Video has continued to grow each year as a content marketing format. According to Hubspot, 78% of people now watch videos online every week, while 55% watch videos online every day. The good news is that video marketing is not just for companies with big budgets. Today’s technology and the nature of our social media, makes video an affordable and versatile investment that delivers real value. But, how can your business make the most of video marketing?
Introduce Yourself
Create a short introductory video that tells people who you are, what you do and how you can help them. You can use live-action format, infographics or animations, but be sure to tailor your message to appeal to your target audience.
A great example is that of Hubspot.
The video highlights in under three minutes who their target market is (marketers), what problem their target market faces (the limited results of outbound marketing and the challenges of managing inbound marketing) and how Hubspot solves this problem (through their integrated software). Using a combination of live-action, animation and infographics, they get their message across simply and clearly.
Share Your Vision and Values
You may ask yourself whether customers actually care about your company’s vision and values. In a recent article from Harvard Business Review, the authors asserted that values build relationships – that people feel engaged with a company when they feel they have the same values as that company. This influences how we make the final buying decision.
Zappos understands this and markets its core values extensively.
The video features Zappo employees explaining the values and how it affects their work and interactions, both on and off the job. It becomes clear that the values are an integral part of how the company is run and what is important to them. They may be a company selling shoes online, but they are fun, hip, creative and approachable. And their values are all about making life better for their customers.
Tell a Compelling Story
In How To Make Your Small Business Content Stand Out, we talked about telling stories and thinking about ways that you can create a story around your product or service. Video is a great way to do this, as this example from RAM Trucks shows:
The company understands who their customers are – people who live rugged lives or those who aspire to do so. Except for one or two shots of the product, the company barely mentions itself. Instead it tells the story of its customer and pays homage to their lifestyle and values. And with over 22 million views on YouTube, the ad has certainly resonated with people.
Another approach is that taken by Founders Brewing Company who tell their own story of producing the beers that they do today.
It’s a very human story about a business finding its own identity and working from a place of passion. This is a story that most people can identify with – the struggle of an underdog who came back fighting and won.
Show How Your Product or Service Works
According the Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2016 Survey, 74% of users who watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service subsequently bought it and 77% of consumers said that they were convinced to buy a product after watching a video about it.
Product Demonstrations or Explainer Videos shows potential customers how to use your product and ideally should show how user friendly it is or how it would make their lives easier.
Look at how PadMapper explains how its product works.
It relies on animations to explain in very simple terms how its product works and how it makes it easier for customers to find the perfect apartment. The video is fun and makes use of appropriate humour to make its point in less than a minute.
Another great is example is from Australian company Oscillate Cat Containment Systems.
It is a pretty straightforward video, making the case for cat containment and presenting its solution to the problem many cat owners face. The video shows customers just how easy it is to install and how effective it is in keeping their beloved cats safe.
Introduce a New Product or Service
In addition to showing how an existing product or service works, you can also use the power of video to introduce new products or services offerings to your customers. The Guitar Centre uses video to introduce their new products, such as this one:
You can also use a series of teasers to build anticipation before the actual launch. This helps to keep your content fresh and your brand top of mind even during those normally quiet periods before a launch.
Woolworths recently used a series of videos to build up to the launch of its StyleBySA collection – beginning with an announcement of the launch date and following that up with progressively more detailed videos about each designer and the different styles available.
Promote a Charity or Community Project
You can show your support for a local charity or community project by making a video about the project and your involvement in it. Not only will it give your brand a more human touch, but it would also help spread the news about worthwhile causes.
For Mandela Day, travel company Go2Africa, made a short video about one of their local charities, The Carpenter’s Haven.
The video focuses primarily on the charity and the work that it does and only briefly covers the company’s contribution. It shows a genuine interest in making a difference and to gain recognition for a local charity. They also included details about the charity and a link to its website on their YouTube channel.
Showcase an Event
Video does not need to be all about work. Why not show your customers your fun side by putting together a highlights video of your company events? Or perhaps give feedback about an important conference you attended to show how your company keeps up to date with the latest trends in your industry?
