As mobile broadband provision improves and offers ever greater opportunities to savvy marketers, much is being made of video marketing and the accelerated growth of MMS and video-sharing technologies,. But what is the relationship between wireless broadband and the success of rich-content video marketing? And what does the future hold for this rapidly evolving market?
The relation between speed and video marketing
Broadband speeds and video marketing are intrinsically linked, with the former dictating the success of the latter. Essentially, video marketing relies on both accessibility and speed when it comes to broadband provision. Simply put, speedy, reliable and high-coverage broadband makes it far easier for potential customers to engage with video marketing in a meaningful way.
Conversely, poor mobile broadband provision can lead to customers turning off from marketing messages, as they experience the frustration of incorrectly downloaded or incomplete marketing content, error messages, failing links and endlessly loading rich content applications. This has often been the case where technologies are evolving at different paces – for example, high tech apps and concepts launched before the infrastructure is robust enough to support them adequately. The result can be frustration for the customer and a ‘switch off’.
The promise or video marketing
Done well, video marketing offers huge potential to an increasingly on-grid audience. With good wireless
broadband expert technologies, marketers have the chance to engage with their audiences in new, unusual and real-time ways. Nowadays, nearly all young people – and indeed vast tracts of the whole market place – own and use smart phones to work, play, purchase and consume all kinds of rich content. Many of these people will be almost constantly online and on-grid, engaging with their favourite brands online in new and innovative ways that will delight the brave marketer and strike fear into businesses unwilling to change and grow.
What is the technology?
Primarily, mobile MMS technology allows videos to be delivered via SMS. Mobile users can share messages with other users, offering huge potential for viral adoption. The MMS development offers richer content to boost user interest and rates of direct response. This is particularly the case since the launch of smart phones with high-resolution displays, which offer a hugely engaging interface for users. Other video-sharing sites play an equally key role – with users able to share content with their networks and flag it via their social media networks.
The relationship with broadband
A large majority of customers already experiences online content via their smart phones and this trend looks set to continue and grow further, as new technologies are released and become more affordable and adoption of online applications increases to a wider section of the population. With the quick connections of high-speed wireless broadband, video content can load quickly and be consumed by the viewer rapidly.
Opportunities for marketers
Video marketing offers real opportunities to creative marketers, allowing them to convey corporate messages quickly and effectively, with great offers for targeting and market segmentation and rapid timescales from concept to execution. The cost implications are also favourable, as much online contact is consumed virally and from non-paid-for sources. Brands can truly embed and grow online, with video influence being far more powerful than written and print media. Additionally, the growth of simple editing software and intuitive ‘plug-in-and-play’ technology means that even small businesses with limited resources can create their own high-impact, rich-content videos in high definition. Once created, video-sharing sites offer rapid access to a potentially global audience. Videos don’t even have to be expensive lavish affairs with fancy post-production editing – some of the most successful viral videos are home movies and content taken on smart phone applications themselves. As with all marketing, the trick is to be creative and innovative.
In conclusion, the relationship between mobile marketing success and broadband technology is close and intertwined. It is in the interests of every marketer that broadband and wireless provision continues to grow and improve and the industry needs to work together to facilitate this. The growth in technology, wireless and smart phone adoption offers as many opportunities as it does challenges, with smart marketers looking to use new online channels for rich content creatively and strategically in support of their business plans.
