People are visual animals, so much so that it seems we were almost designed to react to video. The advent of television forever changed media in America—especially media marketing.
If you have a small business, your marketing campaign needs video. Of all the ways you can sell your business, video is the most relatable, the easiest for viewers to absorb and retain, and the most likely to be passed from one customer to the next. A generation ago, creating and publishing videos was a difficult, expensive specialty. Modern technology puts you in the director’s chair.
Express Yourself
A marketing video gives you a chance to come out from behind the newsletter, the weekly email, the tweet, and show who you are. A video lets you project your personality, your sense of humor, your humanity to your customers. People want to do business with people, not corporations. Let them know there’s a human being behind that awesome product.
Upgrade Your Website
Your business’s website will see instant gains in credibility and appearance with the addition of a quality video that articulates your company’s message and speaks directly to customers.
Posting it to your online video platform is super easy. YouTube gives you the HTML code, which you’ll just cut and paste into a widget provided by your site builder.
It’s also been documented that having a marketing video—or any video, for that matter—can help your SEO strategy in a big way.
Go Viral—or Come Close
No newsletter or email update in the history of the Internet has ever gone viral. That is a fact. Videos—unlike any other medium online—have a unique ability to be shared and re-shared until it seems like everyone alive has seen it. Most videos don’t go viral, but a good video is almost certain to be shared with more people than a good anything else.
Be Warned
When it comes to marketing videos, do it right or don’t do it at all. Poorly done videos—especially the ones trying to sell you something—look campy and bush league, and reflect badly on the person or company doing the selling. A good video combines a lot of elements: video, audio, lighting, editing, and things you’d never think of even if you have a rudimentary knowledge of video recording.
If you don’t have a budget, check your local college or look on Craigslist for film students. They have access to good equipment, they’re passionate, and they might just do it for free to have something to put in their portfolio.
Your marketing strategy needs a video element. That element can be small, but if it’s done well, it can bring credibility to your business and spread your message much faster than any other medium. Video marketing was born to work well with Twitter and other social media platforms. It draws younger, savvier customers and puts a personal touch on your business.
Lights, camera—what are you waiting for?
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