motion. This applies particularly to goods like electronics, clothing, fashion, jewelry and products like vapes. Even if you are demonstrating a product you don’t exclusively carry, you can earn traffic by providing video demos where others don’t.
6. Answering frequently asked questions about your specific services/products or your industry as a whole can be an amazing way to drive engagement.
7. You can always use content for longer videos as roll material for shorter, more compact ads.
8. Use video to introduce your team or show a glimpse behind the scenes of your company. This approach can help you win affinity and earn audience trust. Facility tours tend to be particularly entertaining when tightly edited together.
9. Consider reporting on industry-related developments, including new products, regulations, major brand announcements and the like.
10. Feel free to simply entertain rather than educate! Old Spice commercials have become a viral sensation shared even by those who tend not to use their products, still growing their reach and overall brand awareness.

So, there you have it — six compelling reasons to jump on the video advertising bandwagon as well as 10 quick ideas to serve as inspiration. Remember that you can start small with just a person talking into the camera, and since every computer and mobile device has a camera now, your production budget can be as low as $0.

If you need more insight on how to use video effectively, take a look at our other small business marketing resources [enter link here] to help you find success for your company.