5 Effective Marketing Video Tips for Your Small Business

You’re almost there. You have your blog up and running and you’re publishing content consistently. You have the copywriting handled. You might have even set up your email list software. These are all essential components of a marketing effort. But it’s still missing one thing: Video.  This article will give you 5 fundamental marketing video tips that will help you make videos that persuade your customers to buy.

While other forms of content sharing are still important, video has become the most often used marketing medium by both large and small businesses.

It’s no surprise considering the fact that consumers connect more with visuals than any other medium. But creating successful marketing videos isn’t easy — especially if you have no experience presenting something on video.

Marketing Video Tips

Start with a Plan

First and foremost, you must create a plan.  Think of it as the foundation for your marketing efforts. I understand the allure of diving headfirst into a project, propelled by excitement and the eagerness to see results.

Often, this spontaneity is celebrated. But in the realm of video marketing, such an approach might prove costly.

Why? Because without a well-defined strategy, you risk veering off course. Imagine investing hours, days, or even weeks into creating a video, only to discover it holds no appeal for your target demographic. It’s like sailing without a compass.

Before any action is taken, clearly define who your audience is. Are they millennials looking for tech solutions or are they parents searching for educational tools for their kids? With clarity comes the power to tailor.

Creating a buyer persona isn’t just a buzzword. It’s akin to having a sketch of the very person you’re trying to entice, complete with their likes, dislikes, challenges, and aspirations.

With this visual guide, you can mould your content to mirror their desires and needs. Recognize them, understand their challenges, and offer them solutions through your videos. It’s a precision game.

• Start with a Plan
• Use Closed Captioning
• Repurpose Other Content
• Nail the Intro
• Go Live

Use Closed Captioning

One of the most overlooked aspects of video marketing is the use of closed captioning. This is a service that displays the text of what is being said in each video.

You have probably seen this on various movies and TV shows on Netflix and other such services.

But why would you need close captioning in videos designed to market your brand? The answer is simple. Most of your videos will be posted on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Each of these platforms will display your videos without audio initially. It is only when the user clicks on the video that the sound plays.

If someone is scrolling through their feed and sees your video, they won’t know what it’s about unless they decide to click on it.

And it’s not very likely they will click on it unless they are already interested in your brand.

But if you include closed captioning, they can read the text of the content even if the audio isn’t playing.

This way, your audience can read the text and will be more likely to click and watch the entire video because they understand which topics you’re discussing.

Repurpose Other Content

In the world of content creation, there’s a secret weapon that many overlook: the art of re-purposing. There’s a mistaken belief that to make an impact, every piece of content must be conceived from scratch.

This isn’t just daunting but also impractical. Let’s pause and look back at the treasure trove you’ve already amassed over time. That blog you’ve diligently maintained? Each article is a potential storyboard for a video, waiting to be visualized.

For instance, consider a blog post you wrote a year ago on the “Top 10 Marketing Strategies for 2022”. That content can seamlessly transform into a compelling visual guide or even a series of short videos.

The advantages of such transformations are twofold. Firstly, it streamlines the content creation process, giving you a blueprint to follow.

Secondly, it bridges the gap between readers and viewers. While an engaging blog post might captivate a reader, a dynamic video could pull a viewer into your brand’s narrative.

And in this digital age, where patience is sparse, videos can offer bite-sized, engaging information, expanding your brand’s reach manifold.

Benefits of Repurposing Blog Content:

• Easier content creation.
• Reaching audiences beyond your blog.
• Exposure to video-preferring audience.

Nail the Intro

The introduction is the most important part of each video you will film. It is literally what will determine whether your prospect watches until the end, or goes surfing for kitten videos.

Indeed, 65% of people who watch the first three seconds of a video will continue to watch for at least ten more seconds. That’s right, you have only three seconds to capture your viewer’s interest.

In a day when almost all ads on social media are skip-able, you must make sure your viewer does not hit that “skip ad” button.

That’s why you have to make sure that you’re enticing them to stay from the very first words that you speak.

One of the ways to grab their attention is to begin with a question that might make them curious to find out what the answer is later in the video.

Make sure the question is something that others in your audience would want to know the answer to. Then, promise to answer it by the end of the video.

Another way to keep someone’s attention is to speak to a pain point that you know your prospect is experiencing. Put the pain up front, and then promise to offer a solution by the end of the video, and you’ll have their attention.

Strategies to Grab Attention:

• Begin with a question.
• Highlight a pain point.
• Promise a solution by the end.

Go Live

Live streaming has become all the rage now in the world of online marketing. In fact, speaking directly to your audience is the best way to connect with them and show that you are relatable.

It gives you a channel to instantly allow communication between your company and its customers.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube all have live streaming options. There might even be software that can allow you to Live stream on multiple services at once.

You can make these sessions as long or short as you want as long as your viewers are interested in the conversation.

One of the best ways to use live streaming is to host a Q&A session. This means that you record a live video in which members of your audience ask you questions through the chat feature.

But you must make sure you are delivering value to the people asking you questions. And guess what; if you don’t know the answer to the question, you can promise to address it later.

This way, you can create even more content by writing a post or recording another video answering the question.

Ways to Use Live Streaming:

• Q&A sessions
• Product launches
• Behind-the-scenes peeks

Marketing Video Tips Wrap Up

Marketing isn’t just about selling a product or service; it’s an art of forging connections. The central ethos behind any successful campaign is resonance and trust.

Videos, in their dynamic blend of visuals and audio, offer an unparalleled avenue to achieve this. They humanize your brand, presenting the genuine faces and emotions behind the products or services.

Every second of a video can be a stepping stone to building that vital rapport. When a customer sees the authenticity, hears the conviction, and feels the passion, they’re more inclined to engage.

Harness the insights from this article to strengthen those bonds, making your videos not just content, but bridges to your audience.

Let’s take a moment to compare traditional marketing methods with the dynamic approach of video marketing:

Related reading: Small Business Guide to Video Marketing

Image: Depositphotos.com

This article, “5 Effective Marketing Video Tips for Your Small Business” was first published on Small Business Trends