Ready to take your small business to the next level? If so, video marketing is the way to go.
As a business owner, you have a lot to deal with. If you are unfamiliar with video and don’t know where to start, adding video marketing to your responsibilities may be the last thing you want to do.
However, video marketing does not have to cost much money or demand much of your time. With some research, you’ll realize video marketing for small businesses isn’t as overwhelming as it seems.
In this article, you will learn:
- Why small business video marketing is essential
- Different types of video marketing for small businesses
- And much more
Table of Contents
Why Small Business Video Marketing Is Important
It may seem impossible to make a significant impact with a small-budget video when big-budget videos surround you. Still, one of the most significant advantages of video marketing is that small-budget videos have the potential to go viral just as quickly as more established brands.
For a small business, video can be a great way to:
- Create trust
- Attract new customers
- Engage existing customers; and
- Increase sales
How can you make video marketing work for you? The experts at Houston Video have the skills and expertise to help.
Adidas and Texas Children’s Hospital (to name a few) have worked with us to create videos that add value to them and their customers.
With our award-winning process, you can take the guesswork out of the process and get the results faster.
5 Types of Video Marketing for Small Businesses
#1: Testimonials
A customer testimonial is an honest endorsement of your product or service.
Why is this helpful in marketing? When someone goes on a landing page and sees four to six testimonial videos right off the bat, it creates trust and increases conversion. These are real people talking about real problems you helped them solve.
They are also quite possibly the most crucial piece of content in your video marketing strategy. The opinion of others, even strangers, is trusted.
Seeing actual customers endorse what you have to offer will provide authentic social proof, which is the primary factor that moves users from the nurturing phase to the conversion phase.
Research has shown that 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rates. Furthermore, the vast majority of marketers believe video testimonials are the most effective content marketing strategy.
#2: How-To Videos for SEO Performance
You can use video to catch your target audience’s attention and boost your visibility and SEO.
Google released an updated search algorithm called Hummingbird in 2013. This shifted the focus from keywords to the search intent of the user. A video would be the best way to take advantage of this algorithm instead of a content piece on how to do something.
Videos with SEO keywords go a long way.
Say you searched for “How to change a tire?” As a result of Google’s algorithm, you will see at least one video if you type in this keyword.
Videos that begin with “How-to” or “10 ways to”’ will appear more often on Google search results as Google tries to display informational and educational queries.
#3: Explainer/Intro Videos
As a small business in a sea of other small businesses, the proper thing to do is introduce yourself — there’s no better way to showcase you and your business’s true self than with video.
Potential customers want to work with real people. So don’t be afraid to put yourself in your videos and let your clients know who you are and what you’re all about.
The first step to starting a dialogue with your audience is to create introductory videos.
Examples of explainer/intro videos include:
- Live Q&A on Facebook
- A behind-the-scenes look at your business
- A business profile video on your website
#4: Subject Matter Expert Videos
What’s another video every business should have? The one that establishes your subject matter expertise.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re an innovative start-up, a law firm, or a restaurant chain; establishing that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re an expert in your field is good.
Subject matter expert videos are impressive, but they rely on you communicating with your community and customers genuinely.
#5: Repurposed Videos
A small business owner’s marketing plan relies heavily on content. Instead of spreading yourself too thin on the hamster wheel of content creation, refocus your efforts to maximize your time.
Have you prepared social media graphics or blog posts already? Why not turn those into shareable videos?
5 Tips for Creating Small Business Video Content
#1: Have a Plan
A top-notch piece of video content is what you want to create, but you have no idea where to begin.
The first thing you need to do is make a plan.
Creating and using videos for your small business requires an organized plan before picking up your camera.
The following are five simple steps to video planning:
- Outline your objectives
- Identify your audience
- Focus on your core mission
- Plan the specifics
- Write a video production brief
#2: Integrate Videos on Your Site — Especially on Your Landing Page
Adding video to your website, especially your landing page, will increase customer stickiness.
According to studies, people spend 2.6 times more time on websites with videos than those without. So it’s good news for small companies looking to generate ad revenue through their websites and those trying to be found on the internet.
Additionally, greater page engagement and longer stay times improve SEO.
#3: Use Videos in Your Email Marketing Campaign
With video being such a popular medium in marketing, including it in your email marketing can engage your subscribers and increase conversions.
In fact, 83% of marketers feel its importance is only growing.
Adding videos to your next email marketing campaign would be worthwhile.
#4: Share Videos on Social Media
Have fun and record a few short video clips for social media. These do not have to be elaborate — they can be anywhere from ten to sixty seconds. This is the perfect length for social media.
Videos like these add dynamic movement to a static social media feed. For example, according to data, tweets with videos attract 10x more engagement than those without.
Social video marketing for small businesses does not always have to include a “buy now” call to action. Instead, videos can increase brand awareness and recall without being aggressively sales-oriented.
You can create, upload, and share this variety of video content in minutes.
#5: Use Longer Videos to Make Shorter Ads
Video creation tools allow you to repurpose foundational videos for various audiences and platforms within minutes.
With the help of easy-to-use templates, existing small business owners frequently repurpose their existing footage into new shorts and ads.
Houston Video: A Trusted Source to Maximize Video Creation for Your Small Business
We have simplified the steps of video marketing for you, but the truth is it can still be pretty overwhelming!
Don’t worry if you lack the budget or skill set to make your own videos — Houston Video is here to help.
Our award-winning video production company produces…
- Affordable
- Effective; and
- Creative
… videos for corporate and business marketing campaigns.
Contact Houston Video today to get started on your next video production plan.
