If you’re one of the many small business owners who’s a bit scared of digital marketing, it’s time you conquered those fears and got stuck in.
We’re living in a video world, where having no strategy for video is as dangerous for your business as a chip shop owner refusing to fit fire extinguishers.
The new-fangled phrase is ‘content marketing’, but really, the reasons behind it as old as selling itself. The old word used to be ‘propaganda’ – between the World Wars that is, before propaganda was a dirty word. The general idea is that, for getting messages to the public, news is a much more important vehicle than advertising. It just so happens that these days, half the world looks at Facebook and Twitter as a key source of news.
So it pays to join the party! In fact, a piece of research by Adobe found that consumers were nearly 200% more likely to buy from you if they’d watched one of your videos. With that in mind, where do you start?
You can create a video yourself, no doubt about it. There have been films shown at the Sundance film festival shot on an iPhone, so chances are you’ve got the majority of the kit required in your back pocket! Throw in tripod for about £20, and the pro-level Filmic video editing app for about a fiver and you’re good to go. Or if you don’t fancy a film shoot, why not make an animation on Powtoon?
Where you might want to bring a pro in, is when you’re developing the actual content. Getting a copywriter to help you with the storytelling and messaging is a really good idea, especially if you want your video to be clever or witty. Funny = money! Getting a trained actor or actress to deliver the message will boost the video’s watch-ability too. And as you might expect, those guys are glad of a bit of work…
To give your video a professional sheen, get the titles screens designed and edited by a freelancer off Fiver.
Alternatively, you could outsource the whole thing to a professional video company. That’s the easy way – but also the most costly. It’s up to you…
Bear in mind also that ‘video’ does not always mean ‘face to camera’. It equally applies to animated slides and fancy PowerPoint so do not think that you cannot do it!
It’s a good idea to stick to a single objective per video. So decide before you start…
Are you using the video to give your brand a personality and tell your story? Or are you using the classic propagandists’ approach and attempting to coax public opinion your way?
For example, if you make water softening products, your video should focus on the health and beauty benefits of soft water, rather than crowing about your ability to make an ace water softening product.
Or you might be creating how-to guides for using your products, video testimonials featurettes about your company’s backstory.
It’s a blank canvas, limited only by your imagination (or the imagination you hire in!) – Just make sure you use multiple videos to achieve your various objectives. Don’t crowd your messages – one video can’t be all things to all people, so don’t force it – in fact, use this as an excuse to create several small ‘1 point’ videos – it all helps your website rankings.
What about your content/video will make your customers’ lives better? Will your videos help them learn skills? Answer FAQs about your product / industry?
You have to know your audience, no matter what medium or tactics you use for selling. Research your industry to see what your competitors are up to – then do it at least 10x better!
Your videos are should be about one minute long, maybe 90 seconds at a stretch. And make sure you get down to something interesting or entertaining straight away – one in five people will give you just ten seconds to prove yourself, before clicking off to watch cat videos or skateboard fails.
If you don’t ask your viewers to do something, then they probably won’t. Including a proposition like ‘subscribe to our newsletter for more’, ‘call for a free quote’ or follow us on Facebook, then your video is a wasted effort. Every video should have a strong call-to-action, and a promise of more interesting and exciting stuff down the line…
There’s no point having your video sat there on your website on its lonesome. Plan to get some eyeballs on it by using paid social, pay-per-click youtube advertising, paying an influential blogger in your space to promote… Again, your list of options is endless but remember – making a video is the start of the process, not an end in itself.
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Video may have killed the radio star, but there’s every chance it could give your business the kiss of life. It’s cheap, effective, measurable and fun… what are you waiting for? ACTION!
To see some client testimonial videos for my Business Booster coaching programme, click here. It could be the first step to putting a couple of zeros on your bottom line this year!
IMAGE CREDIT
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/16210667@N02/25300692725″>Lights Camera Action !</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>
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