How Should I Use Video Marketing In A Meaningful Way to Market My Small Business?

…A question that is on many of our minds. Many of us have incorporated video marketing into our online marketing plan to promote our businesses. We have experienced the success that results from providing a richer, more interactive way for customers to engage with our brands. Some of us have not had the opportunity yet but could use a few ideas. Here are a few ideas to help your small business get involved:

• Use a video to show your staff performing a service, demonstrating a product, or explaining a unique benefit that your business provides.  

If a picture says a thousand words than video can communicate much, much more. Visually demonstrating something important about your business that highlight’s how your stand out can influence a potential customer’s purchase decision and intent to buy. For example, a manufacturer may zero in on a part of the manufacturing process that leads to a better product or demonstrate an attribute that positions them as a leader in their category. If a bellman cart manufacturer has a cart that can spin on an axis and work seamlessly in both push and pull positions better than the competition, a video demo can make that clear in a few seconds of footage. It can also make a lasting impression.

• Send a personal message to a customer.

Have you ever received a handwritten letter that made a big impression on you? Most of us have at one point or another. Receiving something personable that shows a great deal of thought and care is still a powerful way to make a gesture to customers, especially your top customers.  If you run a business, provide a holiday greeting and send out via email blast, send a personal thank you message to a client or customer, or provide an explanation or tip on something that they will find useful and meaningful. Be creative, be specific and be genuine! That’s great one to one marketing communication.

• Get the word out to prospects and customers online by sharing video where your customers spend time online.

When you craft a social media strategy, you will know which social media to use and determine which content you will provide there. Video is great content to include in your social media marketing and they tend to be very visible across the internet.  Videos tend to rank better in Facebook newsfeeds, Linkedin allows company pages to feature videos on Products & Services pages, Twitter is a great way to provide a link to your video, and you can even “Pin” a video on Pintrest. In fact, according to Twitter “Links to videos from the sites listed here will display your media when a Tweet is expanded so that your followers can see your video without leaving their timeline.” Sites include YouTube, Vimeo, Ustream, Justin.tv, Twitlens, and Twitvid.  Videos  are really easy to share across all social media.

If you are not on social media or your customers do not spend time there, it is very likely that they use search engines to gather information (via mobile phones, tablets or desktops). An encouraging fact: Videos are 53 time more likely (source: forrester research) than static web pages to rank on page one of search engine results. If SEO is important to you, video is a great tool to use as part of your SEO Campaign.

• Create a Video Blog instead of (or in conjunction with) a text based blog by embedding a video into your blog entry.

For example, if you are a dermatologist in Dana Point, CA, you can provide a weekly 30 second skin care tip video on a consistent schedule, cross promoting the video on a related blog entry.

At the same time, you will be building subject matter expertise and authority with your target audience (as well as increased internet exposure).  You may be a little shy about getting on camera. However, a little practice and some basic coaching on preparing for video shoots goes a long way. Or you can use actors, voiceovers and other methods. However, in a business where an specific individual is critical to the customer relationship (think doctors, psychologists, lawyers etc.) it might be worth taking the risk and giving it a shot.

• Let your customers do the talking. Get social proof of your quality.

By now, you must have won the hearts and minds of some of your customers. Consider recruiting happy customers and produce professional video testimonials (they must be real, we think people can tell the difference! We sure can.)  Share them on your website, to potential buyers, and through other marketing channels. A video testimonial provides a deeper emotional experience and genuine way to help earn a prospect’s business. Nothing is more powerful than an actual testimonial referral.

That’s it for today. Try some of these out and let us know what you think. There are some many ways to use video marketing to improve your web marketing and to engage customers. We would love to hear your ideas, so feel free to send them to info@upsidebusiness.com or comment below and we will feature them here.

Happy video marketing!