Small Business Video Marketing Tips

In this blog post we are going to be looking into small business video marketing and providing you with 10 essential tips to consider to successfully create a video marketing campaign.

Remember Dollar Shave Club? In 2012 they released their first promotional video “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” which featured their CEO Michael Dublin explaining why Dollar Shave Club blades are the better, cheaper alternative to buying retail. The video immediately went viral and pulled in over 12,000 views in the first two day and it has gone on to amass a substantial 26 million views as of the time of writing this article!

Other notable viral video marketing adverts from around this time include Old Spice’s videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQ4yfWyYpM

The success of The Dollar Shave Club shows the immense impact that a single video can have on any business. Simply having a video on your website landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more! Whilst The Dollar Shave Club and Old Spice are extreme examples of the success of video marketing, the power of it cannot be underestimated, a well prepared and executed video marketing campaign with high-quality video production can skyrocket your online marketing and transform your business.

Here are 10 steps that small businesses can take to ensure that they are getting the most from their video marketing:

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 audiences and ultimately with what you want from the video. Is it to drive sales, to 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.

Decide on the type of video that you require

Once you have outlined your goals you need to think about what you want your video to look like and decide upon what type of video you require. A Video Production Company will be able to cater to any requirements you may have. If you want to produce a social media friendly video, then you need to consider the different platforms, their time limits, display formats, usage (phone, computer, tablet) and you’ll need to make the video lighthearted, avoid hard selling and make it in some way actionable and shareable. Social media videos are unique because, if the video is produced well – it is designed to be shared. Usually the videos are more experience or people based. A good example is Red Bull – the majority of the video content they produce is completely unrelated to a beverage, instead they are videos of extreme sports with little direct selling involved.

If instead, you want a video to explain a product or to explain the layout, functionality or safety features of something, then you could opt for animated video production and have an explainer video produced.

The power of storytelling

You’ve probably heard it a million times – camera equipment doesn’t matter because ‘Story is King’ – YouTube star Casey Neistat is a big advocate of this philosophy and there is a good reason for it! You can have the best filmmaking equipment but without having an engaging story, nobody is going to be interested. Storytelling creates engagement and engagement creates custom for small businesses, video is the perfect medium for telling story! After all, a picture paints 1000 words, a video involves at least 24 pictures every second, plus sound. Wrapping your message within a story will make it easier for you to connect with your audience.

Think creatively

Similarly to the above point about videography equipment – no matter how well made or visually appealing a video is, without the right concept it is always going to have a limited reach. Think outside of the box when creating videos, don’t simply follow someone elses formula just because you have seen it work for them. Your video should be unique to your business. This is where the video production company can really help as they will be able to guide you through the concept development process.

Use animation

Animation is possibly the simplest way to convey and explain complicated messages and meanings in the form of video. Some, if not all of the most successful educational YouTube channels all use video animation exclusively to create their content. Animated explainer videos are easy to digest, engaging and direct. They are particularly effective for corporate videos. Animated video production is more expensive than live video in many cases due to the time that it takes to animate. A live video can be shot within a day in most cases whereas animation could take weeks or even months to complete.

Implement a marketing strategy

Video production is most effectively utilised when it is implemented as part of an overall marketing strategy. Different videos and different types of videos could be implemented at different times of the marketing process for your business. For example, you could have a launch video, followed by an explainer video and then an interview video that introduces the CEO, to put a face to the brand, and then a walkthrough video followed by a testimonial video.

Have a realistic budget

Work out how much you are willing to spend BEFORE you begin to prepare the script and anything else you might need for the video production. Establishing a realistic budget will assist the video production agency to determine the most applicable ways to achieve your specific goals. Your budget will affect your concept and they type of video that you would like, for example: if you wanted a virtual tour with integrated interactive video features and animated explainer videos of individual parts of that tour, – that project would be considerably more expensive than simply creating a walkaround tour where a representative of your business spoke to camera and explained the different sections.

Consider how your video is going to be consumed

The majority of online video is now being consumed (strange choice of words, we know), by mobile users. Mobile usage currently accounts for 55% of all online video. As mentioned earlier in this article, you need to consider the social media platforms that you will show your video on, and their requirements. Instagram is specifically catered to mobile users and as such, videos are either vertical or in a square 1:1 format.

Determine the right duration

Studies suggest that the majority of viewers won’t watch a video past the fist few minutes. The constant bombardment of imagery and video content from mobile phones and social media has lead to people filtering out content quicker and more easily than before. For this reason it is important to get to the point quickly and grab attention quickly.

Optimise your video

Once you have uploaded your video it is important to properly optimise it for search engines. Do this using keyword, writing good description and by creating appropriate tags that are relevant to the video. Making sure that the video is optimise will ensure that it reaches the target audience and isn’t lost within the internet.

You can find more video marketing tips here.

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Videos on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% and the average user spends 88% more time on a website with video.
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