How to increase bookings with video

Travellers make buying decisions based on the videos they watch

• 97% of travellers watched videos online and 45% watched travel-related videos. (Google)
• On average, 56% of travellers watched videos throughout their buying journey. (Google)
• 61% of travellers watch videos when choosing a destination. (Google)
• 45% of leisure travellers and 72% of business travellers said they are more likely to book a trip after watching a travel video. (Google)
• Travellers view a whole range of different videos. This can include anything from review videos to commercials. (Google)

All of this means:

• You can absolutely reach travellers online via video because a big majority already watch videos online. YouTube is the second most visited website in the world so that's probably the best place to start.
• Video influences travellers' buying decisions. 54% of travellers viewed videos online when deciding where to stay.
• You should make different types of videos, not just commercials. Getting creative is key here. 70% of people said they were looking to be entertained.

Video is becoming the biggest content type people are consuming

• TikTok, a video-only social media platform has seen incredible growth. Currently it has over 600 million active users and it's growing faster than Facebook or Instagram. (DataReportal). Also on average, users spend 52 minutes a day on TikTok. (Business of Apps)
• YouTube is the second largest website on the planet with 2 billion monthly logged in users. (Youtube and Hootsuite)
• By 2022, online videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic — 15 times higher than it was in 2017. (Cisco)
• 61% of Gen Z and Millennials are watching more videos since the pandemic. (Statista)

Most travellers are undecided about which brand to book with and how brands are differentiated

• 85% of travellers are either undecided or considering multiple brands when it comes to booking a stay when they first start planning their travel.
• 65% of travellers don't perceive much difference between brands when it comes to lodging.
• Loyalty programmes' influence is declining in business travellers.

You should try and differentiate your brand as much as possible from your competitors.

If you have a truly unique value proposition like the Giraffe Manor, great. If not, you'll have to build a brand people love.

Video is a great tool to build a brand with

• 53% of marketers say that video helps them raise awareness. 49% say video helps them engage their audience. 52% say video helps them build trust with potential customers. (Bitable)
• 85% of consumers want to see more video content from brands (HubSpot) and viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text (Insivia).
• Social media posts with video have 48% more views. (The Marketing Helpline) and social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. (G2 Crowd)
• 62% of people said they were more interested in a product after seeing it in a Facebook Story. (Marketing Land)

Your customers want video. They remember your message more. You can reach more people. You can raise awareness.

It's a no-brainer.

‍

What type of a video do you want to make?

First thing to do is to identify the end product. You will want to know:

• Where the video will be used: Social media, TV, website etc.
• What is the goal: Awareness, lead generation, sales etc.
• How will you measure success: Average time viewed, impressions, plays, leads generated etc.
• How many videos/variations required: You might need multiple videos for social media, maybe you want to make a series of "How to" style videos. For TV, you might need a few different lengths based on the placements you will require.

Simply write these down.

BONUS: Find some examples from competitors or unrelated industries (this can be great source of inspiration and can help you stand out). A great place to look at can be the portfolios of video production agencies.

Develop your idea into a concept and create your format

Once you have an idea, you will want to develop this into a concept. In order to do this, you should answer the following:

• Who is my audience? Does my idea match what they would like to watch, share and engage with?
• What do I want my audience to take away from the video? What words will they associate with it? How will they feel?
• Where will my audience watch this video? Does my idea match the platform I'm going to publish it to? (For example TikTok currently has a 3 minute limit on videos and its users are made up of Gen Z. If you are producing a 15 minute how-to video on taking care of your garden, TikTok may not be the best place for it)

This allows you to have a more solid understanding of your idea as a working concept people will engage with.

From here, you will want to create a format (if applicable). A format is repeatable and provides a framework for creating content in an easy way. A lot of TV shows have formats, think of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" for example.

This can be just a few sentences or a few pages long depending on your concept. There is really no one correct way of doing this.

For example, the travel brand Expedia releases travel guide videos that are informative, inspiring and engaging. This is their concept.

Their format is:

1. Focusing on one destination per video, start with zooming in from the world map in order to pinpoint exactly where the destination is.
2. Throughout the video, show beautiful shots of the destination.
3. Voice over describes the vistas, meadows or whatever landscape there might be in an inspiring way.
4. The music is relaxing.
5. Finish the video with Expedia logo and a call to action to watch more videos similar to this one.

