The way your business utilises video marketing will depend on the size of your company and the industry you work in. Other factors, like your budget, knowledge and customer base will all affect what you can achieve with video content.
But, no matter what type of business you have, there’s always a way to take advantage of video to boost your marketing efforts.
In this post, I will look at three examples of videos that all small businesses can use to grow their audience reach and increase the number of inbound leads.
Product videos
Perhaps the most obvious use of video in a small business is to produce content about your products or services.
These videos typically sit on a product page of your business website but could also be re-versioned into posts for social media or used in the sales process. For example, if potential clients want to know more about a product, you could produce a more extended version to send out as part of your sales pipeline.
Make product videos work for you
- Keep them short – A couple of minutes long at the most – you can communicate a great deal in that time. Remember that the online attention span is short so avoid boring potential clients.
- Pay attention to the benefits – What can your customer gain from your product or service? Why do they need this, and how will it enrich their lives?
- Build a YouTube channel – As you produce several different product or service videos, put them on a business YouTube channel. If you optimise the videos properly, this can act as a perfect lead generator for your company and create inbound leads to your business.
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How-to videos
How-to videos, or instructional videos, can be used as part of the post-sale process to provide excellent customer service after someone purchases one of your products.
These forms of videos demonstrate to clients that your business genuinely cares about them getting the most from the product or service. This, in turn, will encourage repeat sales, as your customer will feel cared about and looked after.
And there’s genuine demand from consumers for this type of content. How-to videos are the most popular content on YouTube, with over 85% of viewers saying they use the site to learn something new.
Make how-to videos work for you
- Break it down – If you sell physical products that require some form of assembly, show how to do this in a step-by-step video guide.
- Offer hints and tips – Share insider knowledge about how to get the most from the product.
- Service-based businesses can use how-to videos too – If you’re an accountant, you could produce video content about how to complete a tax return. A plumber could explain how to fix the washer in a tap or a gardener can show how to prepare a garden for the following season.
- Give your videos an edge – How can your content differ from those in your field who are doing the same thing? For example, making them comical as well as informative or finding a highly charismatic spokesperson in your business to present them.
- Be consistent – Create guides to show up regularly on your social feeds. Over time you will become regarded as the go-to expert in your subject.
Expert videos
Expert videos, commentary, and thought pieces can position you and your business as specialists in your niche. Whether your video is commenting on new developments within your specialist area, providing thought pieces or giving an insight into your industry, this type of content is an excellent way to build your profile.
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Make expert videos work for you
- Pick your platform – This kind of content sits well on a professional platform like LinkedIn.
- Be engaging and offer value to your audience – Provide a new perspective or unearth genuinely unknown facts.
- Create regular, consistent content – To increase your authority.
- Be patient – It will take time for momentum to build. As word of mouth spreads about the excellent quality insights you offer, your audience will grow.
- Keep the content punchy and relevant – For LinkedIn videos, look at a time frame of up to five minutes.
Other ways to make the most of video
Beyond these three main types of video content, I’d also encourage you to think about using videos that aren’t necessarily broadcast to any specific audience.
Video can be tremendously powerful when you use it embedded in emails, for example. Apps like Bomb Bomb Email allow you to record a short video to then embed it in an email. These emails typically get a much better open rate than regular text-based emails.
Video is a really efficient way of communicating. You can say so much in a short space of time, and the message you wish to portray is clear and personal to your business.
To dive into more detail about how to create video for your business, do check out the other videos on our YouTube channel.
