Personalized video marketing is an innovative strategy that can be used to engage consumers. Empowered by the digital revolution, organizations can, for the first time, reliably reach their consumer base with personalized video advertisements—whether they are delivered via smartphone, PC, laptop, tablet, or video game console. But it is important to remember that not all personalized video content is created equal—if it were, every company on the globe would be implementing it.

To get personalized video right, today’s businesses must follow three basic rules. The first is minimizing any breaks or inconsistencies in the consumer journey. The second and third, which will be covered in this blog post, are platform agnosticism and video runtime.

The Advantages of Being Platform-Agnostic

It is common knowledge that demographic factors like age and gender can have a profound impact on consumers’ behavior patterns. This is one of the primary reasons that words like “Millennial” exist. When it comes to personalized videos, age can certainly play a role in interest and use. For example, InfoTrends’ research has found that younger consumers are more likely to want to watch personalized videos on mobile devices like smartphones.

So if a company invests a lot of money in optimizing a video for desktop viewing but overlooks those people who prefer a mobile experience, it could miss out on a wide share of its audience. This can skew the viewing results and affect the customer experience in ways that are not immediately detectable.

Being platform-agnostic means optimizing personalized videos for a variety of channels. Simply put, any devices that are popular should be considered viable platforms for personalized video marketing.

The Ideal Runtime

Today’s consumers are bombarded with information, and most are digitally distracted. Whether interacting on social media, listening to the news, or watching a TV show, people are typically focused on more than one thing at once. Although research has shown that only about 2% of the population can multitask effectively, most of us still try. Today’s “always on” consumers are accustomed to multitasking, and they won’t have time to focus on a single thing for very long.

This is especially true when it comes to advertising—no one wants to watch an infomercial on their smartphone! According to Keypoint Intelligence—InfoTrends’ research, the ideal runtime length for a personalized video was less than a minute. This is more than enough time for a personalized video to deliver a concise and targeted message to consumer group in question.

As today’s businesses continue to evolve their personalized video marketing strategies, they must remember the amount of distractions they’re competing against. Even well-made videos can’t hope to hold a consumer’s attention for very long, so marketers must make an impact quickly before the window of opportunity closes!

Personalized video marketing is an emerging area, and InfoTrends is excited about its potential. If you’d like to learn more, login to download the new analysis available for thINK members, Personalized Video in Marketing: Taking the Next Step in Advertising Technology.

Colin McMahon is a Research Analyst at Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends. He primarily supports the Business Development Strategies and Customer Communications advisory services. He creates or refines much of InfoTrends’ content, including forecasts, industry analysis, and research reports. He also assists with the editing and formatting process for many deliverables.