These 5 Businesses Succeeded at Branding With Live Video

We live in a world where advertising is all about being “top of mind” for your customers. But at the same time, people are tired of TV ads and annoyed by web ads. So, just how can you still build awareness of your business in today’s increasingly digital world? In a nutshell, by live video branding.

Experts recommend one strategy above the others to help businesses build brand awareness: connect with your customers. When setting out to do that, one key word comes to mind.

Immediacy (noun):

The quality of bringing one into direct and instant involvement with something, giving rise to a sense of urgency or excitement.

That’s the sort of thing you want as a business. Getting people excited and involved is practically the holy grail of marketing. An engaged audience is the ultimate precursor to success.

Entertain, share, educate, explain: this is how you get people excited. This is how you get to be “top of mind.”

And knowing how to stream live video can help you to deliver on this promise.

Table of Contents

• How Live Streaming Can Help Your Business and Build Brand Awareness
• Video Is a Dominant Form of Content
• What Platforms Do Businesses Use for Live Video Branding?
• What Are Some Use-Cases for Streaming video?
• 5 Businesses That Succeeded By Branding With Live Video
• Learning From These Examples: How To Reach and Engage Your Audience
• FAQs
• Conclusion

How Live Streaming Can Help Your Business and Build Brand Awareness

We’ll get to brands who have found success using live streaming in a moment. First, let’s explain why it’s working.

Live video branding is a powerful tool that can help create a better brand awareness among your target audience. Content that is broadcast live can be very attractive to viewers. The sense of immediacy makes people more likely to join in. More people watching at the same time leads to a better social conversation, and more buzz attracts more people to your brand. It’s a positive feedback loop – the more people who watch, the more people join. You can use this to boost traffic, grow your audience, and strengthen your brand.

Of course, to truly reap the benefits of this approach you have to do things in a smart way. You can’t just live stream anything and expect success. Your content has to be good. Even more crucially, your attitude has to be right.

You need to be enthusiastic, informative, and ready to interact with your audience in real-time. This kind of authenticity is key to building strong brand connections through live streaming.

Here are four approaches to live streaming branding that should help you to build brand awareness:

1. Be true to your brand identity

Live video has the unique ability to convey honesty and emotion. That means it can convey your “brand voice” easily.

Your brand voice personifies your business with human traits. These could be humor, seriousness, passion, directness, or silliness. It’s all up to you. Video allows you to share these traits with others. It’s a lot easier to do so than with writing.

However, mistakes and deviations from your brand identity are also easier to identify. Anyone who is on camera should be fluent in your unique voice. Have a plan for the attitude you want to communicate.

2. Build a real face-to-face connection

One of the cool things about live video is the chance to “go behind the scenes.” Streaming allows people to meet the individuals behind their favorite companies. It can be an intimate glimpse into the way your business operates.

Not everything needs to be private. Giving customers a glimpse into your operations is a way to build trust. Consider whether you could build a connection by streaming video of your:

• Supply chain
• Production
• Design process
• Meetings
• Holiday parties or gatherings
• Break time
• Introducing your team

We’ll say it again: live video is excellent for conveying emotion. Real faces and unscripted (or loosely scripted) conversations can build a connection that feels more real.

3. Show, don’t tell

We’re visual creatures. One study found that human beings process visual data 60,000 times faster than text. Live video allows you to “show, not tell” by enabling real-time demonstrations, presentations, and interactive sessions.

For many topics, this is by far the best way to communicate. Visual and video content is perfect for product demos, music, technical training, live video branding, etc. It’s faster and more complete than any other alternative communication method.

4. Don’t sell

Here’s the thing: branding with live video isn’t great for direct sales. Sure, it can be used this way, but it really shines in a supporting role. Instead of selling your product, branding with live video allows you to build a relationship. It’s often a long-term investment in your brand, and many businesses are finding it pays off.

Video Is a Dominant Form of Content

Video content already makes up a huge part of the internet. That rise isn’t over. Video’s dominance continues to increase.

Cisco has projected that video will make up 76% of all internet traffic by 2020. They’re not alone. Marketing expert Neil Patel calls video “an exponentially growing content type.”

It’s understandable why this is the case. Just look at some of the numbers.

• Video posts have 135% more reach than photo posts.
• On mobile, video posts get 114% more views than those without video content.
• 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with their friends.
• Marketers who use video receive 41% more web traffic.

Pretty amazing, right? With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that more and more people are adopting this tool.

What Platforms Do Businesses Use for Live Video Branding?

