Working with clients through Business Blueprint, and meeting people through my New Rules of Business events, I regularly come across business owners who are hesitant to incorporate online videos in their marketing.
Although they may be looking for a way to engage with their customers and gain more exposure for their business, many small business owners feel they simply don’t have time, while others are overwhelmed at the idea of getting to grips with yet more technology or daunted by what they assume will be a lot of expense to produce a professional looking video.
Video Marketing: There’s Nothing to be Scared of
We’ve known for decades that video is a highly effective form of marketing. The infomercial is one of the most traditional forms of video marketing and every year billions of dollars worth of products are sold through infomercials, proving the unique power of video when it comes to to engaging viewers and selling products.
Until recently it was expensive to produce videos and even more expensive to distribute them, especially if you wanted to get them seen by millions of people. Now, thanks to updates in technology and the rise of the Internet it’s possible for anyone to produce amazing quality videos for just a few hundred dollars. Distribution can be done for free through platforms like YouTube, which have the added benefit of exposing you to audiences not just in your country, but also throughout the world.
People are often surprised when I tell them it doesn’t take hours to create a short video. The script can be as simple as reading out a blog post or article that you’ve already written and you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on a full-scale production team – it’s easy to create a professional, high quality video using a fairly basic digital camera.
So what can online videos really do for your business?
There are five main ways online videos can benefit your business and help it grow and expand.
- Competitive advantage
The world of online videos is much less crowded than the world of written content. This means less time spent vying for attention and more opportunities to get ahead of your competitors.
- Trust and rapport
Videos create a sense of intimacy and familiarity that just doesn’t happen with written text. Once your viewers feel like they know you, they are far more likely to buy from you.
- YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine
Posting videos to YouTube gives you access to millions of people all over the world who are searching every day for information that you can give them. If you think about it, can you afford not to have a presence on the world’s second largest search engine?
- Increased sales and conversions
Improved visibility and higher levels of customer engagement will naturally lead to better conversion rates and increased sales.
- Set and forget
Once they’re out there your videos will keep working for you and bringing traffic to your site 24/7, for months or even years into the future.
If you like the sound of video marketing but aren’t sure how to get started, here are three simple steps you can take today.
- Do some market research – are your competitors doing any video marketing? If so, you should be too. If not, you have a great opportunity to get the edge over them.
- Identify one piece of information or service that your business offers and that you could turn into an informational video.
- Write a short video script or blog post that you could use as a video script.
At Business Blueprint we help our clients build a base of compelling video content so they can get the edge over their competitors, improve their overall visibility and levels of customer engagement, and grow their business.
Do you want to know more about video marketing and learn about other innovative ways to help your business grow? Our New Rules of Business event is tailored to small business owners who want to make the most of technology so they can drive their business to the next level.
