Small Business Video Marketing – The Hows And Whys

Small Business Video Marketing and online video marketing has become the latest epidemic when it comes to marketing tools for your business.

In fact, internet video marketing has gone viral. If you haven’t given online marketing videos a try yet, you should, as there are plenty of benefits you can enjoy and increased sales are one of them.

Let’s look at what your small business video marketing can and should accomplish for you.

What Can Small Business Video Marketing Do For Your Business?

It Can Introduce You

A video is a powerful tool that allows you to present a polished you. You can polish your online marketing presence and then create a flawless delivery that puts in you in the best light with your potential customer.

A Video Can Establish That You are an Expert in Your Field

When you create your online marketing video you should focus on showing your viewers your expertise.

This is much easier to do with a video than with text content. Adding videos that establish you as an expert to your website, blog and/or email marketing can be highly beneficial.

Online Videos Can Maximize Your SEO Benefits

In the past, as far as SEO was concerned, videos were actually a liability. But that is not that case any longer. Today, videos are more than fifty times more likely to be on the first page of a surfer’s search. There are three main ways a marketing video can give you a major SEO boost.

• There is far less competition with video compared to text content. There are millions of text pages competing for the top SEO ranking, but only thousands of video pages competing for the same space.
• Videos are ranked much more quickly than text content. It takes hours for videos to get ranked compared to weeks for text to get ranked. That also gives the video the ability to be very current.
• Videos often go viral. It is much more likely that a person will share a video than text.  This is especially true when you put together a really good video. This is why small business video marketing is such a great idea.

Small business video marketing is very affordable, requires only a webcam, a microphone, and a good script to begin to enjoy the benefits. Take some time to fine-tune your message and make it easy to understand so that you get the most response.

Online marketing videos are the hottest tool business owners have at their fingertips. In today’s online environment a video is far more likely to lead to a sale than even the best text content, no matter how good you are a copywriting, so don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

How To Create Video’s That People Will Love

If you are just entering the world of online marketing videos, you’ve put yourself in a great position, because videos are proving to be one of the best marketing tools around.

The best tip anyone can give you is to simply give video a try right now. The idea of doing video can be daunting.

Don’t worry, there’s no need for you to have professional equipment, expert editing skills, fancy scripts, or special software. You don’t have to be super confident either. Just make a video of something relevant to your business. That’s a great place to start.

When you are new to online marketing you will have plenty of questions, and one of the most commonly asked is how to create videos people will like. Let’s look at some tips that you need to know to make your video great.

Make Your Videos Personal

If you want to better engage your viewers especially on your Facebook fan page make short, personal, impromptu videos.

When we say short we mean under 90 seconds. Don’t worry about it being perfect. These are not training videos, how-to videos, etc. These are just short personal videos designed to get you to talk directly with your fans and build trust.

Always Be First

Being first means being the first one to bring news, or address a topic, or to bring new technology to your viewers… you get the idea.

When you are the first you get more views – it’s really that simple.

Promote your video every way you can – on your website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can really rack up the likes this way and that can help your video place better on the search engines, which means more people see it and more likes happen – this is the vicious circle you want to be of!

Be Inspired

Online videos are everywhere these days. In fact, it’s becoming hard to find something that’s interesting and new. It can be tough to find a catchy topic or to find a new perspective. Here are some ideas on brainstorming for new video ideas.

• Take advantage of the YouTube comment search, which offers a real-time search.
• Use advanced search operators that YouTube offers such as wildcard and synonym.
• Take advantage of YouTube suggest to get a glimpse into the behavior of video viewers.

Get in on the Action

Be quick to grab your viewer’s attention by getting into action. Make sure you jump right in and don’t waste a lot of time with introductions. Quickly say who you are, your company name, and the purpose of the video; then get to it. Captivate your viewers right from the beginning, then keep them watching.

Plan Your Opening and Closing

Your opening and your closing or call to action need special attention to make sure that they are effective and create what you need. Your greeting needs to be short and to the point of telling the viewer who you are and your company name.

Your closing or call to action needs to be effective in order to get your viewers to do what you want, otherwise, they could be lost forever.