You’re probably aware of the surge in popularity of personal live video applications. Apps are free, easy to use, and can reach an already established social media audience. Nonetheless, most pro users prefer dedicated live streaming video hosts. Here’s why organizations and businesses prefer these platforms for streaming video branding content:

1. Advanced features

Video hosting platforms have advanced features that businesses need. These include:

• Monetization (via pay-per-view and subscriptions)
• Analytics (which are inadequate on social platforms)
• High resolutions (HD and beyond)
• Advanced APIs
• Audio-only streaming

2. White-label service

Dedicated hosts have another major advantage: they’re not branded. That means your videos can include your logo or no logo at all.

No peskier social media logo in the corner with streaming solutions. You’re not locked into providing free advertising to massive corporations. Instead, you can promote your own brand. You’ll be front and center with no distractions.

3. Full control of the content

With a host, the content is yours. You can choose to embed it on your own site or share it on social media as part of an omnichannel marketing strategy. You can even disable embedding completely.

Additionally, you can enable other features, like comments and polls for viewers. You can set up multiple simultaneous feeds so viewers can switch between different camera angles. The possibilities are endless.

4. Security and Privacy

Live streaming security is also a concern for some users.

Authentication and privacy settings allow you to manage these issues. You’ll also have full control of DRM and rights management options. Copyright can be maintained with various anti-piracy measures, while geographic restrictions can help you comply with licensing agreements.

These options allow you to stream completely privately. That’s a big advantage for business users.

5. Simplicity

Live streaming used to involve a complex and technical process that required specialized knowledge in video production and computer networking. Luckily, things have changed. With the advent of video hosting platforms, the process of streaming video branding content has become much more streamlined and accessible to people without a technical background.

Platforms have extended the “streaming as a service” model. Now, it’s quite easy to just plug and play. There’s no need for technical staff. As long as you’re comfortable with some basic technical issues, you can do it all yourself.

Video hosting platforms have also provided features that enable businesses to customize their live streams easily, build brand visibility and engagement with viewers.

For a little background on a few issues that you should understand, check out these primers. After reading a few simple articles and spending some time setting up a few test streams, you’ll be ready to get started.

• How to start live streaming
• Bandwidth requirements for branding with live video
• Hardware vs. software encoders for streaming

What Are Some Use-Sases for Streaming Video?

Live streaming video is commonly used for:

• OTT Television and entertainment
• Breaking news, talk shows, and media
• Product releases, tutorials, and demonstrations
• Internal training and communications
• B2B communications
• Marketing (e.g., via an online video marketing platform)
• Education, workshops, and classes
• Government and open-meeting compliance
• Sports and competitions
• Conferences and public talks
• Interviews and group discussions
• Music
• Political events
• Community and religious events

These are just some of the more popular uses of live video. There are hundreds more! You can let your creativity run wild here. We’ve seen some fun and innovative stuff.

5 businesses that succeeded by branding with live video

There are thousands of businesses using live streaming today. Here are 5 case studies of live video being used well.

Apple live streams product announcements

iPhone and computer giant Apple is currently the ninth-largest company in the world. Their 2015 revenues topped $233 billion. Key to their success has been the cult-like following their products have inspired. For decades, the company has worked to generate excitement around their creations.

One of their primary methods is the live product release. These events are usually held twice a year in San Francisco. For years now, they’ve also been live-streamed globally. The June 2014 event (one of the few for which numbers are available) attracted 20 million viewers! One analyst called this the power of “digital convening.” For more info on how Apple structures their live events, I recommend this in-depth piece from Quartz.

Microsoft announces new XBOX products at E3 via streaming video

Apple isn’t the only tech giant to get in on the live streaming action. Microsoft has stepped into the game as well. They use live streaming for product announcements, software releases, internal training, and more.

Here’s one example. Recently, Microsoft streamed their XBOX One S release event at the 2016 E3 conference. The feed generated more than 6.5 million views and thousands of comments. Those who couldn’t attend the physical event were able to be there digitally. Everyone gets to be part of the tribe.

The ultimate result? Consumer excitement. The XBOX One S was completely sold out within two weeks of launch.

Sierra Designs uses live video to boost revenue by 200% – 300%

Outdoor products company Sierra Designs has been using live video for a number of years. Their use focuses on live product demos.

For complicated products incorporating technical designs and niche features, the advantage is clear. Specialists can instantly inform potential buyers about product design and help them make an informed purchase.

