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The Small Business Cheat Sheet On Video Marketing

Video Marketing is so much more than creating a short explainer video to go on your facebook page. Videos are highly shareable, highly engaging and the most effective means of reaching your intended audience when done correctly. A lot of time and effort can go into creating even the most simple videos so It’s important to maximise the ways in which you use video content for the best results.

Here are 7 Great ways to use video marketing for your small business:

  1. To Introduce Your Company

    Using Video content is a great way to describe your company and get your message across efficiently. Video tends to be more and more engaging.

    For small businesses especially, getting some brand awareness and recognition can be the hardest thing to do. Creating a video explaining what your company is and why potential customers should care is a valuable tool in this. The video should be placed on your website homepage, but also used across social media channels and in brand awareness campaigns; so the value of an Introduction video is two-fold.

    Try to keep these videos under 90 seconds, as people tend to engage more with shorter videos.

  2. Showcase Your Creation Story

    Showing your creation story is a great follow up to the Company Introduction Video. Small businesses have an advantage here over larger ones. Telling the story of how the company formed can help to gain customer buy-in. People love stories, especially ones that they can relate to, so showcasing how the company went from an idea to a reliable business can capture their attention and build some brand loyalty.

    Showcase videos will feel at home on your About Us page, but can equally be used in branding campaigns and across social media channels.

  3. To Explain What You Do

    It’s easy for you to understand what you do, but can you be sure that visitors to your website do too?

    Creating a short explainer video to detail what it is you do, and perhaps how this differs from what already exists in the market can be the final push in converting a visitor into a customer. People that visit your site may be at different steps of the buying process; some will know what they want and be actively searching for a provider, while some will just be browsing, and unsure of their needs.

    This video is where you explain to potential customers what your product or service is, why they need it, why they should choose you to deliver and what they get out of it.

  4. Customer Testimonials

    Customer testimonial videos are particularly crucial for a small business, but businesses of all sizes do employ the tactic. Getting past happy customers to take part in producing testimonial videos can act as the final push in making a sale.

    Get people who love your company, your product or your service to share their story or just their joy. Hearing from past customers is an effective way of convincing leads to go with your company, is the best choice. Video testimonials are more believable than any other, as they provide they add an extra element of reliability.

  5. Educate Your Audience

    Using video for knowledge share is a great way to showcase your expertise and present your company as a leader in the field. Sharing complimentary tips and suggestions that adds value to the viewer without devaluing your product or service proposition can help to grow the popularity of your business. There is more of a reason for these types of videos to be shared and liked than promotional content.  

  6. Showcase Your Company Culture

    Company culture videos are a great play, especially for recruitment. Small businesses can sometimes find it difficult to attract the best talent in the jobs market. Showcasing the company environment and a great ethos helps to negate this, selling your company environment to potential team members. These videos, also known as “Culture content”, can help with customers too. 

    People like buying from companies they like, so seeing a great company culture, can help in the conversion process.

  7. To Blog

    Yes, let's not forget the basics. Converting some of your blog posts into video content can be the best way of getting more interaction with your content. Consolidating a blog post that takes 7 minutes to read, into a video that takes half the time and communicates the same information in a much more engaging and entertaining manner.

    The best part of this is you’re able to re-use content you’ve created before; this can be used to update your current posts and re-share, or as stand-alone pieces used to build up your company profile on sites like Youtube, Facebook and Medium.

Final Words

Maximise your uses of these types of videos and any others you create. Video content is highly shareable on many platforms, and chopping and editing them can help to make them appropriate for many more. Create video content sharing strategies for each type of video to ensure you’re maximising their reach and using the content in the best way. Video can be used to break down the barriers between your business and potential customers but remember to enjoy the process and build up a company style.

As always, Happy Small Business Marketing!

For more on marketing strategies for startups and marketing strategies for small businesses.