Steps To Creating Your Own Online Video

Here is your step by step guide to creating your own marketing video.

Write A Script

The basis for a good video begins with the script, so take your time and get this part right. You want to capture the viewer’s attention, tell what your business is about in a way that’s easy to understand and keep your visitors engaged.

You might do a video that shows your viewers how to do something or explains how to fix something. Don’t forget to close with your company name and invite your viewers to call you, sign up, buy something or whatever the next step is.

Record Your Voiceover

Once your script is complete, you need to do the voiceover. You’ll need a decent microphone, a space that’s echo-free, and a good voice. If you don’t have a good voice recruit family or friends to help you out here. You can also hire a pro to do the voiceover.

If you are looking for a dependable microphone to record your voice for a vlog or podcast you may like to look at this option. If you decide to buy it by clicking on the picture, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

DESIGNED TO WORK WITH YOUR ANDROID & APPLE DEVICES

This mic’s 3.5mm TRRS jack fits most Android devices, Windows PCs or laptops (adapter included), iPhones (from iPhone(2007) to iPhone 6s(2015)), most iPads or iPods that have 3.5mm female port.

For iPhones 7 and newer – lightning to 3.5mm adapter is needed. It is included inside iPhone 7, 7+, 8, 8+, and X package (hidden near earbuds)

COMPLETE HASSLE FREE SET!

Each purchase comes with a 78” extension cord and deluxe protector case for your convenience. Wrap the cord with the attached velcro strip and toss the entire set into your purse or laptop bag. Then easily plug and clip for pristine recordings wherever you go.

Create The Necessary Visuals

Before you start to create your visual assets, you’ll need to complete your video. It’s helpful to brainstorm and create a written storyboard with your script to see how it best plays out.

If your video is not going to be live, there are a number of ways of getting still video footage. Sites like Pixar or iStockPhoto have thousand of images that are royalty-free. If you have your own camera, you can take your own images. If you are giving directions or doing ‘how to’ videos you can also use screen capture.

Edit Your Video

Now you need to pull it all together. Here’s where you bring your project to life. Most professionals use Adobe After Effects but there are some other cheaper options like Camtasia or PowerPoint. The software is fairly easy to learn.

Add SFX And/Or Music

Next, you’ll want to add any special sound effects or music. However, remember, it is not legal to just pick a song and use it. There are many stock music websites online so you can purchase royalty-free tracks for under $50. Make sure your music track doesn’t drown out your voice track. Fading In and Out is a nice technique that adds a professional touch.

Publish Your Online Marketing Video

That’s it, you’re ready to publish. YouTube is the most popular site for publishing. The MPEG-4 format is ideal for high definition. Make sure your video has a good title and description. Also, make sure that you do a good job with your tags so that the right people find you.

Click Here if you would like to see a great video all about video marketing and how to succeed.

What Equipment Is Needed For Small Business Video Marketing?

Getting a professional video done is a great idea, and you will get a top-quality video, however, if you are like many small businesses your budget is small and your need is great.

This may inhibit your ability to hire a professional video company. This shouldn’t stop you – you may not be aware that making your own online marketing video is not nearly as difficult as you might think, especially if you follow the steps above.

Start by taking advantage of the many free video editing software programs. You might already have the equipment you need – a microphone and a webcam, and you need a plan.

Let’s have a look at what you need to start producing your own video on a budget.

A Quality Microphone

If there is one thing you need to buy that’s of the highest quality, it is your microphone.

Viewers will put up with grainy or choppy video, and they’ll live with pictures and without animation, but if the sound is poor they’ll hit the back button so fast you won’t even be able to say ‘bye.’

There are a number of good quality mikes available for a reasonable price. The Samson G Track USB microphone is one of them.

Another is the Yeti, which is made by Blue Microphones.

Take a little time to review the pros and cons of the many microphones on the market that fit your budget.

A Quality Camera Or Webcam

Depending on the type of video you will be doing, you’ll need either a quality video camera or a webcam. While a lot of online marketing videos can be shot using a webcam, if you are planning to do live-action you’ll need the right camera.

Look for something that does a live streaming video like the Sony Video Camera Above.

