Video Marketing ROI: What Local Businesses Should Expect

The ROI of Video: Beyond Vanity Metrics

Many local businesses hesitate to invest in video marketing, often because they struggle to quantify the return on investment (ROI). They focus on views and likes, which are nice, but don't pay the bills. True ROI comes from video that drives tangible business outcomes: leads, appointments, and sales.

Key Metrics That Matter for ROI

When evaluating video marketing, focus on these metrics:

1. Lead Generation:
* How many inquiries or form submissions did a specific video campaign generate?
* What was the Cost Per Lead (CPL) for video-driven leads compared to other channels?

2. Appointment Bookings:
* If your goal is booking appointments (e.g., for a consultation, service call), how many appointments were directly attributed to video content or ads?
* What was the Cost Per Appointment (CPA)?

3. Sales & Revenue:
* What is the average customer lifetime value (CLV) of customers acquired through video marketing?
* What is the direct revenue generated from video campaigns, factoring in ad spend and production costs?

4. Brand Awareness & Engagement (Secondary, but Important):
* While not direct revenue, increased shares, comments, and website visits from video indicate growing brand recognition and customer interest.

How Video Drives Tangible Results

Increased Trust & Credibility: Seeing faces and real scenarios builds trust, making customers more likely to convert.

Higher Engagement: Video captures attention better than static content, leading to more website visits and inquiries.

Improved SEO: Videos increase time spent on your website and can improve search rankings.

Powerful Ad Performance: Video ads consistently outperform image ads in CTR and conversion rates.

Realistic Expectations for Local Businesses

Your ROI will vary based on your industry, target audience, video quality, and ad spend. However, here's what you can generally expect:

Short-Form Video (Reels, TikToks, Shorts): Expect higher engagement, brand awareness, and lead generation for top-of-funnel customers. Cost per lead can be lower than static ads.

Longer-Form Video (Testimonials, Explainer Videos): These build deep trust and are excellent for bottom-of-funnel conversions, justifying higher customer lifetime value. ROI here is often measured by increased sales from warm leads.

Video Ads: When run effectively, video ads can deliver a 3x-5x return on ad spend, depending on targeting and offer.

Calculating Your Video Marketing ROI

A simple formula:

ROI = [(Revenue Generated from Video

Cost of Video Marketing) / Cost of Video Marketing] x 100

Cost of Video Marketing includes:

Production costs (equipment, editing, talent)

Ad spend

Management fees (if outsourcing)

Revenue Generated is harder to track but can be estimated by:

Attributing direct sales from video ads.

Estimating the value of leads generated by video content.

Calculating the CLV of customers acquired through video channels.

The Mango9 Approach to Video ROI

We focus on creating video content *designed* to convert. This means:

Strategic scripting that addresses customer pain points.

Clear Calls to Action driving specific desired behaviors (calls, bookings, form fills).

Integrated ad campaigns that track video performance from view to customer acquisition.

Regular reporting on key ROI metrics, not just vanity metrics.

Investing in video isn't just about looking good; it's about growing your business. Measure what matters, and you'll see the powerful ROI video marketing delivers.

Ready to see measurable results from your video marketing? Let's build a strategy focused on ROI.