As the video marketing guy, I’m typically focused on helping businesses use video to convince and convert at faster rates.
It makes sense, you know? The ways we discover brands, learn about products, and make buying decisions today have all been heavily influenced by the power of video. My job, then, is to help businesses leverage that power to reach their sales and marketing goals.
But there’s a different side to video that we tend to forget about — one that’s less focused on convincing people to buy our products, but just as powerful…
And that’s how to use video as an educational tool.
Right now, some of the biggest companies in the world are using the power of video to educate their employees and teach them how to deliver awesome customer experiences. At the front of that movement is Inkling, a company that builds mobile content platforms to train and educate workforces for companies like McDonald's, Gap, Benefit and Princess Cruises.
Inkling’s mobile platform allows companies to upload content to educate, train, and onboard employees.
With Inkling, businesses can upload and deploy videos and other types of content that can be watched on-demand during training sessions, at home, or even shoulder-to-shoulder with a manager on the sales floor.
Think about that for a second…
There are 750,000 new McDonald’s employees every year who are learning to run the register or assemble a Big Mac by watching training videos on an iPad…
Or hundreds of Gap store managers that can access information about next year’s spring line on a smartphone during their lunch break.
You and I both know that mobile content platforms are anything but new. But Matt MacInnis, CEO and Founder of Inkling says that their approach isn’t centered around new technology; it’s about creating content using the tools we already have to educate today’s employee in ways they learn best, and get them excited about their jobs.
“There’s a shift towards a more millennial labor force. So if you’re going to engage a front-line employee who’s going to be face-to-face with your customer—as a sales person or in a retail environment—you want that person to understand what a good customer interaction looks like. No one really wants to sit there and read, particularly on the job.” - Matt MacInnis
Matt MacInnis is the Founder and CEO of Inkling.
It’s a simple, but powerful truth: people just process and pick things up quicker by watching a video. It’s why we’re 4x more likely to watch a video than read text, and why companies like McDonald’s and Benefit are turning to video to educate their employees.
Combine that with the other superpowers that video has and it’s no wonder why McDonald's is able to onboard 750,000 new employees every year 66% faster with Inkling.
“The most important aspect of video is that it just speeds everything up. In the end, it’s all about efficiency.”
Companies that are using Inkling to train and educate their employees are seeing other returns on their investment, too:
- Higher revenue
- Higher employee satisfaction
- Lower turnover rates
- Brand consistency
I think there’s a very important lesson here…
Video isn’t just about convincing and converting. It’s a tool — and a pretty damn effective one — that engages, educates, and inspires better than any other form of content.
Whether you’re teaching someone how to run the register at Mcdonald's, or sharing the mission and vision of a Fortune 500 company, your messages will always be clearer and more effective through video.
And you don’t need 1.1 million employees like McDonald’s to see video benefit your business. Short, personalized videos to your Twitter followers (like the 52 I did last month) can engage your prospects in the same way a nationwide training video engages a massive workforce.
What it Means for Your Business
If you’re only able to see video as a tool to drive revenue or close sales, it’s time to wake up… video can be (and should be) used for so much more than that.
If you’re onboarding a lot of new staff or employees, a series of onboarding videos could save you time and money during training.
Or maybe it’s an annual report from the CEO that gets shareholders and senior leaders excited about the upcoming year.
You pick… whatever it is, video is the ultimate business tool that gives you an unfair advantage.