When it comes to video marketing for small business, it’s become clear that there’s growing evidence to suggest that you can’t go wrong with including video in your marketing. According to YouTube, mobile video viewing rises 100 percent each year, and 90 percent of users say that seeing a video for a product helps in the decision process.
Marketing Goals
You’ll need to decide your marketing goals before you grab your video camera equipment. Videos can increase open rates on emails, bring traffic to websites or close the deal on product sales. It’s vital that you begin with knowing the goal, which will influence the style and content of the video itself.
Figuring out your marketing goals will also inform the budget as well as the format of videos you’d like to supply to your customers. Without your goal, your brand could also be lost in directionless videos.
Type of Video
Videos on social media platforms are usually quirky, funny, disturbing or compelling in some fashion. They’re almost always story-driven and meant to be shared with friends and family.
If you’re shooting a review or tutorial of your product, that might require longer content that will be placed on your website. On the other hand, it’s perfectly acceptable to have short reviews or explainer videos with a bit of brand voice and personality on your site or social media platforms.
Creative Thinking
You can consider your competition for sources of inspiration, but you don’t want to copy what they’re doing. You can use their videos to measure the idea behind yours. If they’re serious, maybe you want to be funny.
Video is the perfect way to compete with your biggest competition. Your video has to be unique, or it won’t capture the interest of the viewing audience.
Keeping within the Budget
Your video should remain within your budget, and it can still be effective if you use your creativity. Utilize employees to do live demonstrations. Ask customers for testimonials that you can turn into text-based animations, or ask them for video submissions.
The Honest Company is one business that is using its customers’ reviews and testimonials effectively. In fact, they built their business model around parents leaving videos to inform other parents on everything from baby toys to diapers. https://www.honest.com/
The Right Length
The right length for videos is open to much debate. Some companies find that short and sweet is the perfect length for their customers while others want more long-form information or entertainment.
The length that is perfect for your customers will depend on what they like. You might have to test various lengths and topics to find what works for your business and unique customers. You could check out your competition to see what they’ve been successful doing too.
Optimize the Video
While uploading the video to your website and including it in your emails is good for existing customers, to find new customers, you’ll need to optimize your video with SEO to ensure its discovered on other platforms. This includes YouTube, Vimeo or other video sharing platform.
Adding a full description, using transcription and closed captioning services ensures that the video will reach a broader audience than if you were to upload the video alone.
Mobile Audience
Many people are watching videos on their phones. This means that much of your traffic could be from mobile users, so it’s vital that the video is optimized for a mobile audience watching on smaller screens. Text on screen must be large and bold enough to be seen on mobile screens.
Adding videos to your marketing efforts can be a smart investment of your time and marketing dollars since they often convert really well. They’re the perfect way to compete with larger competitors, which make them great for small businesses that don’t have as much to spend on marketing.