Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As more and more ad spend dollars increasingly shift to digital channels, franchisors and franchisees are looking for new avenues to effectively reach their target audiences online. Running campaigns on channels like paid search and paid social are table stakes for any franchise today. But where should they look next to develop a more robust local media mix? Look no further than local video advertising.
While U.S. video advertising market has been growing steadily for some time now, recent data (Q1-2022) from eMarketer and Group M highlights that the local video market is expected to reach $55 billion in 2022 alone. That’s roughly 41% of the total video advertising market, with national video buys consuming the remaining 59%. Adding to this data set, Cisco.com research notes that in 2022, roughly 82% of all online content will be video content.
For franchisors and franchisees, the message is clear: Your prospective customers are now engaging with video content and advertising routinely. Those franchise brands and businesses that capture the attention of their target audiences in the burgeoning local video market are the ones that will successfully drive revenue growth from this key channel.
Related: Marketing With Video: The Definitive Guide
Selecting the right video channels for your business
First and foremost, what data do you have on your target audience(s) that showcases where they spend time-consuming video content? While TikTok may garner lots of attention in social media, it still lags behind Facebook, YouTube and Instagram when it comes to user engagement. Furthermore, TikTok does well with ages 12-34 but doesn’t perform very well outside of that cohort. Social media video content can be effective at driving awareness and affinity among your core audiences, but not every social platform fits every brand.
From an advertising perspective, studies show that CTV/OTT continues to be not only one of the most in-demand video products for marketers, but one of the most in-demand digital products overall in 2022 when compared to social media, email marketing and other options. The explosion in programmatic media buying has opened up a lot of avenues for brands to reach their audiences on CTV/OTT with highly specific targeting in place, but without the need for million-dollar monthly ad budgets.
Not all video advertising creative perform equally
Surprisingly enough, video ad creative can often get overlooked and negatively impact performance on a channel-by-channel basis. It’s simply bad strategy to take the same 30-second spot and run it in equal measure across your linear television buy, your CTV/OTT campaign and your social media channels. There are plenty of examples and guides on how to develop creative for specific channels to ensure your creative meets audience expectations and delivers the business results you seek. Tips on where and when your logo should appear in your spot, your optimal video length and where to insert your desired call-to-action should match the guidelines for each channel accordingly. Overlooking this can result in ineffective campaign performance, wasted budget and a skewed version of how video advertising can impact your prospective customers.
Related: 4 Keys to Creating the Video Ad Your Business Needs
YouTube offers opportunity for franchise businesses
Local video advertising on YouTube can prove to be highly successful for franchise systems and local business owners for several reasons. First, many franchisees are often already spending advertising dollars on Google Ads (search, display, remarketing, etc), so adding in YouTube as a complement to these active campaigns can create a more full-funnel media approach while harnessing historical campaign and audience data from other Google campaigns.
On a per-location basis, YouTube campaigns also offer a budget-friendly entry into video advertising that can produce quality awareness and customer growth unheard of on other channels. Whether opening a new location, recruiting new staff, highlighting promotions or simply as part of an “always on” local media mix, YouTube can be an effective video ad solution for individual franchisees without breaking the bank. Lastly, by integrating YouTube campaigns into existing Google Ads accounts, franchisees can further enhance their remarketing efforts and convert more customers by reaching them at multiple phases of their buying journey.
Related: The 8 Most Popular and Effective Uses of Video Marketing
As the U.S. video market continues to significantly expand over the next few years ($167 billion by 2025), the time is now for franchisors and franchisees to identify where video fits in their media mix and marketing strategy. Thoughtful campaigns that combine proper channel selection with high-quality creative, efficient audience targeting, geographic targeting and localized calls-to-action will produce results. You don’t need Super Bowl-sized ad budgets to be effective, you just need a focused strategy for success.