A great example comes from Hubspot who posts short clips on the annual Inbound Conference.
The video gives a good overview of what the conference was about and the key talk topics around Inbound Marketing that year. Although Hubspot has the advantage of getting great footage, you can produce something similar using still photographs, quotes that resonated with you or even a video of your own thoughts about the event.
Let Your Customers Speak
Customer testimonials provide social proof that your product or service does what your marketing promises it does. People feel a lot more comfortable buying from you if they can see that others have tried it and it has worked for them. In fact, according to the 2013 B2B Content Marketing Trends Report, customer testimonials are considered the most effective content marketing tactics.
GreatSoft, a software development company, uses video testimonials from their clients to prove how great their product is. You can check out their videos on their Facebook page.
Highlight Success Stories
You can take the standard customer testimonial further by delving deeper into customer success stories that illustrate how your product or service has helped them. South African software company Everlytic and Inbound software company Hubspot uses this approach very effectively.
In both cases the companies produced a variety of customer success stories from a wide range of industries to show that their software can be applied in almost any type of company. The videos explain what challenge the customer experienced and how that challenge was solved by using the companies’ products.
Launch a Competition
Holding a competition is a great way to get more people to interact with your brand. It also gives you the opportunity to engage with customers and learn more about them. You can use video the announce the competition, give an overview of the rules and conditions, and build some excitement around the prize.
Estates Gazette and Cluttons from the UK used video to market their competition – The Next Big Thing. The great thing about this particular competition is that its objective was to the benefit of the industry in which they work by advancing innovative problem-solving to real challenges in the property market.
Give a Peek Behind the Scenes
Giving your customers a behind the scenes look is a great way to humanise your product or service. They get to see how you work and what goes into delivering a quality product or service. It also gives you the chance to show your passion and commitment to your work.
You can make it even more interesting by creating a series of ‘A Day in the Life’, featuring different departments or staff members who all contribute to your product or service.
The Intercontinental Hotel Group created such a series.
Each video focuses on a specific employee, show us a little about their personal lives and talk about the important contribution they make to the Group.
Host a Vlog or Webinar
Instead of a standard blog, show off your expertise by putting together a vlog (video blog) or webinar (an online seminar attended exclusively by an online audience) about a topic that relates to your industry, product or service and would be relevant to your target customers. You can use either live-action video, animation, presentation slides or a combination of all of them. Vlogs or webinars is another great opportunity to engage with you customers.
Hubspot uses the format in their Google Hangouts series.
These types of video are typically a longer format. For a shorter option, you can do a news round-up style of video, such as that created by Socialbakers.
Celebrate Special Occasions
Special occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Spring, or even your company’s anniversary year is a great opportunity to get people’s attention. You can use this time to offer special deals or discounts or simply show how you and your team celebrate the event together.
Ezypay gets all their staff involved in making a fun Christmas message that shows the personality behind the brand.
Showcase a Project With Time-lapse Videos
If your work involves long-term projects where project management and progress forms an important part of your business model, then a time-lapse video is a great way to show this off. You can do this using still photography, videos or a combination of the two to show how a project comes to fruition.
The time-lapse video created by Dixon Landscapes gives a good overview of how the company transforms an ordinary garden into something spectacular.
Thank Your Customers
Finally, take the time to thank your customers for their support. You don’t have to wait until the end of the year or for a special occasion. Thanking your customers recognises their contribution to your company’s success.
Constant Contact managed to thank each one of their clients in a two-minute video.
A nice nod to the people who supported your business and helped your company to grow and improve.
There are many more ways in which you can use video to promote your business. The important thing is to make it relevant and interesting and to keep your company top of mind. The investment you make in video marketing will be well worth it. Research has shown that including a video on a landing page can increase conversion by 80% (EyeView); that 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI (Adobe) and that marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users (VidYard).
Video is compelling, interesting and infinitely shareable and its role in today’s marketing is only set to grow. Make sure that your company does not get left behind.
Sources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/2017-year-of-video-marketing
https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics-2016.html
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