For many large corporations, the decision to use online video marketing is an easy one. The marketing budget, access to top notch producers, and a large technology staff allow large companies to easily leverage the power of video marketing.
Video marketing for local businesses may not seem like it’s in reach compared to large corporations. But it is, in fact, just as accessible and probably even more critical for local businesses.
Think about it. When you reach for a diet cola, you already know your options. You don’t necessarily need to watch a video describing the benefits of one choice over another.
But when you want to find a local place for your dry cleaning, your dinner out, or your remodeling needs, where do you turn? The West Palm Beach phone book or The Palm Beach Post? No, you look to the internet.
While a great website and some online marketing are great, the fact remains that most internet users are seeking video content versus the written word. YouTube is now the 2nd ranked among all internet search engines.
People learn and retain more of what they hear and see versus what they read. You want your customers to walk away from your video marketing with a good understanding of your product or service. This will help when they finally make the decision to purchase.
Creating an online video marketing campaign doesn’t have to be cumbersome, expensive or difficult. With a few easy tips, you can bring your local business into the video marketing age and instantly increase your reach and your sales.
Keep It Short and Simple
Make sure your message is simple and direct. Keep your content and video clean and crisp.
People have very short attention spans. If a video is difficult to follow or has distracting elements, the less likely the viewer will stay with it.
Strive for simple messages and engaging content. Tell your story, provide the necessary information in a fun way, and draw your audience in with images and descriptive language.
Determine Your Structure
How long will the video be? How will you format it? Who’s going to do the voice over or the acting?
Take the time to outline all of the seemingly small details of your video campaign. Research shows that the most shared videos are 1 to 5 minutes in length. Any longer and you run the risk of losing your audience.
Format is important. You will have to decide if you are going for a purely informational video, a fun, lighthearted spoof or an animated clip with voice over. There are tons of options for format. Give some thought to your local audience and your current customer base to determine the right format.
Get Creative
Reading a product description from a script while standing next to the product is not going to get you good results. You want your video to tell the story of your product and your business in an engaging way. As a local business, there’s plenty of ways to include local information, stories or people into the marketing to make your video more appealing.
Plan Your SEO
If you’re new to the world of internet marketing, SEO content may seem like a foreign concept. But it is one that will need special attention.
SEO (search engine optimization) uses key words to get your video onto search engines. A well-thought out SEO plan with targeted key words for your product will get your video to the top of the search engine list.
Make the Video Interactive
Part of the appeal of video versus the written word is that video is more inherently more interactive. The interactive nature of videos has gotten even more advanced with options for users to become part of the video process.
Imagine a video where the user gets to decide how it will end. Or one where the user can “vote” for his/her favorite options. These features are relatively new but you can bet they will be taking over video marketing sooner than later.
Decide Where to Post
Where you post your video is almost as important as the content itself. Great content doesn’t mean much when you don’t have any viewers.
Some options to consider: post the video on your website, post the video on Youtube, Facebook or any other video sharing site, send an email blast with a link to the video. Or all of the above. Plus, there are other sites that can and do promote videos.
Where you post your online video marketing will depend on your target audience. Consider your current customer and where they might look for information on your product or service. Choose multiple sites for your best chance of getting views.
Call Them to Action
Don’t leave your viewers in the dark. End your video with a call to action – a clear outline of the next steps that you want the viewer to take.
Be sure to include contact information, website information, or a link to an order form.
Increase Your Firm’s Credibility
A picture of your store front on a static web page is great. But a video walk through of your showroom is even better.
Before a potential customer even walks in the door, you can show them the shopping experience. You can provide real life examples of customers, staff and even the owners. You add credibility to your business by showing the face of both the customers and the staff.
Mind your Budget
Although video production doesn’t have to be costly with high end productions companies, it is easy get wrapped up in the excitement of production and add unnecessary costs to the process.
Do your research on the options you want in your video, set a budget and stick to your list of must-haves. You don’t need a large corporation’s budget to produce high quality video content. A modest budget can get you the high quality, effective video you need.
Review and Analyze
One of the advantages of video marketing over print is the data and analytics. You will be able to get a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t through feedback on your videos. Does the average viewer stop the video at any certain point? Are people rewinding at given points?
These data points give you great insight into how well your video marketing is performing and how your customers are receiving the marketing message. Use this information to your advantage to make tweaks to your campaign.
Webmaster for Hire is a full service web design and internet marketing agency helping businesses grow their online presence since 2001. If you’d like more information on how we can help you with a video campaign, please contact us.