If you’re a small business owner, you know that competition is stiff. To stay ahead of the curve, you need to be utilizing every marketing tool at your disposal—and that includes video marketing. But what is video marketing, and how can it benefit your small business? Keep reading to find out.
Raise awareness of your nonprofit and connect with advocates and donors with website optimization and SEO services from Fresh Green Freedom!
What is Video Marketing?
Video marketing is exactly what it sounds like: videos used to promote your business. Sometimes these videos are short and amatuer-style. Other times, they are professionally done. They can be made into commercials, but the most popular place to post these clips is through social media. You can present short Stories on Instagram or Facebook, clips through Vine and TikTok, go live on most platforms, or anything in between.
Types of Video Marketing
Now that you know what video marketing is, let’s take a look at some of the different types of videos you can create for your small business:
- Product Videos: these videos showcase your product in action and demonstrate how it can be used. They are typically between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long.
- How-To Guides: as the name suggests, these videos show viewers how to do something. They can help demonstrate how to use your product or for providing general tips and advice related to your industry.
- Customer Testimonials: these videos feature happy customers talking about their positive experiences with your product or service. Customer testimonials are a great way to build trust and credibility with potential customers.
- Explainer Videos: these videos are designed to educate viewers about a particular topic or issue. They are usually between 1 and 2 minutes long and focus on explaining a complex concept in simple terms.
- Brand Videos: brand videos focus on increasing awareness of your company and what makes you unique. They typically tell a story about your brand or highlight a particular aspect of your business.
Determining your Target Market
One of the first things you need to do when creating a video marketing strategy for your small business is to identify your target market. Who are you trying to reach with your videos? Once you’ve answered this question, you’ll be able to create content that resonates with them and provides them with value.
Different Types of Platforms
There are many different platforms where you can post your videos, but not all platforms will be right for your business. It’s important to choose a platform (or several platforms) that will allow you to reach your target market effectively. Some popular video-sharing platforms include YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Setting a Budget
Valoso warns that creating high-quality videos doesn’t come cheap—so before you get started, it’s important to set a budget for production and marketing costs. Once you have an idea of how much money you’re willing to spend on your video marketing efforts, you can start planning out your strategy in more detail.
There are also less expensive ways to complete your video marketing. While you can certainly purchase expensive video editing software, you can also find plenty of free options online. If and when your needs grow beyond what the free options offer, then you can upgrade. You can also use stock photography and videos, which are often cheaper than curating all of your own content. There is generally a nominal fee for countless professionally done videos and photography.
Optimizing Videos With Infographics
With the rise of digital marketing, infographics have become an essential tool for providing information quickly and easily. In video marketing, they can help engage viewers while simultaneously giving them access to valuable insights. With a well-designed infographic, marketers can communicate key points or data in vivid visuals that are appealing and straightforward to understand. Additionally, infographics can support storytelling by showcasing connections between different facets of a topic and making it easier for viewers to comprehend its relevance. Click here to quickly create infographics that you can add to your videos. After choosing an infographic template, you can add your own text, graphics, icons, images, and more.
Success in Video Marketing
According to Socialbrite, some of the ways to measure the success of video marketing are engagement metrics, lead generation, and sales. Engagement can be measured by views, comments, shares, and subscribers. This gives you an idea of how your videos resonate with your audience and if they are getting the message you want them to receive.
Another important metric is lead generation, which measures how many people sign up for a newsletter after watching one of your videos. Finally, sales is always the ultimate goal, so it’s important to track the number of purchases after watching your video. By tracking these metrics, you can know how successful your efforts are and where you can improve.
Launch Your Video Marketing
Video marketing is a powerful tool that small businesses can use to reach new customers and grow their businesses. With so many platforms available, it’s easy to get started. And don’t forget, creating videos doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. Start by telling your story and add some infographics to communicate key points. .
