By Mike Kappel
Are you looking for ways to improve your small business marketing? Incorporating videos can give you a boost.
Small business video marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant. You can keep your videos simple while still attracting new and repeat customers.
Learn how video marketing can help your small business. Then, find out how to choose the video content.
How can video help your business?
When you use video marketing for business, you build brand awareness. You give customers a chance to get to know you and your personality. And, they can learn about your business and its values. As people get comfortable with you and your business, you’ll have an easier time selling your products or services.
Videos encourage people to spend more time on your small business website. This means you have more time to convince people to buy from you. And, videos improve your local SEO. Search engines tend to boost web pages that people spend more time on, meaning your site will show up higher in search results.
Watching a video requires less effort than reading a web page. People can gather a lot of information from a video, both from what’s being heard and seen. People can sit back and relax instead of having to scroll through pages of text.
How to use video marketing
Where you publish your videos depends on your local business video marketing goals.
You can put videos on your small business website. You might include videos on product pages to show people how your product works. Or, you might publish videos about services to help clients understand what you do.
If you have a small business blog, you can add videos to posts. The videos can establish your expertise or push products and services that relate to the posts.
You can publish your videos on social media. Videos can increase customer engagement on social media. Hopefully, people will share the videos, meaning you reach even more potential customers.
You could also add videos to your email marketing campaigns. By mentioning the video in the subject line, you might get more opens. The video should increase engagement with your email. And, you can use the video to direct people back to your website.
What to include in your video marketing
What you include in your videos depends on why you are making the videos.
Questions to ask yourself
Nail down your goals for the video. What do you want the outcome to be? Do you want people to buy a service? Do you want to show people new ways to use your product? Do you want to introduce people to your business? Do you want to establish your authority? Knowing your goals will help you stay focused.
Think about your audience. Who do you want to see the videos? Do you want to attract new customers or keep the interest of current customers? Also, consider what your audience likes. What kind of appeals work best on them?
Consider where you will publish the videos. Will they go on your website, in emails, or on social media? A video designed only for a product page might not make sense standing alone on social media. Think about the other content that you can put around the video.
After you know why and where you want to use video marketing, you can figure out what to say. Make a script and practice it. You might also want to make a storyboard that outlines what visuals you want to show and when.
Things to include
After you know your goals for your videos, you can pick what to include.
You might show videos from within your business. You can show products being made and employees working.
You can show your product in action. Explain how to use your products properly and give tips. If you have a service-based business, you can show your employees performing your services.
If possible, you might be able to record some customer testimonials. These can help convince people to become new customers.
Putting the videos together
Once you know your goals and what you want to include, it’s time to film. You don’t need a professional camera crew. You can film the video yourself. Or, you can use a talented employee or friend.
You don’t need the latest equipment and fancy props. A simple film can still be informative.
When the video is completely done, it’s time to publish it. Promote your video to make sure it gets maximum reach.
Mike Kappel is a serial entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of Patriot Software Company, and its subsidiaries. Patriot Software, LLC is a developer of online payroll and accounting software for U.S. small-business owners. Connect on Twitter: @PatriotSoftware.