As you can see the format is simply describing the repeatable elements of the video.

Maybe you are not making a series like Expedia. What then? Well, you should still describe what you want to see and hear and in what order.

Make sure to include a way to advertise your products within your video content if appropriate. It's best to make this as unobtrusive as possible. The trick is to communicate how you add value to them, as opposed to direct selling.

Identify your resources

Depending on the end product, you will want to consider the following:

• Team: Do you have an internal video production team? Do you need to outsource it? Can you do it on your own?
• Budget: Videos for TV will require a different budget to social media videos. Do you have the budget for what you need?
• Time: What is your deadline?

Note down your findings.

Regardless of the things above, you will need the following (bare minimum):

• A camera for recording video
• A microphone for recording sound
• Either a general format or a script to guide you when you start recording
• A computer for editing

You can also use your phone as a camera and a microphone and even for editing.

Execute

Now is the time to create the video. You will want to:

• Organise the people who need to be involved
• Create a schedule, start with flexible deadlines, but don't forget to set them
• Record it
• Edit it
• Get approval from stakeholders
• And finally publish it (more about promotion later)

Too overwhelming? Work with professionals when needed. Message us and we'll be happy to help you get started.

You are likely to not start video marketing

Out of those who don't make videos for marketing:

• 66% of marketers don't make videos because they think it's too time-consuming.
• 41% of marketers don't make videos because they think it's too complicated.
• 37% of marketers don't make videos because they think it's too expensive.

These marketers are not wrong. Video can be all of those things above.

However, it doesn't have to be. It might be challenging to get started at first but once you establish a workflow, you will be able to produce video content eventually.

Remember, it will all be worth it: 52% of marketers say video is the type of content with the best ROI. (HubSpot)

Design the campaign

You should probably design a campaign before attempting to make a video.

Just to get you started, you probably want to start thinking about:

• Who is your audience?
• What action do you want them to take?
• What channels will you be using?
• How much will it cost?

A marketing campaign can look like a lot of things. Maybe it relies on video heavily and it's a big part of it. Or perhaps video is just a small part of a bigger campaign you are running.

No matter the case, you will want to make sure the video you're producing fits into the bigger picture.

Launch your campaign

This step is probably the easiest to understand but the most difficult to be confident of.

Have you done all the checks? Are you ready to go?

If yes, hit the big launch button!

Here are a few tips:

• Do not stop your campaign until you have enough data. Allow at least 5 days for it to collect some meaningful results.
• What to budget for a paid digital advertising campaign? That's always a conundrum. I recommend getting started with at least £15/day if you're doing it on Facebook. Other platform might need more or less money depending on many factors. You will most likely loose some money at the start but the idea is to spend less than what it costs you to acquire a customer (known as Customer Acquisition Cost or CAC).

There is a lot of factors that go into this but in my experience, just get started with a comfortable budget for you and dip your toes in the water.

Review the metrics

Depending on your goals, you will want to pay attention to different metrics to measure the success of your campaign.

Here are a few to get you started:

• Views: How many people viewed your video. This differs from platform to platform so make sure you fully understand what it means for your platform.
• Engagement: Shares, likes, comments for your content is an indication of how engaging it is. If you want to build a brand, engagement on social networks can be extremely valuable.
• Click-through rate (CTR): This is a measurement of how frequently a visitor clicks a link or button and it's shown as a percentage. Low CTR can mean your content might not be engaging enough or maybe it's causing some confusion on.
• Conversion rate: As with any marketing campaign, the most important metric is conversion rate. It shows you what percentage of people who visited your landing page took the desired action (Booking a stay, signing up to a newsletter, filling out a form etc).
• Watch time: When it comes to video, you will most likely want your watch time to be as high as possible as it shows how long on average people watched your content. Low watch times can indicate your content might not be engaging or relevant enough.

Leave it to the professionals...

If you don't have an internal marketing department capable of launching video campaigns, you might want to work with professionals.

Working with a marketing agency with video production capabilities (either internally or working with an external production company like us) is going to be the best option for most businesses.

...or just do it yourself

We've seen many micro businesses achieving a lot of traction with the DIY method. You can absolutely give this a go if you have a modern smartphone. It's more than a capable tool for video production.

However, our suggestion is to give yourself a 6 month deadline: If your video content efforts are not lucrative by then, maybe it's time to reach out to a professional?

‍