Video has fast become the leading marketing strategy over still images. The exponential growth in popularity of video marketing has been explosive. Everyone from small business owners to global corporations are using video to capture more market share. Isn’t it time you did, too? Here are ten ways you can implement video content to market your business:
1. Testimonials
Testimonials are very powerful in terms of gaining trust from your customers or clients. Written testimonials are great. They work. But everyone knows that written testimonials are fairly easy to fake. Whereas video testimonials are, with certainty, from real people.
To acquire video testimonials, choose happy customers, and approach them with the request. The video testimonial doesn’t have to be professional quality; in fact, the more raw and “homegrown” it is the more believable it is, and the more trust it will generate for your business. Have the customer answer a set of simple questions, like how satisfied they were, what the process was like working with your business, and if they would recommend you to others.
2. Explainer Videos
Audiences love explainer videos. An explainer video is simply a video that explains something in a very down-to-earth, easy to understand fashion. For example, if your business is selling women’s apparel, you might make an explainer video explaining what certain fashion terms mean, like dart, cowl neck, batique, a-line, etc. These kinds of videos convey that you desire to educate your audience, and that goes over well with prospective customers. It also actually helps to sell your brand, since people will connect your explainer videos with your expertise in the industry. Best practices for explainer videos say that they should be only between 90 seconds and two minutes in length. At the end of the video, be sure to have a distinct call to action so customers can contact you for more information.
3. Employee Interview
Another great way to implement video content marketing for your business is to do employee interviews. For this, aim for a video length between five and ten minutes long. You can either choose to feature one employee per video or do a composite video where several employees appear consecutively. Either style can be effective as long as the employees come across well. Choose employees who are eager to participate. An employee who is reticent about participating will be apparent on video. Also, choose employees who have experience at your company. New hires simply won’t be able to accurately express what working conditions are like and they might inadvertently send the wrong message about company culture.
4. Sneak Peek
Another popular type of video style you can use is the sneak peek. This works for businesses that will soon be rolling out a new product or a new service. You can entice people with a sneak peek into what lies ahead. You can choose to either completely divulge what’s coming, or you can choose to give tantalizing clues about the new product or service. You could show the product in shadow or with quirky angles, or give verbal clues about an upcoming service. At the end of the video, you can have a “stay tuned” message and ask people to subscribe if you’re using a video platform such as YouTube.
5. How-To
How-to videos help your customers learn how to use your products or services. You’ll need to get creative if you sell something that is pretty self-explanatory as far as using it. For example, if you sell shoes, you could make a how-to video on:
- Different ways to tie shoelaces
- Techniques to run faster
- Make soles last longer
- Clean suede shoes
- Polish leather shoes
- Etc.
As you can see, once you put your mind to it, there are lots of possible how-to video ideas on just about any product or service. If you run out of ideas, look to your customers’ questions. See what they’re wondering about and just answer their questions in the how-to videos.
6. Brand Culture
Audiences will enjoy watching your brand culture or brand personality videos. This lets them see what kind of company they’re doing business with. Done right, brand culture videos can enhance a sense of customer loyalty because they can make the customers feel like they’re part of your business “family.” All you need to do to make a brand culture video is to collect some “outtakes” from everyday life at your company. If you think of it in terms of the hit television show, “The Office,” you’ll get the idea. It could be a snippet of a funny exchange between two employees, someone telling a joke, a video clip of an overly neat/overly messy employee’s desk, or anything along those lines. Of course, if your company is more serious-minded, you can portray that, too. You can show a conference meeting happening (from outside the window), or make a video of an executive making a speech to the employees. You could also take the video show on the “road” and show the employees having fun at a company outing or playing on the company’s baseball team, etc.
7. Educational
Educational videos work really well for businesses that offer services, but they can also work for businesses that sell products. Educational videos demonstrate that your team are experts in your industry. You show your audiences that you have very competent employees who know what they’re talking about. Educational videos have the intent to educate the audience. Examples of great educational videos for marketing purposes include:
- Describing case studies
- Teaching about the overall industry
- Teaching about a very complex concept to do with your services or product
- And more
8. Behind the Scenes
Another great way to use video content marketing for your business is to make behind the scenes videos. These are looks behind the scenes that show your customers or clients how your business operates. For instance, if you sell hot sauce, you could show the hot sauce as it’s being bottled on the assembly line. Or, if you sell essential oils, you could have a video of the farm where the herbs and flowers for the oils are grown. Audiences will love to know more about where your products or services come from and how you prepare or package your goods for sale. You can be very creative with behind the scenes videos, using slow motion, quirky angles, time-lapse, and more. Think of a behind the scenes video like making a fun commercial for your business, because that’s what marketing videos are, essentially.
9. Community Action
If you’re running a successful business, then it makes sense when you want to give back to the community that helped get you there. When you do, why not brag about it a little bit? You can do that with community action videos. This kind of marketing video helps to spread the word that your business is a supporter of the community. It can also help to draw attention to certain important causes in the community that you care about. Doing this kind of marketing video not only helps your company; it can also inspire others to get involved with financial or other support for community causes. When making this kind of video, make sure that it is genuine and not too heavy on the scripting. You want to come across as helpful, not self-serving, so there’s no need to keep mentioning your company name throughout the video. Instead, a discreet mention at the beginning and at the end of the video will suffice.
10. Vlog
Finally, a vlog is the most commonly used video marketing tool. The word “vlog” is a combination of blog and video. So essentially it’s a video-driven blog. You can vlog about anything and it can work to market your business. The more creative you are with your vlog the more effective it might be. Making vlogs is a good way to keep your current and prospective customers and clients current on what your business is up to, plans for the upcoming seasons, current industry trends, new product lines, and more. For best results, the same person in your company should be doing the vlog so that audiences can connect with them. Also, unlike some of the other video marketing styles mentioned above, a vlog should be done on a routine basis, since audiences have learned to expect that.
There are many fun and creative ways to use video to market your business and brand. If you really want to bring your videos to the next level, consider hiring a video company to make some videos for you, or at the very least take some online video tutorials to learn tips and techniques. You should be seeing some positive results from your video marketing efforts fairly soon after you start the new marketing strategy.
