• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, December 10, 2013

While ad spending often attracts the lion’s share of attention in online video, let’s not forget that video is a marketing tool, too.

To be sure, brands are busily spending money to peddle their products in online TV shows and other digital programs – in fact, video ad spend rose about 42% this year to reach $4.12 billion. But many marketers are finding that online video can also be extremely useful in helping communicate to potential customers about the products and services offered, according to a survey conducted by the Web Video Marketing Council,  Flimp Media and ReelSEO.

That’s why so many are using it for marketing. About 93% of marketers used it in their marketing and communications endeavors this year, and that’s up from 81% in 2012. Plus, 82% of marketers said online video marketing has generated a positive impact on their organization or business.

Marketers use video in a variety of ways. About  84% used it for web site marketing, up from 67% in 2012. “Web sites are becoming more dynamic as more companies use video embedded in web pages to explains their products and services, and to engage and convert visiting prospects,” the report said. But brands also know that video needs to be spread across the Web to be most effective as a marketing tool, so about 60% distribute their videos via social media and that’s on par with last year. What’s more, 60% used it for email marketing, up from 52% a year ago; and 49% used it to generate sales leads, up from 33% in 2012.

Marketers rely on their videos in other venues too – about 60% employed videos in their email marketing, and about 70% of marketers optimize their online videos for SEO. In addition, marketers lean on videos for YouTube marketing, for employee communications and also for webinars.

The long and short of this study is that not only is online video part of the ad mix, marketers are also leveraging video for marketing-centric purposes, too.