Small Business Video Marketing Tips

Remember Dollar Shave Club? In 2012 they released their promotional video "Our Blades Are F***ing Great", featuring co-founder Michael Dubin explaining why their blades were a cheaper, simpler alternative to buying retail. The video went viral, but watch it again and the appeal is straightforward: an easy-to-understand offer, plenty of personality and a reason to keep watching.

Other memorable video marketing adverts from around that time include Old Spice's videos. Whilst Dollar Shave Club and Old Spice are extreme examples, they show how much character you can put into an advert without losing sight of the product.

Your business does not need millions of views to make video worthwhile. A film that answers a customer's question, explains your service or gives someone the confidence to enquire can have a useful job to do without ever going viral.

Here are ten things to consider when planning video marketing for your small business.

Identify clear video marketing goals and objectives

The first step when creating promotional video content is to make sure that you align your video with your specific business goals, target audience and, ultimately, what you want from the video. Is it to drive sales, gain new interest in your brand or something else entirely? Having clear goals will help to keep your video production on track, on budget and in line with your brand.

Try to make that goal specific enough to use. "We want more people to book a showroom visit" gives you a clearer direction than "we need something for social media". It helps you decide what to show, what to say and what to ask the viewer to do next.

These are decisions to make during pre-production, before you spend time filming material you might not need.

Decide on the type of video you require

Once you have outlined your goals, think about what you want your video to look like and decide upon the type of video you require. A video production company can help you work through the options; you do not need to arrive with every creative decision already made.

For a social-media-friendly video, consider the different platforms, their formats, where the video will appear and how people will watch it. A lighthearted, people-led film might suit an audience discovering your business for the first time. A direct product demonstration or offer might be more useful for someone already considering a purchase. Not every social video needs to be funny, and not every one needs a hard sell.

A good example is Red Bull. Much of its action-sports content focuses on the experience rather than directly selling a beverage. The useful lesson for a small business is to think about what interests your audience beyond the product itself.

For a video that explains a product's functionality or safety features, you could use animation or a filmed product demonstration. Choose the approach that makes the explanation easiest to follow, rather than the one that happens to be fashionable.

The power of storytelling

You've probably heard it a million times: "Story is King". YouTube filmmaker Casey Neistat puts storytelling at the centre of his filmmaking teaching, and there is a good reason for it. You can have the best filmmaking equipment, but without an engaging story it can still be a dull video.

After all, a picture paints a thousand words. Video lets you add movement, sound and the people behind the business. Wrapping your message within a story can make it easier to connect with your audience.

That story does not need to be complicated. It could follow a customer from an initial problem to the finished result, show how a product is made or explain why you started the business. A brand film should feel specific to you, not like a list of claims that any competitor could make.

Think creatively

Similarly to the point about equipment, a video can be well made and visually appealing but still lack an interesting concept. Think outside the box when creating videos. Don't simply follow somebody else's formula because you have seen it work for them. Your video should be unique to your business.

This is where the production company can really help, guiding you through the concept development process. When choosing a production company, look for someone who can explain why an idea suits your audience, not just show you impressive camera shots.

Being creative does not have to mean being outrageous. An honest answer to a question customers keep asking, or a behind-the-scenes detail people rarely see, could be more interesting than a heavily scripted sales pitch.

Use animation where it helps

Animation can be one of the clearest ways to convey complicated messages in video. An animated explainer can show a process, an internal mechanism or an idea that would be difficult to capture with a camera. It can be particularly useful in corporate video when the subject needs a little more explanation.

It does not have to mean animating the entire film, either. A diagram, a moving label or a short illustrated sequence might be enough to explain the difficult part.

Animated video production can involve substantial design and animation time. A straightforward live-action shoot might take a day, while a detailed animation project could need weeks of work. Neither format is automatically cheaper or quicker: agree the style, complexity, revisions and schedule before committing. The important question is whether animation makes the message clearer.

Implement a marketing strategy

Video production is most effectively used as part of an overall marketing strategy. Different types of video can be used at different stages of the marketing process for your business. For example, you could have a launch video, followed by an explainer and then an interview video that introduces the founder to put a face to the brand. A walkthrough or customer testimonial could answer questions that come later.

You do not need to commission all of these at once. Start with the biggest gap, then decide where the video will be published, who will publish it and how it fits with your website, emails or advertising.

It is also worth planning several useful films around one shoot. For our Target Car Supermarket project, a four-hour filming session supplied the material for seven individually edited videos. That was the output of a particular brief, not a guaranteed number for every booking, but it shows why deciding on the content in advance matters.

Have a realistic budget

Work out how much you are willing to spend before you begin preparing the script and everything else you might need for the production. Establishing a realistic budget will help the production company determine the most practical ways to achieve your goals.

Your budget will affect your concept and the type of video you can make. For example, a virtual tour with interactive video features and animated explainers for individual parts of the tour would be a much larger brief than a walkaround film where a representative of your business speaks to camera and explains each section.

Neither approach is automatically the right one. Start with what the viewer needs to understand, then decide which features genuinely help.

Our video production pricing gives you a starting point, and the videographer cost guide shows how filming and editing contribute to the total. Include post-production, the versions you need and any planned advertising spend in your overall budget, rather than allocating everything to the filming day.

Consider how your video is going to be consumed

Consider how people will consume your video – strange choice of words, we know. Someone watching on a phone while scrolling has a different viewing situation from somebody sitting down to watch a detailed demonstration on your website.

As mentioned earlier, consider the platforms you will use and their requirements. Agree the actual versions before filming: perhaps a landscape website film, a vertical social clip or a square advert. Check the requirements of each placement rather than assuming one export will suit every destination.

Also check the finished video on a phone. Can you read the text? Is the product detail clear? Does the message still make sense with the sound off? Add accurate captions where speech carries important information, but do not use them as a substitute for good audio recording.

Determine the right duration

With so much imagery and video competing for attention, it is important to get to the point quickly. Give the viewer something useful or interesting early on, rather than making them wait through a long logo animation before the video begins.

That does not mean every video needs to be as short as possible. A quick introduction and a detailed product walkthrough have different jobs. Use the time needed to do that job well, then cut repetition and anything that does not help.

Rather than squeezing every message into one film, consider a main version and a few shorter edits. Plan those with the editor so each one makes sense on its own; simply stopping the video halfway through is not the same as making a useful shorter version.

Optimise your video

Once you have uploaded your video, take the time to present it properly. Write a clear title and a useful description, choose a thumbnail that represents the content and use relevant search terms naturally.

On YouTube, the platform's own guidance gives more importance to the title, thumbnail and description than to tags. Tags generally have a limited role, apart from helping with common misspellings. Filling a description with keywords is not a substitute for making the video useful.

On your website, place the film alongside relevant information and a clear next step. A product video belongs near the details someone needs to buy; a business introduction should make it easy to explore your services or get in touch.

Finally, return to the goal you set at the start. Review the response, including useful enquiries, bookings or product interest where you can measure them. Views alone do not tell you whether the film is doing its job. Our guide to getting more from video marketing explores the wider planning and publishing process.

Get a quote

All of our videos are tailor-made to suit the budget and requirements of the client. You do not need to copy a famous campaign or arrive with a finished script.

Tell us about your business, your audience and what you need the video to do. We can work through the idea and recommend a practical approach to producing it.