Learn the ultimate video marketing strategy by Dr. Islam Gouda

“With the right video marketing strategy, you can easily establish a rapport with your customers and slowly build trust over time.” – Islam Gouda

Islam Gouda is a Doctorate in Strategic Marketing and runs a blog http://islamgouda.blogspot.com/ that has ton of marketing knowledge. 

In this interview, he shared his story and expertise about video marketing strategies. 

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1. What prompted you to have a blog and write extensively about marketing?

My first job was with MasterCard International and I was really excited  to join a multinational company.

My role was to analyze data and come up with marketing solutions and product innovation ideas. Having such overwhelming knowledge, I decided to  write about the things that I have learned .

I started my blog in 2010 and have published multiple articles on various marketing related platforms including the American Marketing Association and Digital Doughnut of the UK.

I am on a mission of sharing my passion with the world and inspire those who want to choose a Marketing major in the university or a career in marketing  

Also Read – 25 Video Marketing Disruptors in India you must know

2. How can brands be Authentic when it comes to Video Marketing?

Customers are extremely savvy to overly polished advertising messages and simply don’t get impacted by them.

Authenticity can come in many ways, from using real people rather than actors in live video. For most businesses, customers are willing to embrace the company’s flaws as long as they feel the business is being honest with them.

Rather than thinking about what might manipulate a customer into a sale, genuinely consider what your customers want and how you can fulfill their needs. If you can meet your customer’s needs in a way that also meets your own, it’s a mutually beneficial relationship.

Approaching from this context will give your videos the earnestness that will speak directly to your audience.

Authenticity can be difficult to approach from the outside. After all, trying to be authentic can already be an issue in  itself.

You can test your videos against small focus groups to find out if there is anything about your videos that happen to strike them as inauthentic or artificial. Focus groups are often the best method to get a bead on how your customers are going to approach your video. 

With the right video marketing campaign, you can easily establish a rapport with your customers and slowly build trust over time.

This trust will come back to you multiplied later, as these customers will continue to return to your business time and time again.

3. What is the ultimate video marketing strategy which you recommend?

• Use familiar faces – Whether it’s celebrities, community members, local leaders, or well-known employees. Research shows that by showing recognizable people in the beginning of your video, you would see an increase in viewership.

• Incorporate humor and emotion – It might surprise you, but videos that are downright funny can help with ad recall and brand awareness. Humans are designed to remember an encounter that sparks an emotional reaction, whether that’s fear, enjoyment, or humor. It makes sense—think about some ads that stick out to you: talking animals, laughing babies, epic travel ads, and other simple videos that might seem innocent enough, but really do an incredible job of capturing and retaining the attention of audience.

• Take advantage of video and audio – That means the audio that you choose in  your video matters a lot more. In fact, YouTube says that it’s possible to see a 20 percent increase in brand awareness and consideration when viewers watch ads with both audio and video.

4.  What is the future of Video Marketing?

• Video is Going Live: Live streaming services are growing in popularity on Facebook, Instagram, and other popular social media channels. Research indicates that live streaming encourages more audience engagement and retains viewers longer than prerecorded video.

• Video is Going 1:1: Given the ease of shooting videos with smartphones, marketers are discovering the value of lead nurturing and customer communications by sending personalized video messages instead of calling or sending email. The notion of using a 1:1 video approach can apply to following-up on an inquiry, offering content, delivering support, simply saying thanks, or practically any application.

• Video is Turning 360: The recent advent of 360-degree video content enables viewers to control their perspective for a more immersive interactive experience.

• Video is Getting SearchFriendly: AI and the use of closed captions are making video content more searchable. AI can transcribe the audio tracks of video with voice recognition to make video searchable. Google even recently announced the addition of video previews to the video carousel that appears in search results.

About Islam Gouda

I was raised in the UAE and have been living there for about 32 years.

In my childhood, I was part of an Arabic curriculum school – Al Shula. I was not very much into studies. Ihe course material provided to us was too informative and I thought it would never add value to my future life.

I had a friend who told me – he will be studying abroad and wanted me to join him after my high school. 

My family didn’t want me to go there as I am the youngest child and very dear to my parents. One day, my father read in the newspaper about the American University of Sharjah and he encouraged me to apply as an alternative to going abroad.

I wanted to become a computer engineer though I studied literature at my high school. The university accepted me in their computer engineering program. 

When I was undergoing that course, I was not happy at all about it.  So I started looking for something that I can be passionate about – ‘a more exciting major’.

Later, one of my friends told me that the school of business is offering an MIS program which is like computer engineering but much more exciting to study. I changed majors and became an MIS and Management student. At the beginning of the school year, we had to take electives from various majors – one of those electives was Marketing.

I took a preliminary course and got hooked on the subject. I aced the course and my professor later asked me to be his TA (Teacher Assistant). This was the turning point in my life and career. My passion towards Marketing as a subject that affects people’s lives, involves psychology and understanding the mindsets of people that what made me so excited to be a Marketing and Management major.

My passion for marketing never reduced. I inaugurated the marketing club at my university and had several articles published in the Leopard magazine issued by the American University of Sharjah.

I kept exploring the world of marketing and got connected with many professionals on LinkedIn who gave me the chance to know more about Marketing and write about it extensively 

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