Yeah... You read that right. 85% of ALL traffic in the US.

Sometimes, these case studies kick my a** and show me that I need to "zoom out" and look at things in a big-picture sort of way...

 LOOK AT THAT STAT!

If you had asked me any time in the last 5 years if Video was an important medium for ANY business that's trying to convey their message, I would without hesitation 100% say yes. 

But this new statistic from Niel Patel's 11 Alarming Online Marketing Stats... blog post now ups that number to anywhere from a 200-500% mark.

The only things that happens more often on the internet that Videos being watched on YouTube, is emails being sent and received.  

I'll let that sink in.  

The main function of the internet (email) is the ONLY thing that surpasses the viewing of video online.  

(And this is also why I love email so much, yaknowwhatimsaying?)

But on a more serious note, if we as Digital Marketers are going to adhere to the ever-buzzwording "80/20 Paretos Principal Rule" - then shouldn't we contribute as much effort towards the MOST USED facets of the internet first?  Makes sense to me, empirically. 

And it has made sense to me, when I've used it and it's worked in the past.

So, lets look at YouTube Views.

And let's look at YouTube Views, that occur in ONE SECOND!!

(If you click the image above, you can see everything else that happens in 1 second on the internet, it's really, really, really insightful.)

Yeah. Dat's what we, in the biz, like to call, "a whole friggin' lot".

120,093 views on YouTube, per SECOND. 

And its going up. In less than 3 years, Video will be 85% of the traffic that the US has.

So how do we use this for our clients? Our employers?  Ourselves?

Easy - first just realize that video is obviously a SUPER welcome form of communication, and get on producing it. People want to watch videos more than they want to read, more than they want to listen to just audio, more than they want to share.  They want to watch.  It's fast-paced, it's entertaining, and it's a sure-fire way to capture the watchers focus.

If you are planning on producing content (Like I am, I have an experiment I'm working on that this will directly tie into that I'll be sharing sometime next week!) then this is a step that can't be overlooked.  It just can't.

Why do you think VSL's (Video Sales Letter for the uninitiated) are a thing, and have been for a very long time?  Because they're nice lookin'?  

No. It's because they work.

So as Digital Marketers, we all work with businesses that have 'sore spots'.  The thing that the business owner tells you...

"Ya know, we try to make it clear, we tell the people we CAN'T SHIP OUT THE SAME DAY, but we ALWAYS get calls from customers complaining why didn't we ship out same day?  It's crazy, they wont listen!"

Yeah, they're not listening.  But... Mr. Business-Owner Guy... Well, maybe you're submitting it to them in writing... in an email they're never going to read? Or you're trusting your sales people to relay the information in a way that they understand, at a time that they are listening intently?

(This is usually when they mumble yes.)

Well, Mr. Business-Owner Guy, neither of those things are working, so let's try wrapping the same message in a different paper to see how it works, shall we? 

One thing I've done is when those "Sore spots" need to be delivered, don't make them an email.  Put them in an email that has a video embedded directly inside (There's a few tools that do this that I'll be reviewing soon enough!) - 

An example is a confirmation email (put a video in there!)

Or a Thank You email for ordering a service that will happen next week (put a VIDEO in there!)

Or a follow-up email asking for a review on Google (PUT A VIDEO IN THERE!)

And that will make the message come through much clearer. Since I've taken these 'sore spots' and either IFTTT'ed them or Zapiered them, or whatever automation tool you want to use, our clarity has gone up, our complaints have gone down, and the people that were getting those complaints are OF COURSE still getting them, but to the tune of about 20% as often. Serious decreases.

And that saves time, money, and aggravation.

TL;DR - Sprinkle in videos wherever you can, because not only is it the preferred form of communication today, but you can get traffic JUST from virtue of having you video up somewhere!!!

Cheers guys!  If you've used video in a powerful way, don't be shy to comment or like, I want to see what all of you professionals have to say!