Viral, Shpiral

You've almost certainly seen, or heard about, the YouTube video of a Minnesota wedding in which the bride, groom and their attendants dance and tumble down the aisle to Chris Brown's Forever.

According to Rick Burnes, this is the viral ideal. "15 million people reached with no money spent on distribution or production," he says in a post at the HubSpot blog. "Businesses that achieve that kind of reach profit enormously. If you have any doubts, checkout what it did to Forever's iTunes sales."

But since few videos ever achieve that level of success—or even come close—marketers might be tempted to skip the format altogether. But before you abandon video, consider Burnes's argument that non-viral videos also serve your business. Here are some highlights from his post:

Videos give your company a voice. "It's one thing to read a paragraph about a company," he notes, "but it's a completely different thing to spend four minutes listening to a company's founder explain the vision and purpose of the company."

They offer ongoing benefits. Even after the initial burst of traffic dies down, a video at your website or YouTube can continue to serve your marketing efforts.

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