You might also want to capture screenshots right from your computer. This is especially useful when doing tutorials. There are plenty of free programs that can do this for Snipping Tool and Screencasts are two such programs. They are easy to use and give you the opportunity to create professional-looking videos.

If money is no object and you have the budget to hire a professional, then do so, but if you are like most entrepreneurs with small businesses, money is an object. In which case you can take the project on yourself with only a small investment in equipment.

Producing video can be a challenge in the beginning, but it is one of the best ways to increase your customer base and sales. One of the best tips I can share with you is to publish regularly.

Start publishing today, and keep publishing. Don’t worry, even if you are using your smartphone to do it, just get it done and get your video message out to the world.

More Tips For Small Business Video Marketing

Marketing videos are ‘hot.’ They are a great way to increase your viewers and your customer base, which means an increase in your revenues. Follow up is also an important step in successful marketing videos. Let’s look at some more very effective strategies.

You are going to have to experiment with follow up techniques. Remember nothing is a waste of time. You can learn from every experience. So just because you have made your marketing video doesn’t mean you are done. It is time to promote it – all of the action you take after you post your online marketing video works towards growing your exposure and that’s important.

• Always measure your statistics. If you have a call to action, monitor the sales that come off that call to action. If you have links to your site then monitor those links.
• Monitor comments that are left on your videos and then reply to those comments. You can develop a conversation about your industry, your brand, your products, etc. and of course answer any comments tied directly to the video.
• Answer any questions that come up. If your viewers are debating topics, you discussed in the video, answer any questions that arise, and allow them to continue the conversation.

Podcasts for your videos are a good follow up. Don’t make the mistake that it’s done once you post your video to YouTube.

Try creating podcasts, which will help to follow up on your YouTube videos. It will allow you to expand your visibility to millions of possible viewers. You will need to have a web host for your video files if you are going to create a podcast feed.

You can also make use of YouTube annotations. These will direct traffic to additional videos you have or to a call to action. This is a great follow up that can be of great value. It is also beneficial if your information in the video has become out of date and you can add an annotation directing viewers to the new video that has been updated.

The follow up is very important in your online marketing video is very important to enjoy the full benefit of your video campaigns.

It is a common mistake for beginners not to follow through and incorporate the follow up with their online marketing video campaign. Don’t let this be your mistake!

What About Keywords For Your Videos?

When it comes to keyword strategies for your small business video marketing, there is a lot of information available online. But let’s look at some of the basic keyword strategies you’ll want to use with your online marketing videos to get the most out of them.

• Use the text pages on your website as a map for Google. This will assist the search engines in figuring out what each of your videos is about. You should embed your videos into your text pages on your website that are relevant to the videos you have posted.
• To optimize your YouTube videos, you need to make certain to keywords in your video tags, descriptions and titles.
  You should target specific keyword phrases, not just words. For example, rather than using ‘cakes’ as your keyword for your organic bakery, use ‘cake with organic icing’ for a higher chance of you showing up on the top of the search engine results.
• Think carefully about what keywords would be best for your marketing video. Take advantage of the numerous keyword tools that are available. Many of them are free. Choosing good keywords is very important to your search engine placement.
• Consider using keywords that are not as popular or that are misspelled. This can help increase your placement in the search engines and move you up in the search engines. Of course, these should not be some obscure word that’s only looked up once in a while, as this will not be of any benefit. However, words like center and center both are commonly looked up. I use Jaaxy for this purpose.

Many online marketing video beginners overlook the importance of keywords not fully understanding that their title, short description, and tags are what are going to place them in the search engines and what are going to helps potential viewers find their video.

They become so focused on creating a good video they forget about the importance of keywords. Then they become frustrated and disappointed when they do not get the results they were hoping for. Don’t let this be you.

We’ve given you some basics on keywords. Many of you will have used keywords in your SEO work in articles and website content so you will be familiar with their role and their purpose. If you are completely new to keywords, this gives you a good start and there is plenty of information available online so you can learn more about keywords.

Make your online marketing videos the success they should be by incorporating powerful keyword techniques and following the guidelines and tips above.

Please feel free to comment below if you have anything else to add on small business video marketing or internet video marketing.