According to Cory Barnes, their director of digital marketing, it’s working: “We have consistently seen revenue gains of 200% – 300% on the day of the event and the following day,” he says. “The event participants are psyched to see the new gear and enjoy having their questions answered directly by the brand team.”

VideoHub uses white-label streaming to grow its audiovisual business

In New Zealand, the small audiovisual company VideoHub is achieving great success. They provide recording, DVD creation, and other video services to customers holding live events. Now, they’ve added live streaming to their repertoire.

They use a dedicated live streaming video host that allows them to purchase bandwidth in bulk. Then, they can turn around and sell live streaming services to customers at better prices. They can also bundle together extra services. It’s a one-stop-shop for audiovisual needs. With discounted prices and happy customers, they can maintain a healthy profit margin.

Al Jazeera reaches a global audience by streaming TV news

Streaming presents a number of challenges for news media, specifically in regards to advertising and licensing. This has kept many news agencies off the internet for years. Al Jazeera was able to overcome these difficulties much earlier than most.

They were one of the first news agencies to go all-in on video streaming. The Qater-based company now reaches more than 270 million households globally—a large number of them via free online streaming. All of their content goes online.

They have also been a major innovator in social video. Their AJ+ page on Facebook generated five billion video views in two years and has more than six million likes.

Learning From These Examples: How To Reach and Engage Your Audience

So, what can we learn from the examples shared above?

From Apple, we can learn the importance of suspense, timing, and buildup. Microsoft impresses upon us the excitement that comes with entertainment and fun. From Sierra Designs, we can learn the value of having product leaders share technical information directly. From VideoHub, we can learn about the flexibility made possible with one-time live streaming. Finally, from Al Jazeera, we can learn the value of being an early adopter.

Still, the question remains for your business: Can you leverage live streaming to build your brand and strengthen your business? For many businesses, we think the answer is yes. You just need to sit down and work out a plan.

FAQs

1. What is live video branding?

Live video branding is the strategic use of live streaming to build brand awareness and connect with your target audience in real-time. It’s about showcasing your brand personality, values, and what makes you unique through engaging video content.

2. How do I advertise my live stream?

Here are some of the effective strategies you can use to promote your live streaming branding video content:

• Promote across platforms: Announce your live stream on social media, your website, and email marketing campaigns.
• Tease content and generate excitement: Create short, enticing snippets of what viewers can expect during your live stream. This can spark your audience’s curiosity and make them want to watch.
• Partner with influencers: Collaborate with relevant influencers in your niche to promote your business branding live video to reach a wider audience.

3. Can you make money from live streaming?

Live streaming can be a lucrative venture. There are several ways you can monetize a live streaming business. You can earn money through viewer donations and tips on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. Selling your own products or services directly during your broadcasts is another option. Additionally, you can partner with brands for sponsorships, where you showcase their products or services in exchange for a fee.

4. How do I start a streaming business?

Here are the basics to get started with your live streaming business:

• Identify your niche: Identify a specific topic or industry you’re passionate about and can provide valuable content for.
• Choose your platform: Popular platforms you can use for your live streaming business include YouTube Live, Twitch, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live.
• Invest in quality equipment: A good microphone, webcam, and lighting can significantly improve your live stream’s production value.
• Plan your content: Brainstorm engaging live stream ideas that resonate with your target audience.

5. How do you engage your target audience?

Engagement is a key component for successful live video branding. Here are some tips that can help you to build brand awareness and engage audience effectively with your video content:

• Be interactive: Encourage viewers to ask questions, participate in polls, and share their thoughts in the chat.
• Respond to comments: Acknowledge and respond to audience comments to show you care about their interaction.
• Host Q&A sessions: Dedicate time during your live stream for viewers to ask questions about your brand or topic.
• Offer exclusive content: Provide special insights, discounts, or sneak peeks during your live streams to incentivize viewership.

Conclusion

How to make branding with live video work best for you is a personal question. It involves strategy, marketing, and business knowledge that’s impossible to generalize. However, learning from the examples of others is a great way to spark your creativity. That’s why we love to share case studies like the ones we’ve listed here.

Streaming video is just fun, not to mention a powerful tool in the hands of businesses. In the past, almost no one had the power to broadcast. Now, we can all do it. It’s an exciting time!

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Hopefully, this essay has inspired you to learn more about live streaming and consider how it can help your situation. Are you considering using live streaming for your business? Have you already tried it? We’d love to hear from you in the comments. Let us know what you think! We look forward to the conversation.

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