We are now in the 2020’s – the roaring 20’s as they have already been called, as a reflection of the 1920’s – and, whether you like it or not, we are in the age of video.

Why has video become so important in the very last few years? As one video production company put it – screens. Just that. They are everywhere. If you are not browsing the web on your smartphone, you are looking at a screen at work, or looking at your TV.

Local newspapers, which have been around for 100 years or more, are struggling to exist because nobody wants to buy them. After all, why go down to the newsagent, pay for a paper, and read it, when all you need to do is to click on your laptop first thing in the morning and you can get all the latest news for nothing? Not only that, you don’t have to do it first thing in the morning, nor when you are at home. You can get all the latest news on a smartphone or tablet all day every day and you can be anywhere that has an internet connection.

What’s more, your local newspaper can only report what happened a week ago, or at least a few days ago, because that "news" has to be written up by a reporter, checked by the editor, and then sent to the printers, so what you are reading – even the day that the newspaper comes out – is no longer news. It’s old hat.

You can see the latest news on your TV screen, mobile, laptop, or whatever, any time you like. Want to know the latest football score? Just click a couple of buttons or swipe your mobile.

Video is "where it’s at". This is why so many people are turning away from the written word to video. Rather than read about something, they want to see someone on a screen telling them about it. It’s the same thing, but just in a different format. Reading the printed word means that you are looking at something which happened yesterday or the day before at the best, whereas seeing a video on a screen can even describe something as it is actually happening. In other words, when you watch video you are bang up to date compared with something on paper, or in a book, which takes time to produce.

This is why the majority of people today want to see video, and it is the companies that recognise this and give them what they want which will get the business. When you make promotional videos about your products or services you can simply upload them to your website or to YouTube and people will watch them. Ultimately, this is as a result of laziness. It is just easier to sit and watch someone telling you about something than it is to read it. Most people’s reading ability is not all that good in any case, but whatever it is, the majority of people will always take the easy route.

Of course, there is a certain irony here, in that a newsreader who is reading you the latest news is doing just that: reading something that has been written down by a reporter! However, it may be something that only happened a couple of hours ago, so at least the viewer knows that it is the latest news.

When you run any sort of business you have to give your potential customers what they want to see, and increasingly today that is video. No matter the reason they want to see video, the simple fact is that they do, so you had better start making sales videos about your products or services if you don’t want to get left behind. If you don’t, your competition will!

More and more video production companies are realising this and are offering videos in a number of different formats. They will be able to advise you on the best sort of video style for your business, whether that is 360 Google street view style, 3D animation, whiteboard animation, or something else. Any video has to be created around the end which you wish to achieve, so it is critical to know exactly what your goal is rather than just saying "I need more sales". You have to have a firm objective in mind when you commission a video.