Online Video Marketing – More Than Meets the Eye

Kai Rinkinen is a pioneer in the online video marketing industry in Finland, having worked with a host of different clients, from the Dudesons to Nokia. We caught up with him to get some tips and find out his views on the state of the industry.

Forget Quality – Content is King!

We began by getting Kai’s view on the importance of online videos. “It depends a little on the company, but they are important because of their versatility, you can use them anywhere, websites, emails, social media etc.” He is clear in his opinions on how videos should be used, and frustrated that “98% of all videos posted by companies are ads and don’t serve a purpose.” He firmly believes that all videos should bring some benefit to customers. Frankly speaking; content is king and quality is nothing. Everyone can make good quality, the content is the hard part. When we pointed out the downside of a company posting a poor quality video, he counters with, “big companies tend to only focus on quality and forget the content – they look good but that’s it!” Kai supports his argument by stating that nobody will share the video if the content is bad, no matter how big the company.

Video Marketing is About to Go Viral

Kai believes that the video marketing industry is still in its very beginnings. There are many teenagers with a detailed understanding, but they aren’t working for companies. He roughly estimates there to be only about 10,000 people worldwide who are able to earn a living through endorsements on their videos. These two facts indicate that the industry is still yet to take off, and he points out how small online advertising investment is compared to TV.

Tell Your Story and Watch It Grow

“I am more into story marketing, encouraging companies to make videos that give value to their customers.” Kai makes a compelling argument by stating that in order to get a video to go viral, it must touch the viewer to the extent they want to share it. That is hard and cannot be created in a sterile environment – a human element and value must be in place. “In Youtube it’s about the number of ‘thumbs up’ you get that matters…and affects if your video is trending or getting hype.” This is the critical element and what companies have yet to fully grasp.

This article appeared on the August 2014 issue of Nordic Business Report. Read the full magazine here »