How To Make Video Marketing Work For Your Small Business

Anyone who has spent any time at all learning about marketing strategies for small business should know that there is no excuse for leaving videos out of the marketing mix. But for anyone who’s still not convinced, here are some things to think about:

• Forrester Research found that web pages with a video somewhere on them have a 50 percent higher chance of landing on the first page of Google’s search rankings.
• Emails with “video” in their subject line have an open rate up to two to three times greater than those without video.
• Cisco predicted that 70 percent of mobile data traffic will consist of video by 2016.

Simply put, your customers are looking for videos, and for a small business, every customer counts. You can’t afford to miss out on sales just because you didn’t interact with your customers the way they want.

That said, it’s not just a matter of throwing some videos on your page and waiting for the money to start rolling in. You need to plan and execute at a high level to make your videos worth it for you and your customers. Here are some things you should think about as you start to build your video marketing strategy:

How will you produce the videos?
Do you have the time, equipment and expertise necessary to make your videos look professional? If so, you can definitely make them in-house. But for many small businesses, just keeping the operation going is all they can handle.

In that case, it’s worth finding a professional studio that can work with you to create the videos. Sure, you will have to pay for it, but your video marketing is an investment that can possibly bring in new leads and sales. Best of all, many studios have strategically minded people who can help you with your planning and integration as well.

What does your audience need?
What are your customers looking for? Do they need help using your product? Do they need someone to break down a technical topic in an approachable way? Find out what your audience can really use and gear your videos toward helping them learn something.

In addition, make sure the length of your videos reflects the depth of the content. In most cases, short videos are best, but you can go for a longer video for certain topics. For example, if you or one of your employees delivered a keynote speech at a conference, including that video could be a big way to boost your authority while delivering something useful to the customer.

Write catchy titles and strong keywords
In the world of BuzzFeed, titles are everything. Just like article headlines, if a video has a bland title, it’s unlikely to be clicked on. Make the title something that grabs readers’ attention while still letting them know what they can expect to learn in the video.

Using strong keywords in your titles, tags and descriptions are also key. Also, the keywords you use for your video should also be the ones you use for the page the video will appear on.

Use different types of videos
Small Business Trends outlined three distinct types of videos you can use and what purpose they serve:

• Explainer videos – As you can probably guess, these videos explain something in a “How to” format. The search rankings for these types of videos have exploded over the last few years, making them a good go-to if you need some content ideas.
• Testimonial videos – Third-party testimonials are a great way to build credibility and show potential customers the results your existing ones have gotten using your product or service.
• Storytelling videos – These videos are a great way to build trust and allow people to get to know the people behind the business.

Try mixing all three types into your strategy to see which ones perform best for your business.

Have a strong sign-off script that includes a call to action
Not every video needs to be a direct sell, but you should always have a call to action at the end of your videos. Whether it’s geared toward getting viewers to sign up for an email list, go to a landing page or even check out another video, you want your videos to lead to tangible action.

Start a campaign
One way to keep viewers paying attention and staying invested in your content is to start a multi-video campaign. Instead of just posting standalone videos, make a few that are all related to one topic. If you do this, make sure you stick to a dedicated posting schedule – your viewers will be looking forward to the next one and will be let down if you just leave them hanging after one or two videos.

Have some fun with it
Your videos should take on the personality of your business. Don’t be afraid to be conversational and even humorous if the situation calls for it. Your videos can be a key part of branding your business, so you want to make sure that when someone watches it, they know it’s you.

How will you use videos to boost your small business’ marketing efforts?