You don’t have to look very far to see that Video Marketing is the future of digital marketing. Not only is it cost effective, easy to create and use video online, but consumers favor video on almost every platform.

If you are a dealer, video is too important to overlook. While it is popular now with marketers and consumers, that popularity will be even larger over the next few years.

Here are three things fueling the growth of video marketing over the next five years and beyond. Along with some simple tips you can use to stay ahead of the trends in 2020.

1. 5G is coming…

The world is on the edge of a communication revolution. 5G networks will be rolling out in the US by the end of 2019. Since most mobile devices are already designed for viewing video and downloading large files, the real innovation for video in a 5G world will be Augmented Reality.

For example, Panera Bread recently launched an AR ad unit for mobile devices. Consumers can project and rotate menu items and share the content across popular social media channels. The idea is to add transparency and increase engagement. For your dealership to be competitive, it makes sense to incorporate AR advertising and image overlays into your 2020 marketing strategy. A consumer can’t really “see” a car by reading a monroney sticker. They can, however, kick its virtual tires online and cruise through and around it via video. Imagine car shoppers interacting with a vehicle walk-around video right in their own homes.

Some other major national brands and games have found success with AR applications. Snapchat filters are wildly popular among younger generations and are a great example of how simple overlaid images can enhance the user experience and help spread brand awareness.

2. 70% of the workforce will be millennial or younger over the next 5 years

Speaking of younger generations, 70% of the workforce will be millennial or younger over the next 5 years and their purchasing power will continue to rise. Millennials, Gen Y and Gen Z consume video for more than just entertainment. They use it to guide them in everything from fixing their own washing machines, to learning about brands and products. This then influences their purchasing decisions.

According to a consumer study by Animoto, 8 out of 10 millennials find video helpful when researching a product or service. In fact, they are 85% more likely than baby boomers to purchase if they can watch a video explaining it first.

How can your dealership take advantage of this? Include demo videos on product pages as consumers prefer product demo videos over still images. Placing video on your website increases conversion by 80%. Also, having video on a website makes it 53 times more likely to make it on Googles 1^st page. In addition, email open rates increase by 7% when the word “video” is in the title. So, it make sense to include video as part of your lead follow up process.

3. By 2020, most content will be video

In 2016, Facebook predicted that almost all of its content would be video. Since then video consumption has increased by 100% per year. By 2020, 80% of all digital content will be video. 6 out of 10 consumers prefer video over television. Not only is video the consumer’s preference, it can also reinforce your brand because viewers retain 95 percent of a message that they watch through video.

Video continues to dominate every form of content delivery, and somehow manages to break its own records year after year. Video content is here to stay. Not only is it here to stay, but marketers that fail to use it – and fail to have a robust mobile and video strategy – will quickly find themselves left behind eating their competitors’ dust. And, more importantly, left behind by their potential customers.

Decide now to increase your video content production efforts so you are ahead of the competition in 2020. Include video on your website, use it for more effective customer follow up and make it a core part of your overall marketing strategy. It is what consumers want, and your profit margins will probably agree.